On January 2, 2014 the filing fees for the Allegheny County Court of Common pleas -Civil and Family Divisions will increase as a result of an Administrative Order.
For the Family Division the most significant change involves custody. New custody filings will increase from $159.00 to $232.00.
This new fee which is payable to the Department of Court Records replaces the old requirement of separate payment to the Allegheny County Treasurer for “generations” education and mediation fees.
Prior to January 2, 2014, a petitioner in any new custody action had to pay $50 for the generations education and $100 for the generations mediation. The Respondent then also had to pay their education and mediation fees. However, now only the petitioner is required to pay fees at the time of filing; no fees are required from the respondent. The net result will actually be lower net filing fees for new custody actions.
Other fee increases include raising the fee for Modification of Custody from $150 to $200. The fee for filing a Complaint in Divorce has been increased from $161.50 to $174.00. Including a count for custody with a divorce complaint has increased from $7.50 to $68.50. Finally, a Defendant’s first filing fee has increased from $30 to $35. Fees for Protection from Abuse and Paternity Testing have also increased nominally.
Overall the increases for all civil filings are generally not more than about $10-15 per filing with the exception of certain fees including several custody filings.