Data Explorer: Ability to pay | 50 State Criminal Justice Debt Tool

Ability to Pay

Keyword search across all of the laws in the states. Subject-area tabs above allow you to narrow results. Click the advanced search for further refinement.

Every law can be saved to the Reform Builder

See all ability to pay policy recommendations in CJPP’s Policy Guide

Below are the ability to pay laws that meet your search criteria. Many include a See related provisions prompt which searches our database for laws that may pertain to your result.

13 Results

Export results to Excel

	State	Statute	Description/Statute Name	Statutory language	Level of offense	Definition of ability to pay	Timeline	Burden of proof	Method of determination	Mandatory	Remedies if unable to pay
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. § 651-B:11(II)	Registration Fee	An offender who cannot afford to pay the fee shall, within 10 days of registration, request a waiver of the fee and a hearing on the matter before the commissioner. + See more In order to be considered for a waiver, the offender shall submit a financial affidavit on a form provided by the department. The division may at its discretion request such a waiver on behalf of an offender. If such a request is made, the commissioner shall promptly schedule and conduct a hearing pursuant to rules adopted under RSA 541-A, unless the commissioner or commissioner's designee determines a hearing is not necessary and waives the fee based on the offender's financial affidavit, or at the written request of the division. At the hearing, the burden shall be on the offender to prove that he or she is indigent. The offender may appeal the commissioner's decision to the superior court. Under no circumstances shall the offender's request for a hearing or indigence relieve the offender of the obligation to register as required pursuant to this chapter.	All	Indigent	At defendant's request at enforcement	Burden on defendant to show inability to pay	Administrative decision	Yes	Fee waiver
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 623-B:2(I),(IV)	Civil Actions by Inmates; Filing Fees and Court Costs.	I. An inmate who commences any civil action or proceeding is responsible for all court fees and costs. IV. Nothing in this section shall prohibit an inmate from filing a civil action + See more or proceeding if the inmate is indigent.	All	Indigent	Not provided for	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	N/A
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 604-A:9(I)	Repayment	I. Any adult defendant who has had counsel or a public defender assigned to the defendant at the expense of the state shall be ordered by the court under paragraph I-b + See more to repay the state through the unit of cost containment, the fees and expenses paid by the state on the defendant's behalf according to a schedule established by the administrator of the cost containment unit with the approval of the administrative justices of the courts on such terms as the court may order consistent with the defendant's present or future ability to pay, such ability to be determined by the unit of cost containment . . . At no time shall the defendant be required to repay, for legal services, an amount greater than the state's flat rate for a contract attorney as established contractually pursuant to RSA 604-B. If the defendant is placed on probation or sentenced to a period of conditional discharge, the defendant shall repay the state, through the department of corrections, all fees and expenses paid on his behalf on such terms as the court may order consistent with the defendant's present or future ability to pay.	All	Present or future ability to pay, as determined by the unit of cost containment.	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	Payment plan and reduced costs
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 651:63	Restitution Authorized	Restitution may be ordered regardless of the offender's ability to pay and regardless of the availability of other compensation; however, restitution is not intended to compensate the victim more than + See more once for the same injury.	All	Not provided for	Not provided for	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	N/A
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. Ann. § 516:16-a	Defaults; Witness Fees for Law Enforcement Officers	Any person who defaults on a scheduled court appearance on a motor vehicle offense shall be responsible for paying the current witness fee for any law enforcement officer required to + See more attend such appearance, unless the court determines that such person is indigent.	Traffic	Indigent	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Determined by judge without hearing	Yes	Not specified
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. § 604-A:2-c	Determination of Financial Ability	The determination of a defendant's financial ability to obtain counsel shall be made by comparing the defendant's assets and incomes with the minimum cost of obtaining qualified private counsel. The + See more defendant's assets shall include all real and personal property owned in any manner by the defendant, excluding only those assets which are exempt from attachment and execution under RSA 511:2. The defendant's income shall include all income, whether earned or not, from any source, unless exempt from attachment under any state or federal law, and shall be reduced only by the amount of expenses which are reasonably necessary for the maintenance of the defendant and his dependents. In determining a defendant's financial ability to obtain counsel, the rules adopted by the commissioner under RSA 604-A:10, IV, shall contain a method for considering the defendant's ability to borrow some or all of the necessary funds. The rules shall also consider the possibility of the defendant paying his counsel fees in periodic installments.	All	Comparison of the defendant's assets and incomes with the minimum cost of obtaining qualified private counsel.	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	Installment plan
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. § 499:18-b	Waiver of Court Costs and Fees	Except as otherwise specifically provided by the rules of the court, any person, by reason of poverty, may seek relief from the payment of any fees provided by law which + See more are payable to any court, clerk of court, or sheriff. The court, upon the application of such person, which application may be filed without fee, may, in its discretion, order the payment of such fees waived. In any case in which a person is represented by a legal aid society, a federally funded legal services project, or counsel assigned in accordance with the rules of the court, all filing costs shall be waived by the clerk without the necessity of a court order. Fees for the service of process by sheriffs shall be a charge against the state.	All	Poverty	At defendant's request before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Other	Yes	Fee waiver
