What It Costs to File a Virginia Small Claims Case

This is one of the procedures covered in Virginia Small Claims: Limits, Filing, and Procedure. Filing costs in Virginia small claims are simpler than in many states: a single statutory court fee, a separate sheriff service charge, and a fee-waiver path for plaintiffs without the means to pay. The numbers below come from Va. Code § 16.1-69.48:2 and the related provisions on costs and waivers.

The $36 civil warrant fee

A small claims case begins when the plaintiff files a civil warrant under Va. Code § 16.1-122.3 and pays the clerk’s fee. Subsection (B) requires the fee at filing and provides that it is “taxed as costs in the case.”

The amount is set by Va. Code § 16.1-69.48:2, which fixes a single $36 fee for any civil warrant in general district court. The statute reads: “For all court and magistrate services in each distress, detinue, interrogatory summons, unlawful detainer, civil warrant, notice of motion, garnishment, attachment issued, or other civil proceeding, the fee shall be $36.” Of that, $10 is apportioned to the Courts Technology Fund under Va. Code § 17.1-132; the rest funds general district court operations.

The $36 figure is statewide and does not vary with the amount claimed. A $400 claim and a $4,900 claim carry the same court fee, because § 16.1-69.48:2 sets a single rate for civil warrants regardless of amount. That is one structural difference between Virginia and the tiered filing-fee schedules in states like California, where the fee scales with the amount sought.

As of 2026, the $36 amount set by § 16.1-69.48:2 reflects the figure adopted in the 2022 special-session amendment to the section. Localities cannot raise the base fee. A small number of counties add modest law-library or courthouse-construction assessments to certain filings under separate statutes, and the clerk’s office in the filing locality is the source for any current local addition.

Sheriff service and other process costs

Service of the warrant on the defendant is a separate function, performed by the sheriff (or another authorized server) and billed separately from the § 16.1-69.48:2 court fee.

Sheriff service fees are set by local sheriff’s offices and typically run about $12 per defendant served; the actual amount depends on the locality and the number of attempts required. The fee is paid at filing with the court fee, and the clerk forwards the process to the sheriff in the locality where the defendant is to be served. The Virginia Judicial System maintains the directory of general district courts where service can be initiated.

A few other process costs can arise:

• Reissuance of process. Under § 16.1-69.48:2, when no service is made on a defendant, the warrant can be reissued once by changing the return date with no additional court fee, provided the reissuance happens within three months of the original return day. Sheriff service fees for the new attempt are charged again.
• Service on out-of-state defendants. Costs depend on the rules of the jurisdiction where service is made.
• Service on a corporate registered agent through the State Corporation Commission. When the registered agent cannot be served at the address on file, service can be made on the SCC Clerk’s Information System, which charges its own statutory fee.

Costs after judgment

Once the judge enters a judgment, the filing costs the plaintiff paid, the $36 court fee under § 16.1-69.48:2 plus the sheriff’s service charge, are taxed as costs in the case under § 16.1-122.3(B) and added to the judgment against the losing party. A prevailing plaintiff recovers these amounts as part of collection on the judgment. A losing plaintiff does not get them back.

Collection introduces a separate set of fees. A writ of fieri facias (execution against personal property) and a garnishment summons each carry their own $36 court fee under § 16.1-69.48:2, which lists garnishment and similar civil processes alongside the original civil warrant. Sheriff service of these post-judgment documents is billed separately on the same schedule as service of the warrant. These costs can also be taxed as costs in the case and recovered through ongoing collection.

Fee waivers for plaintiffs unable to pay

A plaintiff who cannot pay the filing fee on account of poverty can ask the court to allow the case to proceed without paying fees or costs. The governing statute is Va. Code § 17.1-606, which provides that any plaintiff who is “on account of his poverty unable to pay fees or costs” may be allowed to sue without paying them.

The statute creates two paths:

• Presumptive eligibility. A plaintiff currently receiving a state or federally funded public assistance program for the indigent, or represented by a legal aid society, is presumed unable to pay under § 17.1-606(B). The presumption is rebuttable, but the showing of current public-assistance receipt is usually enough.
• Financial-resources analysis. A plaintiff who is not presumptively eligible can still qualify if the court’s review of net income, liquid assets, and exceptional expenses shows available funds at or below 125 percent of the federal poverty guidelines for the household size, under § 17.1-606(C). The Supreme Court of Virginia distributes the current guidelines to courts each year.

The petition is filed on a Supreme Court form, Petition for Proceeding in Civil Case Without Payment of Fees or Costs (DC-409), along with the civil warrant. The clerk routes it to the judge, who acts on it before the case proceeds.

A waiver granted in small claims covers fees in that case. If either party appeals to circuit court, the appellant has to address circuit court costs separately, and the appeal bond required by Va. Code § 16.1-107 can also be addressed in the indigency petition.

When fees are refunded and when they are not

The general rule under Va. Code § 16.1-69.48:2 is that fees taxed as costs “shall not be refundable, except in case of error or as herein provided.”

A plaintiff who voluntarily dismisses the case after filing, for example, after the defendant pays the underlying claim before the hearing, does not get the $36 court fee back. The fee covers the clerk’s services in opening the case, and those services have been provided. The same applies when a case is dismissed for failure to prosecute or lack of venue.

When the clerk does make an error, collecting the wrong fee amount, or opening a case the court lacked jurisdiction to hear, § 16.1-69.48:2 permits a refund. The mechanism is administrative: the clerk’s office processes the refund on the plaintiff’s request once the error is documented.

The non-refund rule applies equally to sheriff service fees once service has been attempted. A defendant who cannot be located after multiple attempts results in time the sheriff’s office has expended, even though no service was perfected. The plaintiff can request reissuance under § 16.1-69.48:2 for no additional court fee, but the sheriff fee is not refunded.

Comparing the cost of small claims to general district court

A plaintiff with a claim of $5,000 or less can file either in the small claims division or in general district court itself, which has concurrent jurisdiction over the same money claims under Va. Code § 16.1-77(1). The filing fee is the same, the $36 under § 16.1-69.48:2 applies to “each… civil warrant… or other civil proceeding.”

What differs is procedural cost. General district court allows attorney representation; small claims prohibits it at the hearing under Va. Code § 16.1-122.4(A). For claims meaningfully above the cap, general district court (jurisdiction up to $50,000 under § 16.1-77) preserves the full claim. Filing in small claims for the $5,000 cap and waiving the excess on the warrant is permanent under Va. Code § 16.1-122.2, the foregone amount cannot be recovered later.