Can you get your Maine court filing fee waived?
Maine decides fee waivers using public benefits, or a judge's decision on your affidavit. There is no published income cutoff, so no calculator can tell you the answer. What follows is the actual standard a judge applies.
Ways to qualify in Maine
- Public benefits. Receiving TANF counts toward qualifying, often without any income showing at all.
- Inability to pay. You explain your income, expenses and debts on a sworn form, and the court decides whether paying the fee would leave you unable to cover basic needs. This route has no income cutoff.
Rule 91(a)(3) presumes inability to pay when income comes from poverty-based public assistance. Otherwise the judge reviews the CV-191 income and expense affidavit.
What to file
Maine uses the Application to Proceed Without Payment of Fees (with Financial Affidavit CV-191) (CV-067). File it at the same time as your petition or response, not after.
This page explains how Maine decides fee waivers. It is not legal advice, and it cannot tell you how a judge will rule on your case. Virdix is a document preparation service, not a law firm.
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