HB 4097 Text

ENROLLED
H. B. 4097

(By Delegates Staton, Amores, Kominar and Pino)

[Passed March 9, 2004; in effect ninety days from passage.]

AN ACT to amend and reenact §59-1-11 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, relating to clarifying those persons or entities responsible for paying certain fees assessed by the clerk of a circuit court for processing of criminal bonds and bailpiece.

Be it enacted by the Legislature of West Virginia:
That §59-1-11 of the code of West Virginia, 1931, as amended, be amended and reenacted to read as follows:
ARTICLE 1. FEES AND ALLOWANCES.
§59-1-11. Fees to be charged by clerk of circuit court.
(a) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect for services rendered as such clerk the following fees, and such fees shall be paid in advance by the parties for whom such services are to be rendered:
(1) For instituting any civil action under the rules of civil procedure, any statutory summary proceeding, any extraordinary remedy, the docketing of civil appeals or any other action, cause, suit or proceeding, one hundred twenty-five dollars, of which thirty dollars of that amount shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code and ten dollars shall be deposited in the special revenue account created in section six hundred three, article twenty-six, chapter forty-eight of this code to provide legal services for domestic violence victims;
(2) For instituting an action for medical professional liability, two hundred sixty dollars, of which ten dollars of that amount shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(3) Beginning on and after the first day of July, one thousand nine hundred ninety-nine, for instituting an action for divorce, separate maintenance or annulment, one hundred thirty-five dollars;
(4) For petitioning for the modification of an order involving child custody, child visitation, child support or spousal support, eighty-five dollars; and
(5) For petitioning for an expedited modification of a child support order, thirty-five dollars.
(b) In addition to the foregoing fees, the following fees shall likewise be charged and collected:
(1) For preparing an abstract of judgment, five dollars;
(2) For any transcript, copy or paper made by the clerk for use in any other court or otherwise to go out of the office, for each page, fifty cents;
(3) For action on suggestion, ten dollars;
(4) For issuing an execution, ten dollars;
(5) For issuing or renewing a suggestee execution, including copies, postage, registered or certified mail fees and the fee provided by section four, article five-a, chapter thirty-eight of this code, three dollars;
(6) For vacation or modification of a suggestee execution, one dollar;
(7) For docketing and issuing an execution on a transcript of judgment from magistrate's court, three dollars;
(8) For arranging the papers in a certified question, writ of error, appeal or removal to any other court, ten dollars, of which five dollars of that amount shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code;
(9) For postage and express and for sending or receiving decrees, orders or records, by mail or express, three times the amount of the postage or express charges;
(10) For each subpoena, on the part of either plaintiff or defendant, to be paid by the party requesting the same, fifty cents;
(11) For additional service (plaintiff or appellant) where any case remains on the docket longer than three years, for each additional year or part year, twenty dollars.
(c) The clerk shall tax the following fees for services in any criminal case against any defendant convicted in such court:
(1) In the case of any misdemeanor, fifty-five dollars;
(2) In the case of any felony, seventy-five dollars, of which ten dollars of that amount shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(d) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect a fee of twenty-five dollars per bond for services rendered by the clerk for processing of criminal bonds, and the fee shall be paid at the time of issuance by the person or entity set forth below:
(1) For cash bonds, the fee shall be paid by the person tendering cash as bond;
(2) For recognizance bonds secured by real estate, the fee shall be paid by the owner of the real estate serving as surety;
(3) For recognizance bonds secured by a surety company, the fee shall be paid by the surety company;
(4) For ten percent recognizance bonds with surety, the fee shall be paid by the person serving as surety; and
(5) For ten percent recognizance bonds without surety, the fee shall be paid by the person tendering ten percent of the bail amount.
In instances in which the total of the bond is posted by more than one bond instrument, the above fee shall be collected at the time of issuance of each bond instrument processed by the clerk, and all fees collected pursuant to this subsection (d) shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code. Nothing in this subsection (d) may be construed as authorizing the clerk to collect the above fee from any person for the processing of a personal recognizance bond; and
(e) The clerk of a circuit court shall charge and collect a fee of ten dollars for services rendered by the clerk for processing of bailpiece, and the fee shall be paid by the surety at the time of issuance. All fees collected pursuant to this subsection (e) shall be deposited in the courthouse facilities improvement fund created by section six, article twenty-six, chapter twenty-nine of this code.
(f) No such clerk shall be required to handle or accept for disbursement any fees, cost or amounts, of any other officer or party not payable into the county treasury, except it be on order of the court or in compliance with the provisions of law governing such fees, costs or accounts.

Print On Demand