Does Tennessee's $75 court-cost charge for parenting-plan and child-support actions also apply to motions filed in a still-pending divorce?

Plain-English summary

Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-21-401 sets a tiered schedule of court costs to be charged by chancery and circuit court clerks at the start of various civil cases. The default is $225, but several lower amounts apply to specific categories. One of those is § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E), which directs a $75 cost in "child support enforcement and modification, including interstate support cases and civil contempt actions, and requests for modification of a parenting plan."

Rep. Jimmy Eldridge asked whether that $75 charge also applies to motions filed inside an already-pending divorce case, like a motion to modify the parenting plan or to enforce a child-support order entered as a temporary order during the divorce. AG Slatery answered no.

The reasoning rests on two distinctions. First, the statute talks in terms of "actions," and an "action" in Tennessee civil procedure is a lawsuit initiated by filing a complaint (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 1, 2, 3). A motion is not an action; it is a request for a ruling within a pending action (Tenn. R. Civ. P. 7.02). Second, the statute charges a "standard court cost," which the rest of § 8-21-401(b) makes clear is the at-institution charge for filing a case, not a per-motion fee. Filing fees for motions, where they are authorized at all, are a separate category of litigation cost (referenced by Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-12-119(c)(2)).

So a parent filing a motion within an open divorce to enforce or modify support, or to modify a parenting plan, does not pay the § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) cost again. The cost was charged when the divorce action itself was instituted (under § 8-21-401(b)(1)(B), the divorce-specific cost).

Currency note

This opinion was issued in 2017. Subsequent statutory amendments, court decisions, or later AG opinions may have changed the analysis. Treat this page as historical context, not current legal advice. Verify current law before relying on any specific rule, deadline, or remedy mentioned here.

Tennessee's clerks' fee schedule has been amended in subsequent legislative sessions. Anyone calculating current charges should look up the present version of § 8-21-401 and any local supplemental fees adopted under separate authority.

Common questions

Q: What is the $75 charge for then?
A: It is the standard court cost charged once, at the institution (filing) of specific stand-alone actions: child support enforcement, child support modification (including interstate cases and civil contempt actions seeking support), and standalone requests to modify a parenting plan. If a parent files a new petition outside any pending divorce to modify a parenting plan or enforce support, the $75 cost applies.

Q: What does "standard court cost" mean?
A: Tennessee distinguishes between "court costs" and broader "litigation costs" (Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-12-119(c)(2)). Court costs are the costs charged by the clerk to operate the case. The whole structure of § 8-21-401(b) sets out variations of this single at-institution charge depending on the type of case.

Q: Why isn't a motion treated like a new action?
A: Tennessee Rule of Civil Procedure 1, 2, and 3 provide that a civil action is commenced by filing a complaint. Rule 7.02 separately defines a motion as an application for a court order in a pending action. Different concepts, different fee treatment.

Q: I filed a divorce; my spouse and I disagree about the parenting plan and child support. Will I be charged the $75 to file a motion?
A: Under this opinion, no. The clerk's standard court cost was already charged when the divorce was filed. A motion to modify the parenting plan or to enforce or modify child support inside that pending divorce does not trigger another standard cost under § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E).

Q: Could a clerk still charge any fee at all for filing a motion?
A: That depends on whether some other statute or local rule authorizes a motion filing fee. The opinion notes that motion filing fees, when they exist, are a separate component of litigation cost from the "standard court cost" addressed by § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E). The opinion does not opine on whether any specific motion fee is authorized in any particular court.

Q: Does this apply outside divorce cases?
A: The opinion's reasoning is general. The $75 standard court cost in § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) is tied to the initiation of the listed actions. Motions filed within other types of pending actions are similarly outside its scope.

Background and statutory framework

Section 8-21-401(b) sets the clerks' fee schedule for civil cases in chancery and circuit court. The default is § 8-21-401(b)(1)(A), a $225 standard court cost. The other paragraphs lower that amount for specific case types: $200 for divorces involving minor children, $125 for divorces without minor children, $150 for workers' compensation actions and certain appeals, and $100 for adoptions, legitimations, paternity actions, terminations of parental rights, foreign-judgment enforcement, and orders of protection.

The $75 in (b)(1)(E) covers "child support enforcement and modification, including interstate support cases and civil contempt actions, and requests for modification of a parenting plan." Each of those is a stand-alone action that a parent or the State files at the clerk. The standard court cost attaches at filing.

