2026 ranking · Avg Fee
Most Expensive Civil Process Types
Civil process types ranked by highest national average filing fee, the costliest legal actions. According to PlainCivil's compiled state court fee schedules, updated September 2026 -- these are indexed figures, not a live clerk quote.
Fee rank is not wait rank
Guardianship leads this list at $350; the #10 cutoff is $75 (Small Claims); a $275 spread across the 10 ranked entries.
- $350
- #1 Guardianship
- $75
- #10 cutoff
- 10
- entries ranked
This list and the counterpart fee/wait board both read stored court-schedule fields. County charges, waivers, and current local rules can differ.
Across PlainCivil's indexed coverage, 20 of 120 process-state combinations are free ($0) and fee-charging filings run $20–$1,435 in the 10 states we track. Rankings spot outliers; they are not legal advice. Verify current figures with the clerk where you plan to file, and read the linked state or process record for fee waivers and local rules.
| # | Name | Avg Fee |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Guardianship | $350 |
| 2 | Civil Lawsuit | $350 |
| 3 | Divorce | $300 |
| 4 | Property Dispute | $300 |
| 5 | Name Change | $225 |
| 6 | Probate | $200 |
| 7 | Eviction | $150 |
| 8 | Court Mediation | $150 |
| 9 | Tenant Rights | $100 |
| 10 | Small Claims | $75 |
Source: State court filing fee schedules and legal aid organizations.
Frequently Asked Questions
Are filing fees the only cost of civil processes?
No. Filing fees are just the initial cost. Additional expenses include service of process (delivering court papers to other parties), motion fees, jury fees, transcript costs, and potentially attorney fees. Total litigation costs for a civil lawsuit can range from hundreds to tens of thousands of dollars beyond the initial filing fee.
Why do guardianship filings cost so much?
Guardianship cases require extensive court involvement: background checks, investigation by court-appointed evaluators, hearings, ongoing reporting requirements, and sometimes annual reviews. Courts must protect the rights of the person whose autonomy is being limited, requiring thorough judicial oversight that drives up administrative costs.
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Read our methodology . How this data is sourced, computed, and verified.
Related
Source: Published state court fee schedules (compiled) PlainCivil state-process filing-fee database · 2026
Take this with you
Where to go next from most expensive civil process types.
- Read the guardianship guide for what the process actually involves Read the guide
- See which individual states charge the most for these processes View most expensive states
- Check a specific dollar amount against our full indexed distribution Use the fee percentile tool
Filing fees and waiting periods change; verify current figures with your local court before filing.
Fee and timeline figures on PlainCivil are rendered from the portal's state-process database compiled from published court schedules, no fee is invented for a ranking. Ranking values are aggregates of database filing-fee fields, not a separate federal disposition series. See our editorial standards & corrections policy, the methodology behind these numbers, or report a data error. Data current as of 2026-09-01. PlainCivil does not rate, rank-recommend, or advise on legal strategy, it reports what published schedules and court materials contain.
| Publisher | PlainCivil |
| Sources | Public state court datasets and federal civil-justice records |