Discounted court fees result from stalled state budget

Divorce-seekers are in line for a discount.

Costs to file court documents in Pennsylvania are more than $20 cheaper, for now.

An under-the-radar casualty of the state’s financial uncertainty related to a monthlong budget impasse is an annual surcharge added to fees for the filing of most court documents. That $21.25 surcharge is collected to help pay for operation of the state’s court system and is included in the authorizations typically passed as part of the state budget process.

The surcharge expired as of Tuesday, Aug. 1.

While the state Senate on Thursday signed off on a general appropriations act for the new budget, separate legislation is required, and has yet to occur, to reauthorize the surcharge, according to Kim Bathgate, spokeswoman for the Administrative Office of Pennsylvania Courts.

Because the surcharge has yet to be reauthorized, costs to file documents such as lawsuits, divorces, zoning appeals, wills, adoptions, deeds and mortgages temporarily are cheaper, as the fees charged by the state were slashed from $40.25 to $19.

“It’s a headache,” Westmoreland County Prothonotary Gina O’Barto said. “People are going to get a discount until the state passes its budget.”

Bathgate said the filing fee surcharge accounted for more than $48 million last year.

Lawsuits, divorces and other civil court documents are filed with the prothonotary. Divorces, temporarily, will cost $147.25.

The surcharge also impacts traffic tickets, according to the state. Police were instructed to reduce court fees attached to citations by $10.

O’Barto said the discounted filing fee for documents submitted in person at the courthouse will be deducted immediately. Refund checks will be mailed to attorneys and others who submitted court papers remotely and paid filing costs by mail.

Westmoreland County Recorder of Deeds Frank Schiefer said he has no plans to refund overpayments, saying ultimately it should be up to the state to decide how to handle the accounting issues.

“There is confusion. People don’t know what to do,” Schiefer said. “People who file documents in my office are more concerned their documents will be rejected rather than whether they will save $20.”

Schiefer attributed the confusion to the temporary status of the surcharge, which expires every summer.

“I don’t know why they just don’t make the fee permanent. We know they are not going to reduce it,” Schiefer said.