New Court Filing Convenience Fees

The Florida state court e-filing portal is increasing the convenience fees associated with filing documents through the portal, effective tomorrow, and with very little notice. The Portal is not really fully functional when it comes to initiating appeals — they haven’t quite figured out how to accept the portion of the filing fee that goes to the District Courts of Appeal, and only some Circuits accept the portion of the fee that goes to the Circuit Court Clerk. But clients and attorneys alike should be aware of these new charges, in addition to the statutory fee amounts.

The announcement sent out Tuesday states:

Today, the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority voted to increase the convenience fee associated with filings. Effective July 1, 2016, the rates will increase to $5.00 per filing when paying with echeck and 3.5% when paying with a credit card. The increased fees were deemed necessary to cover expenses associated with the operational costs of payments and transactions. To implement this change, the portal will be unavailable on 6/30/2016 from 9PM until midnight eastern time zone.
For further information, please visit https://www.myflcourtaccess.com/ to review documents and other meeting information.