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. § 604-A:9(I)(b)	Repayment	The court shall enter a separate order, pursuant to the rules adopted by the commissioner of administrative services under RSA 604-A:10, IV, setting forth the terms of repayment of fees + See more and expenses to the state, or if the court finds that the defendant is financially unable to make such payment or payments setting forth the reasons therefor. A copy of each order shall be forwarded to the commissioner of administrative services. Any defendant subject to an order under this section may petition the court for relief from the obligation imposed by this section, which may be granted only upon a finding that the defendant is unable to comply with the terms of the court's order or any modification of the order by the court. If the court does not order full payment for representation under RSA 604-A, the commissioner of administrative services or his designee shall perform an investigation to determine the defendant's present financial condition and his ability to make repayment and may petition the court for a new repayment order at any time within 6 years from the date of the original order.	All	Not provided for	Not provided for	Not provided for	Determined by judge without hearing	Yes	N/A
Add to Dashboard + Create New	New Hampshire	N.H. Rev. Stat. § 622:31-a	Medical Care; Inmate Copayment Required	An inmate shall not be refused medical treatment for financial reasons.	All	N/A	At enforcement of fine or fee	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	Not provided for
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Vermont	Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 7180(c)(3),(4)(C)	Remedies for failure to pay fines, costs, surcharges, and penalties	(c) Civil contempt proceeding. (3) Hearing. -- The hearing shall be conducted in a summary manner. The court shall examine the defendant and any other witnesses and may require the defendant + See more to produce documents relevant to the defendant's ability to pay the amount due. Evidence is admissible if it is of a type commonly relied upon by a reasonably prudent person in the conduct of his or her affairs. The Vermont Rules of Evidence shall not apply except that the rules related to privilege shall apply. The State shall not be a party except with the permission of the court. The defendant may be represented by counsel at the defendant's own expense. (4)(C) If the court concludes that the defendant is not in contempt because the defendant does not have the ability to pay the amount due, the court may: (i) suspend all or any part of the amount due in the interests of justice, except that the court may not waive surcharges imposed pursuant to section 7282 of this title; (ii) order the defendant to participate in the Restorative Justice Program conducted by a community reparative board and direct the reparative board to determine an appropriate amount of community service to be performed in lieu of all or part of the amount due.	All	Not provided for	At enforcement of fine or fee	Burden on defendant to show inability to pay	Determined by judge after hearing	Yes	Suspend all or any part of the amount due in the interests of justice, except that the court may not waive surcharges imposed pursuant to section 7282 of this title; + See more order the defendant to participate in the Restorative Justice Program conducted by a community reparative board and direct the reparative board to determine an appropriate amount of community service to be performed in lieu of all or part of the amount due.
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Vermont	Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 2022	Bad checks	A person who issues or passes a check or similar sight order for the payment of money, knowing that it will not be honored by the drawee, shall be imprisoned + See more for not more than one year or fined not more than $ 1,000.00, or both. The court shall order restitution in the amount of the check or order, together with a service charge not to exceed $ 5.00, if it is established that the defendant has the ability to pay.	Misdemeanor	Not provided for	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	No restitution or service charge ordered
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Vermont	Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 7043(d)(2),(e)(1)	Restitution	(d) In awarding restitution, the Court shall make findings with respect to: . . . (2) The offender's current ability to pay restitution, based on all financial information available to + See more the Court, including information provided by the offender. (e)(1) An order of restitution shall establish the amount of the material loss incurred by the victim, which shall be the restitution judgment order. In the event the offender is unable to pay the restitution judgment order at the time of sentencing, the court shall establish a restitution payment schedule for the offender based upon the offender's current and reasonably foreseeable ability to pay, subject to modification under subsection (l) of this section.	All	Not provided for	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Determined by judge after hearing	Yes	Payment plan
Add to Dashboard + Create New	Vermont	Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 5238(b)	Co-payment and reimbursement orders	(b) The court shall require any person assigned counsel pursuant to section 5236 of this title to pay for all or part of the cost of representation based upon his or + See more her ability to pay. Unless the person and cohabiting family members are found to be financially unable to pay, in all cases the court shall order a minimum payment of $ 50.00. (f) A person who may be or has been ordered to pay all or part of the cost of representation by co-payment or reimbursement order may at any time petition the court making the order for remission of all of the amount or any part thereof. If it appears to the satisfaction of the court that payment of the amount due will impose manifest hardships on the defendant or the defendant's immediate family or that the circumstances of case disposition and the interests of justice so require, the court may remit all or part of the amount due or modify the method of payment.	All	Manifest hardships on the defendant or the defendant's immediate family or that the circumstances of case disposition and the interests of justice so require	Before imposition of fine or fee	Not provided for	Not provided for	Yes	Not having to pay the cost or minimum fee for representation; court may remit all or part of the amount due or modify the method of payment.

Ability to Pay

Timeline

Burden of proof

Method of determination

Mandatory

Narrrow results

Level of Offense

Ability to Pay

State

Keyword search

Reset

Timeline

Burden of proof

Method of determination

Mandatory

Narrrow results

Level of Offense