New court fees increase aid for low-income defendants

JEFFERSON CITY, Mo. -- In recent years, those who provide free legal help to low-income people foresaw dark budgetary times on the horizon. This year, those concerns were realized as state and federal funding dwindled for legal aid.

To offset those losses, Missouri lawmakers passed a bill this year that is expected to raise $3 million annually for legal aid by increasing some court filing fees.

"This is an absolute lifesaver for the legal services programs in Missouri," said Richard Halliburton, director of Legal Aid of Western Missouri in Kansas City. "Without this funding, we would have all been in serious trouble. We more than welcome this money."

Without the new funding, Halliburton said there was the possibility of laying off some of the 39 attorneys that work in his office, which handles cases affecting about 20,000 people annually.

Under the bill, which was signed into law Friday by Gov. Bob Holden, filing fees on certain civil and criminal cases pending before the Missouri Supreme Court and courts of appeal will increase by $20. The current costs of some filings are $50.

Also, circuit court fees that range between $100 and $150 will increase by $10 while fees in associate circuit courts will rise by $8.

"These are important services, and if there aren't enough legal aid lawyers, low-income people will go underrepresented," said Sen. Matt Bartle, the bill's sponsor and a lawyer from Lee's Summit.

Orders of protection

Many of the cases handled by legal services groups involve protective orders for battered women who cannot afford to pay for such legal work.

Missouri Supreme Court Judge Richard Teitelman said the state's highest court supported the legislation because of those needs.

"This will save the mothers and children from the terrors of domestic violence," Teitelman said during a bill signing ceremony.

The drain on funding began after the 2000 Census, when there was a change in how the federal government distributed funding based on poverty. Missouri had been getting $500,000 annually in federal legal aid.

Legal aid services also are funded by payments from lawyers overseeing trust funds. A state account for such payments has dwindled from $750,000 to about half that because of falling interest rates.

Also, $50,000 in legal aid funding from state general revenues and more than $1 million from the state tort victims fund have dried up because of ongoing state budget problems.

In 2001, the 35-member Missouri Bar Committee on Legal Services Funding -- made up of judges, lawyers and lawmakers -- recommended a court filing fee increase to pay for legal aid to the poor. Lawyers generally had opposed similar increases in the past.

"Lawyers recognize the need for legal aid for legal services for the poor," said Bartle, a Republican. "The lawyers are by and large very supportive of this."

Dale Doerhoff, president of the Missouri Bar, said the increased court filing fees are not going to hurt those who have to pay them, because people who pursue lawsuits generally have enough money to do so.

"It's not going to keep anyone from access to justice. Another few bucks on a filing is inconsequential," Doerhoff said. "It's a stable source of funding that has some relationship to the need."

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Fees bill is SB447.

On the Net:

Missouri Legislature: http://www.moga.state.mo.us