New law increases court fees in Florida - Tampa Bay Business Journal:

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Senate Bill 1718 increases the $295 filingg fee on all civil actions, suits or proceedings in circuity courtsto $395. Foreclosure case fees will now be baserd on asliding scale, ranging from $395 to depending on the value of the property or mortgager claim. The new fees are intended to produce revenue for the amove that’s getting mixes reactions from local attorneys. At issuee is the fact that $80 of the fees from all types of cases will go tothe state’s generap revenue fund, which can be used for anything. In the fees charged by the court systenm typically funded onlyjudicial programs. there were about 385,30o9 foreclosures in 2008, which woulde have translated into $30.
8 million had the fee been in placelast year. “The basic problem here is the Legislature is usingh the judicial system as a funding sourcefor non-judiciaol programs,” said John Fisher, an attorney with Orlando-basedc . The bill’s fee changes also come at a time when foreclosuree are atan all-time high in Florida, whicb ranks No. 1 in the United States in foreclosurew inventory, the said. The change could leaver lenders witha “massiver new fee to even start down the to resolve unpaid said Wade Vose, a partner at the Winter Park-basecd .
All real estate-related cases — including construction liens, boundary disputes betweenm property owners and other dispute over realestate — will be Vose said. The sliding-scale fees, depending on the valuew of the property ormortgage claim, mean someonre filing a claim on propertu or a mortgage valued at: $50,000 or less will pay $50,001 to $250,000 will pay $900. $250,001 or more will pay The same rates apply to anyone filinva counterclaim, counterpetition or third-party complaint for any real estate-related The higher fees may deter new case filings by thoser who can’t afford the increased costs, said And although most cases will get filesd regardless of the fees, increasing the cost may make some people feel their acces s to the courts is limited, he Ed Loos III, a partner and shareholder in the Orlandp office of Fort Lauderdale-basefd Greenspoon Marder, said the new fees shouldn’ deter mortgage lenders from filing because, in the end, a $1 ,909 fee is outweighed by a $250,000 or more claim, and the fee will be includecd in the judgment.
Van Bogan, chief executivr officer of , said the changes won’t stop his bank from filing a claim. However, the fee increase will be a short-term fix to the state’se budgetary problems because foreclosure filings will drop once the market recovers, Bogan said. Until then, “the consumer will bear the brunytof it.” Added Vose: “Part of the way real estate corrects itself is through litigation of thesed issues, and the fees seem counterproductivr to helping work out the real estate imbalance in Florida.
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