Alabama lawmakers are being asked to rework the state’s system of local court fees, which can leave people paying different amounts to file the same type of case depending on the county.
The Joint Interim Study Commission on Court Costs recently issued its report to lawmakers and found that local fees added to statewide filing costs range from zero to $182 for a standard circuit civil case involving less than $50,000.
The commission was created in 2025 to examine Alabama’s court costs and recommend ways to make them more uniform and transparent. Its report found that the current system developed over more than 40 years through roughly 250 local laws and about 73 local constitutional amendments.
The statewide portion of the filing fee is $244 across Alabama. Once local charges are added, however, the total can range from $244 in Marion County to $426 in Madison County and $421 in Jackson County.
Some counties have added only one local fee, while others have accumulated as many as 10 separate charges.
The commission found that Baldwin, Cleburne and Madison counties each have multiple local fees supporting local programs and government functions. Bullock, Montgomery and Sumter counties, by comparison, were among those with only one local charge identified in the commission’s review.
Those fees do not always go toward operating Alabama’s court system.
The report found that local court costs often fund county jails, sheriffs’ offices, district attorneys, law libraries, juvenile services and other programs. Sheriff, jail and law enforcement-related fees were the largest category identified by the commission, affecting nearly every county.
That has left Alabama with a system in which money collected at the courthouse may be used for government functions with little direct connection to court operations.
“Court costs” have gradually become a method of funding a broader range of local and state programs, the report said, particularly as counties added fees for jail construction, law enforcement, juvenile services and specialized courts.
The commission also found uncertainty surrounding some fees still on the books.
At least 13 local acts or constitutional amendments include provisions allowing fees to expire after a certain event, such as repayment of debt for a jail construction project. The commission said it was unclear in some cases whether those conditions had been met or whether the fees were still being collected.
One of the commission’s primary recommendations is for the Legislature to create a complete public inventory of all local court costs in Alabama.
The proposed inventory would identify the county, legal authority, amount, recipient, sunset status and, where available, recent collections. The commission said it was unable to confirm the current status of every one of the more than 250 local acts it identified.
Rather than immediately eliminating local fees, the commission recommended that lawmakers move gradually toward a more uniform system while preserving funding that counties and local offices currently depend on.
The report also suggests giving counties and other local officials more flexibility in how court cost revenue can be spent, allowing money dedicated decades ago to a completed project to be redirected toward current needs.
The commission recommended that future court cost legislation include periodic reviews, with lawmakers examining whether fees are still needed, still being collected and still serving their original purpose.
The report also highlighted the difference between civil and criminal court costs.
Civil filing fees are collected nearly 100 percent of the time because cases generally cannot move forward until the fees are paid. Criminal court costs, fines and fees are collected only about 15 percent to 20 percent of the time.
The commission warned lawmakers against relying too heavily on criminal defendants as a source of revenue for courts, law enforcement agencies and other programs.
It also recommended studying whether statewide court costs could be adjusted automatically over time, potentially using an economic measure such as the Consumer Price Index. Tennessee, the report noted, has adopted scheduled statewide fee increases for 2026, 2027 and 2028.
