California
Cost to sue someone in California
All-in estimate per case type — filing fees + process-server fees + attorney range. Server costs reflect California's requirement that any adult who is not a party.
| Case type | Filing fee | Server fee | Attorney | Total |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Small claims
No lawyers in many counties
|
$75 – $75 2 counties |
$75 – $150 | N/A | $150 – $225 |
| Civil case ≤ $50,000 | $370 – $370 2 counties |
$75 – $150 | $1500 – $8000 | $1945 – $8520 |
| Civil case > $50,000 | $450 – $450 1 counties |
$75 – $150 | $10000 – $50000 | $10525 – $50600 |
| Eviction filing | $240 – $240 1 counties |
$75 – $150 | $500 – $2500 | $815 – $2890 |
| Divorce (no children) | $435 – $435 1 counties |
$75 – $150 | $1500 – $6000 | $2010 – $6585 |
| Divorce (with children) | No filing-fee data yet for this case type | — | ||
Other states
Estimates only. Actual costs vary by county, case
complexity, and attorney rates. Process-server fees are typical
ranges from public directories; attorney ranges are state bar fee
surveys. Court fees come from our editorial Filing Fee dataset —
counties without published rows are not included in the band.