1. (1) (a) Upon the institution of any civil action, suit, or proceeding in county court, the party shall pay the following filing fee, not to exceed:

   1. For all claims less than $100 ............ $50.

   2. For all claims of $100 or more but not more than $500 ............ $75.

   3. For all claims of more than $500 but not more than $2,500 ............ $170.

   4. For all claims of more than $2,500 ............ $295.

   5. In addition, for all proceedings of garnishment, attachment, replevin, and distress ............ $85.

   6. Notwithstanding subparagraphs 3. and 5., for all claims of not more than $1,000 filed simultaneously with an action for replevin of property that is the subject of the claim ............ $125.

   7. For removal of tenant action ............ $180.

   ¹(b) The first $80 of the filing fee collected under subparagraph (a)4. shall be remitted to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund. The next $15 of the filing fee collected under subparagraph (a)4., and the first $10 of the filing fee collected under subparagraph (a)7., shall be deposited in the state courts' Mediation and Arbitration Trust Fund. An additional filing fee of $4 shall be paid to the clerk. The clerk shall transfer $3.50 to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Court Education Trust Fund and shall transfer 50 cents to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund within the Justice Administrative Commission to fund clerk education. Postal charges incurred by the clerk of the county court in making service by mail on defendants or other parties shall be paid by the party at whose instance service is made. Except as provided herein, filing fees and service charges for performing duties of the clerk relating to the county court shall be as provided in ss. 28.24 and 28.241 Except as otherwise provided herein, all filing fees shall be remitted to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund within the Justice Administrative Commission. Filing fees imposed by this section may not be added to any penalty imposed by chapter 316 or chapter 318.

2. (c) A party in addition to a party described in paragraph (a) who files a pleading in an original civil action in the county court for affirmative relief by cross-claim, counterclaim, counterpetition, or third-party complaint, or who files a notice of cross-appeal or notice of joinder or motion to intervene as an appellant, cross-appellant, or petitioner, shall pay the clerk of court a fee of $295 if the relief sought by the party under this paragraph exceeds $2,500. The clerk shall remit the fee to the Department of Revenue for deposit into the General Revenue Fund. This fee does not apply if the cross-claim, counterclaim, counterpetition, or third-party complaint requires transfer of the case from county to circuit court. However, the party shall pay to the clerk the standard filing fee for the court to which the case is to be transferred.
3. (d) The clerk of court shall collect a service charge of $10 for issuing a summons. The clerk shall assess the fee against the party seeking to have the summons issued.

4. (2) A party reopening any civil action, suit, or proceeding in the county court shall pay to the clerk of court a filing fee set by the clerk in an amount not to exceed $25 for all claims of not more than $500 and an amount not to exceed $50 for all claims of more than $500. For purposes of this section, a case is reopened when a case previously reported as disposed of is resubmitted to a court. A party is exempt from paying the fee for any of the following:

   1. (a) A writ of garnishment;
   2. (b) A writ of replevin;
   3. (c) A distress writ;
   4. (d) A writ of attachment;
   5. (e) A motion for rehearing filed within 10 days;
   6. (f) A motion for attorney's fees filed within 30 days of the entry of the judgment or final order;
   7. (g) A motion for dismissal filed after a mediation agreement has been filed;
   8. (h) A motion to withdraw by attorneys;
   9. (i) Stipulations; or
   10. (j) Responsive pleadings.
5. (3) If a nonindigent party fails to pay accrued costs, the judge shall have power to deny that party the right to file any new case while such costs remain unpaid and, likewise, to deny such litigant the right to proceed further in any pending case.
6. (4) In criminal proceedings in county courts, costs shall be taxed against a person in county court upon conviction or estreature pursuant to chapter 939.
7. (5) Upon the institution of any appellate proceeding from the county court to the circuit court, including any appeal filed by a county or municipality, the clerk shall charge and collect filing fees as provided in s. 28.241(2) from the party or parties instituting the appellate proceedings. If the party is determined to be indigent, the clerk shall defer payment of the fee.
8. (6) A charge or a fee may not be imposed upon a party for responding by pleading, motion, or other paper to a civil or criminal action, suit, or proceeding in a county court or to an appeal to the circuit court.
9. (7) For purposes of this section, the term "party" includes a county or municipality filing any civil action.

10. (8) From each attorney appearing pro hac vice, the clerk must collect a fee of $100 for deposit into the General Revenue Fund.

    ¹Note.--Section 20, ch. 2009-61, provides that:

    "(1) It is the intent of the Legislature that, if this act and CS for CS for Senate Bill 2108, as enacted during the 2009 Regular Session or an extension thereof, both become law, the Division of Statutory Revision shall read the acts together and, to the extent feasible, give full effect to the amendments made by this act to ss. 28.241(1)(a) and 34.041(1)(b), Florida Statutes, and the amendments made to those paragraphs by CS for CS for Senate Bill 2108. However, it is further the intent of the Legislature that, if both acts become law, the amendments made by CS for CS for Senate Bill 2108 with respect to the distribution of filing fees to the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund, rather than the Department of Financial Services' Administrative Trust Fund, and the use of those funds to fund the Florida Clerks of Court Operations Corporation, shall prevail. To that end, where this act refers in its amendments to ss. 28.241(1)(a) and 34.041(1)(b), Florida Statutes, to the distribution of filing fees to the Department of Financial Services' Administrative Trust Fund, it is the intent of the Legislature that the Division of Statutory Revision change those references to the Clerks of the Court Trust Fund and conform the use of those funds, including within both the existing and new language of those paragraphs contained in this act, consistent with CS for CS for Senate Bill 2108. It is further the intent of the Legislature that, if both acts become law, the division change references to the distribution of $5 of filing fees under s. 28.241(1)(a), Florida Statutes, including within both the existing and new language of that paragraph contained in this act, to reflect the distribution instead of $3.50 and $1.50, respectively, to the Clerks of Court Trust Fund and the Administrative Trust Fund within the Department of Financial Services, consistent with CS for CS for Senate Bill 2108.

    "(2) This section shall take effect June 1, 2009."

History.--ss. 1, 2, 6, 7, 9, ch. 26931, 1951; s. 4, ch. 63-559; s. 12, ch. 70-134; s. 12, ch. 72-404; s. 2, ch. 74-154; s. 4, ch. 77-284; s. 15, ch. 79-400; s. 3, ch. 82-205; s. 5, ch. 87-145; s. 8, ch. 89-290; s. 2, ch. 90-181; s. 2, ch. 90-269; s. 4, ch. 91-152; s. 196, ch. 95-147; s. 4, ch. 96-209; s. 2, ch. 96-350; s. 7, ch. 2001-122; s. 52, ch. 2003-402; s. 32, ch. 2004-265; s. 11, ch. 2008-111; ss. 7, 20, ch. 2009-61; s. 7, ch. 2009-204.