Nevada Court Filing Fees: What Courts Charge and Where to Check
Nevada sets court filing fees in statute — but in layers. A base clerk’s fee (NRS 19.013 in district court, NRS 4.060 in justice court) is stacked with statewide additions and with additions each county may adopt by ordinance. The result: the effective fee for the same filing varies from county to county. This page explains the statutory structure and links the official page where each county posts its current fee table — it does not calculate what any particular filing costs, and the linked official schedules are always the authority.
By Ask Nevada Law Editorial · Updated
How Nevada filing fees are built
Three kinds of charges combine into the number on a clerk’s fee schedule:
- Base clerk fees set statewide by statute — NRS 19.013 for district courts, NRS 4.060 for justice courts — plus small “court fees” under NRS 19.020.
- Statewide additions every clerk must collect, such as the $32 State General Fund fee (NRS 19.030) and the district-court fee schedule in NRS 19.0302.
- County-authorized additions that boards of county commissioners may (or in some cases must) impose — court security, mediation, legal aid, dispute resolution, and others. These are the reason totals differ by county.
Under NRS 19.040, every clerk of court must publish a table of fees in the office and on the clerk’s website — so the current, county-specific number is always posted at the official links in the county table below.
District court: the statutory base fees (NRS 19.013)
These are the base amounts the statute itself states — not what a filer pays at the counter, because the additions described below stack on top. Amounts are quoted from the official text of NRS 19.013(1); the table shows the most common filings, and the statute lists the rest (copies, certificates, record searches, and more).
| Filing | Statutory base fee |
|---|---|
| Commencement of an action or proceeding (except probate or guardianship), or transfer from another county’s district court | $56.00 |
| Appeal to the district court from a justice or municipal court | $42.00 |
| Appearance of a defendant (or defendants answering jointly), on their first paper | $44.00 |
| Filing a notice of appeal | $24.00 |
| Petition for letters testamentary or administration, estate valued over $2,500 (no fee at $2,500 or less) | $72.00 |
| Petition for guardianship, estate valued over $2,500 (no fee at $2,500 or less) | $5.00 |
NRS 19.020 adds small “court fees”: $3 at the commencement of a civil action, $1.50 to open an estate administration, and $5 when an appeal from a justice court reaches the district court. The statute treats these as part of commencing the case.
Statewide additions that stack on the base
NRS Chapter 19 layers further fees onto district court filings across the state:
- NRS 19.030 — $32 on the commencement of any civil action (adoptions excepted), credited to the State General Fund.
- NRS 19.0302 — a fee schedule for the benefit of the district court: $99 on commencement and $99 on a defendant’s first paper; $200 on a motion for summary judgment; $349 in constructional-defect and other “complex” actions; $1,359 in business-court matters; $135 for a third-party complaint; $349 on a motion to certify or decertify a class; $10 for writs enforcing judgments. Probate petitions scale by estate value ($352 where the estate is $300,000 or more; $99 where it is more than $20,000 but less than $300,000; nothing at $20,000 or less).
- NRS 19.031 — $25 on commencement and on answer (reduced to $14 in chapter 125 family-law actions) in each county where a legal-aid program operates, funding free legal services for indigent and elderly Nevadans.
- NRS 19.033 — $30 on the commencement of a divorce or termination of a domestic partnership, in every county.
- NRS 19.0333 — where a divorce began as a joint petition: $129 the first time a party files to modify, adjust, or enforce the final chapter 125 order, and $57 for the response.
- NRS 19.0335 — $30 for each additional plaintiff, each additional defendant named in an answer, and each additional party appearing in multi-party civil actions.
The chapter also cuts the other way: NRS 19.034 caps the total filing fee at $1 for a petition to adopt a child with special needs (with agency consent) and for certain postadoptive-contact petitions.
County-by-county additions — why the total varies
These are the fees that make one county’s schedule differ from the next’s. Some are county options; one is mandatory only in larger counties. Whether a given county has adopted each one — and at what amount within the cap — is exactly what the county’s posted fee table shows.
| Statute | Cap set by statute | Funds | Applies |
|---|---|---|---|
| NRS 19.0303 | Up to $20 | Court security programs | Any county, by ordinance |
| NRS 19.0312 | Up to $10 (up to $25 on post-final-order family motions) | Pro bono programs; legal services for abused or neglected children and domestic-violence victims | Counties charging the NRS 19.031 legal-aid fee, by ordinance |
| NRS 19.0313 | $5–$10 (mandatory) / up to $10 (optional) | Family mediation programs and neighborhood justice centers | Mandatory in counties of 100,000 or more; optional by ordinance elsewhere |
| NRS 19.03135 | Up to $10 | Substance-use prevention and treatment programs | Counties under 100,000, by ordinance |
| NRS 19.0315 | Up to $15 | Alternative dispute resolution programs | By ordinance, in judicial districts with an ADR program |
| NRS 19.033(3) | Up to $6 | County general fund (defendant-side fee) | By ordinance, on the defendant in divorce, annulment, or separate maintenance |
Because each ordinance decision is county-specific, this page does not print any county’s effective totals — the official schedules linked below are the current authority.
Justice court fees (NRS 4.060)
Justice court commencement fees are graduated by the amount claimed, per the official text of NRS 4.060(1) — again, the most common filings; the statute lists the full schedule:
| Filing | Statutory base fee |
|---|---|
| Civil action, sum claimed $2,500 or less | $50.00 |
| Civil action, over $2,500 up to $5,000 | $100.00 |
| Civil action, over $5,000 up to $10,000 | $175.00 |
| Civil action, over $10,000 up to $15,000 | $250.00 |
| Unlawful detainer (eviction) action where a notice to surrender was served under NRS 40.255 | $225.00 |
| All other civil actions | $50.00 |
| Small claims (chapter 73) affidavit and order — graduated from $45 (claims of $1,000 or less) to $175 (over $7,500 up to $10,000) | $45.00–$175.00 |
| Defendant’s appearance ($25 for each additional defendant appearing separately) | $50.00 |
| Filing a notice of appeal (and appeal bonds) | $25.00 |
| Issuance of a writ of restitution | $75.00 |
Justice court filings carry their own additions: NRS 4.063 ($5–$10 for dispute-resolution programs, mandatory in counties of 100,000 or more and optional up to $10 elsewhere), NRS 4.065 ($1 statewide on commencement and on a defendant’s appearance), and NRS 4.071 (a county option up to $10 for pro bono and domestic-violence legal-services programs). So justice court totals, too, vary by county.
Fee waivers exist: NRS 12.015
Nevada law provides a way to litigate without paying court costs. NRS 12.015 lets a person file an application — on a form the court provides — to proceed as an indigent litigant, or submit a statement that they are a client of a legal-aid program. The statute directs the court to allow the case to proceed without costs where the applicant receives public assistance, has household net income at or below 150 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, has necessary living expenses that exceed income, or shows other compelling reasons. When an application is granted, the sheriff serves papers without charge, and filing the application tolls a defendant’s time to respond while the court decides it. The statewide Nevada Courts Self-Help Center and the Clark County Civil Law Self-Help Center publish the forms and plain-language explanations of how courts handle these applications.
Where each county posts its current fees
NRS 19.040 requires every clerk of court to post the fee table on the clerk’s website. The links below go to each county’s official district court or clerk page (or its dedicated fee page, where one exists). For the full court directory for any county — justice courts, self-help, law libraries — see its page in our Nevada Courts by County directory.
All links checked against official sources on July 16, 2026. If a link stops working, the Nevada Judiciary’s Find a Court locator lists current contact pages for every court in the state.