A motion is procedurally a different animal. Civil Rule 7.02 covers motions: an application made within an existing case for an order. The opinion treats this distinction as decisive: § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) speaks of "actions," not motions, and the rest of the same fee schedule confirms that "standard court cost" attaches "at the institution" of the action.

The opinion also notes the conceptual distinction between "court costs" and broader "litigation costs" (§ 20-12-119(c)(2)). Filing fees for motions, when authorized, fall in the broader litigation-cost bucket.

Citations

• Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(A)–(E) (standard court costs by case type)
• Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-12-119(c)(2) (court costs as one component of litigation costs)
• Tenn. R. Civ. P. 1, 2, 3 (initiation of civil action)
• Tenn. R. Civ. P. 7.02 (motions)

Source

• Landing page: https://www.tn.gov/attorneygeneral/opinions.html
• Original PDF: https://www.tn.gov/content/dam/tn/attorneygeneral/documents/ops/2017/op17-004.pdf

Original opinion text

STATE OF TENNESSEE
OFFICE OF THE ATTORNEY GENERAL
January 18, 2017

Opinion No. 17-04

Court Cost Charges Required by Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E)

Question
Does the $75.00 filing fee required by Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) apply to motions to modify parenting plans or to enforce or modify child support orders while the original divorce proceeding is still pending?

Opinion
No, the $75 fee provided in Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) is a standard court cost charge and does not apply to the filing of motions in pending divorce actions.

ANALYSIS

Tennessee Code Annotated § 8-21-401 sets a schedule of fees to be charged by court clerks in various types of cases. Clerks' fees for civil cases in circuit and chancery court are scheduled in Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b). "Unless otherwise provided," chancery and circuit court clerks are required to charge a "standard court cost" of $225 "at the institution" of all "civil actions." Id. § 401(b)(1)(A).

Subsections (b)(1)(B) through (E) do in fact provide otherwise by lowering the amount of the court cost to be charged in some civil actions. Clerks are required to charge "a standard court cost" of $200 "at the institution" of a divorce case involving minor children (id. at (b)(1)(B)) and "a standard court cost" of $125 if the case does not involve minor children (id.). A "standard court cost" charge of $150 applies "at the institution" of cases such as workers' compensation actions and appeals to circuit or chancery court from other trial courts and administrative bodies. (Id. at (b)(1)(C)). Clerks must charge a "standard court cost" of $100 "at the institution" of yet other "actions," including adoptions, legitimations, paternity, termination of parental rights, enforcement of foreign judgments, and orders of protection. Id. at (b)(1)(D)). And

[i]n the following specific actions, the clerk shall charge a standard court cost of seventy-five dollars ($75.00): child support enforcement and modification, including interstate support cases and civil contempt actions, and requests for modification of a parenting plan.

Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) (emphasis added).

By its terms, Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) applies to "actions." An "action" is a lawsuit, which is initiated by filing a complaint with the clerk of the court. See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 1, 2, and 3. A "motion" is not an action. Rather, a motion is an application in a pending action requesting a court to make a particular ruling. See Tenn. R. Civ. P. 7.02.

By its terms, Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) addresses only "standard court costs." Court costs are not coextensive with all litigation costs. See, e.g., Tenn. Code Ann. § 20-12-119(c)(2) (indicating that "court costs" are just one of many components of "litigation costs"). Litigation costs are all costs actually incurred due to the proceedings that result from bringing an action. Id. Court costs are one such litigation cost. Filing fees for motions, when such fees are authorized, are another, separate component of litigation costs. Moreover, in the context of Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b) taken as a whole, the term "standard court cost" refers to the court costs normally associated with the initiation of an action in chancery or circuit court, and does not include filing fees for motions.

Thus, according to the plain language of Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E), the $75 charge is just the "standard court cost," like all the other court costs specified in Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b), associated with bringing an "action." It is not a fee for filing a motion in an action that is already pending.

In sum, when the statutory scheme is taken as a whole and the language of 401(b)(1)(E) is given its plain and normal meaning, the $75 court-cost charge in Tenn. Code Ann. § 8-21-401(b)(1)(E) applies only to the specified "actions." It does not apply to the filing of motions in pending divorce cases.

HERBERT H. SLATERY III
Attorney General and Reporter

ANDRÉE SOPHIA BLUMSTEIN
Solicitor General

KATHERINE DIX
Special Counsel

Requested by:
The Honorable Jimmy Eldridge
State Representative
208 War Memorial Building
Nashville, TN 37243