Consultation calls for shake-up in civil courts fees

The Court Service this week published a consultation on revised fees for civil courts, the first change in costs since April 2000.

The paper recommends that the current common scale of fees should remain, although it should be aimed at generating greater income from claims worth more than 15,000.

Cases in the supreme and county courts that are valued at more than 100,000, which currently involve paying 500 in court costs, would be hardest hit.

The changes would see a rise to 700 for claims worth between 100,000 to 150,000, and 800 for those worth more than this.

Smaller claims and family proceedings will see increases of between 2 to 50, depending on the value of the claim or the order sought.

The revised fee levels will be announced in January next year and are expected to come into play a month later.

Paula Rohan