Cost to sue · by state
Small claims court costs by state
What it costs to file, serve, and collect on a small claims case — one page per state, with every figure read from that state's own fee schedule or statute. Start with the table, then open a state for the full breakdown.
| State | Most you can sue for | Filing fee | Service, from |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | $12,500 | $30–$75 | $15 |
| Florida | $8,000 | $50–$295 | $9.28 |
| New York | $10,000 | $15–$20 | Included |
| Pennsylvania | $12,000 | $81–$116.50 | $15.50 |
| North Carolina | $10,000 | $96 | $9.28 |
| Michigan | $7,000 | $25–$65 | $26 |
| New Jersey | $5,000 | $35 | $10 |
| Washington | $10,000 | $50 | $9.28 |
Filing fees are the court's charge to open the case; service is what it costs to formally notify the person you're suing, shown at each state's cheapest recognized method. New York figures are for New York City's Civil Court specifically.
Which states are covered
Eight states have a full page here. A state gets one once both halves of the cost are sourced — what the court charges to file, and what it costs to serve the other side.
Texas is half-covered and worth naming. Its justice court filing fee is a flat $54 statewide — two statutory components the state's own Office of Court Administration marks as mandatory with no local option — so it already works in the filing fee calculator and the limit checker. What genuinely does vary by county there is the constable's service fee, so Texas gets a full page once that's sourced county by county rather than guessed.
Illinois, Ohio, and Georgia set the filing fee itself per county, so there isn't a single statewide number to publish for them at all. Showing a wrong one is worse than showing none.