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waiving of the filing fee
Waiving the Filing Fee
There are certain circumstances where it may be possible to ask the court to waive the filing fee for a motion or petition. If a person meets the qualification for the waiving of the filing fee they can file their motion/petition without paying the $65.00 or $225.00 respectively. This section provides a step by step guide on how to ask the court to waive the filing fee.
There are two reasons why the fee can be waived.
First, if you receive any of these benefits, fee's can be automatically waived using JDF209(Notice of Waiver of Fee) below:
-Aid to Blind
-Aid to Needy and Disabled
-Old Age Pension A or B
-Supplemental Social Security (SSI)
If your household income is lower than 125% of the poverty level you can also request that the court waives the filing fee.
Detailed information on the poverty line by household size can be found here:
To file without the payment of the filing fee you would complete JDF205 and JDF206 which can be found below. Directions on how to complete the form can be found in the next section below.
Other information
You'll want to contact the court where you are filing to ensure you have the proper income documentation(if required). Some courts have different documentation requirements than others.
Motion to file without payment of filing fee
Filing without the payment of the fee
The motion to file without payment of the filing fee can be broken down into four sections.
-Case caption Information
-Applicant Information
-Other responsible party information
-Financial affidavit
Case Caption INformation
Case Caption Information
The case caption information should be similar to the other court documentation you have completed.
The first thing you'll want to do is select which court you are filing in and provide both the county and the court address.
Under Plaintiff/Petitioner you'll want to enter: "The State of Colorado"
Depending upon where and what you are filing you will either provide a case number or you will not:
-If you are filing a single motion to seal a single case you would use the case number for the case.
-If you are filing a petition to seal multiple cases in one court the court will provide the case number.
In the next section you'll want to select(check) why you are filing the motion. Most likely it will be to file without payment of the filing fee however this form can also be used to ask the court to waive other costs owed to the state.
In the paragraph below the case caption, you'll want to insert your name and check what document you are asking the court to waive fee's for(either a petition or motion in this case)
Applicant Information
Applicant Information
The next section of the motion to file without payment of the filing fee is the applicant information. How this is completed will depend upon your living situation. If you live alone and no one else provides you support you can complete the "Name of Applicant" section.
If you have a spouse, partner, parent, or another person that contributes directly financially to YOUR household you will need to provide their information as well. This would not include roommates unless you are comingling funds (you have access to their income and visa versa). There is more information on what can be counted as income below.
Before filling this out you will want to collect and have ready the following information for you and the other responsible party (if applicable):
- Social security # (applicant and other responsible party)
- Drivers license and state (applicant and other responsible party)
- Most recent employer name (applicant and other responsible party)
- Most recent employer phone number (applicant and other responsible party)
- Most recent employer address (applicant and other responsible party)
- Dates worked for most recent employer (applicant and other responsible party)
- Hours per week (applicant and other responsible party)
- Pay rate (applicant and other responsible party)
- How you were paid (weekly, biweekly, monthly, etc.) (applicant and other responsible party)
- Marital status (you)
- Number in household (you)
income and expenses
Monthly Income and Expenses
The final section to be completed for the request to waive the filing fee is the income and expenses section. In this section you will provide the court with a snapshot view of your current assets and liabilities. It is broken into two columns namely "income" and "expenses"
The first section in first column is income
In this section you will list your income and other responsible party income(if applicable)
Income includes:
Wages (including tips)/commissions/independent contractor payments/bonuses/dividends/severance/pensions/retirement benefits/royalties/Interest/investment earnings/trust income/annuities/capital gains/unemployment benefits/social security disability (SSD)/social security supplemental income (SSI)/workman's compensation/alimony
The second section is liquid assets. This includes:
Cash
Bank account balances(name and address is also required to the right)
Stock, bonds and other investments(type of investment and location of the investment is required to the right)
The third section is non-liquid assets. This would include things like vehicles and housing. As per the form, you'll want to estimate the value of these items.
"Other property" could include things that could be sold for cash without risking your job or housing.
For vehicles, year make and license plate are required to the right.
For property, amount owed and year purchased are required to the right.
The next column on the form is expenses. Not all expenses are eligible. Only expenses required for basic subsistence such as for food and housing. However, maintenance/alimony and child support payments can be entered on the form.
Finding and order
Finding and Order Concerning the Payment of Filing Fees
The final documentation that needs to be filed with the Motion to File Without the Payment of the Filing Fee is the Finding and Order Concerning Payment of Filing Fees. This can be filed with the motion.
The information here is identical the information on the case caption portion of the motion.
The first thing you'll want to do is select which court you are filing in and provide both the county and the court address.
Under Plaintiff/Petitioner you'll want to enter: "The State of Colorado"
Depending upon where and what you are filing, you will either provide a case number or you will not:
-If you are filing a single motion to seal a single case you would use the case number for the case.
-If you are filing a petition to seal multiple cases the court will provide the case number.
Finally, you'll want to enter your name and the date filed in the portion immediately below the case caption.
