50-State Criminal Justice Debt Reform Builder Bringing transparency to areas of significant legal complexity.
Collections Infrastructure
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 conflicts of interest policy recommendations in CJPP’s Policy Guide
Who may collect
Below are the collections infrastructure provisions that meet your search criteria.
15 Results
| State | Statute | Description/Statute Name | Statutory language | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
North Carolina | N.C. Gen. Stat. Ann § 7A-321(b)(2) | Collection of offender fines and fees assessed by the court; collection assistance fee |
(b) In attempting to collect the fines, fees, costs, and restitution owed by offenders not sentenced to supervised probation or active time, the Administrative Office of the Courts may do the following: . . . (2) Enter into contracts with a collection agency, agencies, or municipal or county government agencies to collect unpaid amounts owed. The Administrative Office of the Courts may provide by such contract for the collection assistance fee to be retained by the agency or agencies that collect the amounts owed.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 28 § 102(b)(12) | Commissioner of Corrections; appointment; powers; responsibilities |
(b) The Commissioner is charged with the following powers: (12) To enter into contracts with private collection agencies for the collection of supervisory fees imposed by this title and fines, penalties, and restitution imposed under Title 13. The Commissioner may agree to pay collection agencies a fixed rate for services rendered or a percentage of the amount collected which shall be added to any amounts and may be recovered as an administrative cost of collection. Any such fixed rate or percentage may be deducted directly by the collection agency on a pro rata basis from any portion of the money so collected.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 7171 | Collection by complaint, information, or indictment |
(a) Fines, forfeitures, and penalties incurred or imposed by statute may be recovered by complaint, information, or indictment, unless some other mode of recovery is specially provided. (b) The court administrator is authorized to contract with private collection agencies for collection of penalties, fines, surcharges, court costs, and any other assessment authorized by law incurred or imposed by statute on persons who fail to pay, at or after time of judgment, after notice that failure to pay the debt will result in the debt being referred to a collection agency and that the debtor will be liable for the collection agency's fee. The court administrator may agree to pay collection agencies a fee based on a fixed rate for services rendered or a percentage of the amount actually collected by such agencies and remitted to the state. The debtor shall be liable for the collection agency's fee, in addition to the judgment amount. The collection agency shall deduct its fee from the collected amount and remit the balance to the judiciary. All collection agency fees shall be governed by the contract with the court administrator and shall be clearly disclosed in all notices sent by the collection agency to the debtor.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 28 § 7180(b),(e) | Remedies for failure to pay fines, costs, surcharges, and penalties |
(b) Collection of amount due. -- If an amount due remains unpaid for 75 days after the court provides the defendant with a notice of judgment, the court may refer the matter to a designated collection agency or initiate civil contempt proceedings pursuant to this section.
(e) Notwithstanding 32 V.S.A. § 502, the Court Administrator is authorized to contract with a third party to collect fines, penalties, and fees by credit card, debit card, charge card, prepaid card, stored value card, and direct bank account withdrawals or transfers, as authorized by 32 V.S.A. § 583, and to add on and collect or charge against collections a processing charge in an amount approved by the Court Administrator. |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. § 7043(f)(2) | Restitution |
(2) The Department of Corrections shall work collaboratively with the Restitution Unit to assist with the collection of restitution. The Department shall provide the Restitution Unit with information about the location and employment status of the offender.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 4 § 1109(d),(f) | Remedies for failure to pay; contempt |
(d) Collections. (1) If an amount due remains unpaid after the issuance of a notice of judgment, the Court Administrator may authorize the clerk of the Judicial Bureau to refer the matter to a designated collection agency. (2) The Court Administrator or the Court Administrator's designee is authorized to contract with one or more collection agencies for the purpose of collecting unpaid Judicial Bureau judgments pursuant to 13 V.S.A. § 7171.
(f) Notwithstanding 32 V.S.A. § 502, the Court Administrator is authorized to contract with a third party to collect fines, penalties, and fees by credit card, debit card, charge card, prepaid card, stored value card, and direct bank account withdrawals or transfers, as authorized by 32 V.S.A. § 583, and to add on and collect, or charge against collections, a processing charge in an amount approved by the Court Administrator. |
|
Add to Dashboard
|
Vermont | Vt. Stat. Ann. tit. 13 § 354(g)(1) | Enforcement; possession of abused animal; searches and seizures; forfeiture |
(g)(1) If the defendant is convicted of criminal charges under this chapter or if an order of forfeiture is entered against an owner under this section, the defendant or owner shall be required to repay all reasonable costs incurred by the custodial caregiver for caring for the animal, including veterinary expenses. The Restitution Unit within the Center for Crime Victim Services is authorized to collect the funds owed by the defendant or owner on behalf of the custodial caregiver or a governmental agency that has contracted or paid for custodial care in the same manner as restitution is collected pursuant to section 7043 of this title.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 59-1-29 | Collection of such fees |
Each clerk of the county commission, sheriff, clerk of the circuit court and prosecuting attorney shall have charge of and collect the fees, costs, percentages, penalties, commissions, allowances, compensation, income and all other perquisites of whatever kind which are now or may hereafter be allowed by law. Whenever there remain due the county and unpaid, for a period of more than six months, any fees, costs, percentages, penalties, commissions, allowances, compensation, income or any other perquisites of any kind, it shall be the duty of the county commission, or other tribunal in lieu thereof, by the prosecuting attorney, to proceed to the collection thereof in the circuit court or magistrate court, upon motion whereof the defendant and the sureties on his bond shall have at least twenty days’ notice, or in any other manner provided for by law, and the amount so collected shall be paid into the county treasury to the credit of the general county fund.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 62-4-8 | Duties of prosecuting attorney in relation to fines |
It shall be the duty of the prosecuting attorney of every county to institute and prosecute in the circuit court, or other court having jurisdiction thereof, as the case may be, proper proceedings for the recovery of all fines imposed by law, where the cases are cognizable in such court. He shall superintend the issuing of executions on judgments for fines rendered by such courts, and cause all delinquencies in relation to the service or return of such executions to be duly prosecuted. If judgment be rendered by the circuit or other court for a fine, whether with or without imprisonment, a docket fee of ten dollars for the prosecuting attorney’s services, but payable into the county treasury, shall be taxed in the costs against the offender.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 62-4-4 | Recovery of fines before justice [magistrate] or in court |
Where a fine alone is imposed, if it be in a case mentioned in section one [§ 50-18-1, repealed], article eighteen, chapter fifty of this code, it may be recovered upon warrant of a justice [magistrate] having jurisdiction; and whether so mentioned or not, it may be recovered by presentment or indictment in the circuit court, or other court of record having jurisdiction in criminal cases, in the county wherein the offense was committed.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 62-4-11 | Fieri facias for collection of fines |
On every judgment for a fine rendered by a circuit court, or other court of record having jurisdiction in criminal cases, if no special order be made by the court or judge, the clerk of the court shall issue a writ of fieri facias immediately after the term at which such judgment was rendered. And unless paid in court, a payment to any person other than the officer who holds the execution shall not discharge the judgment.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 50-3-6 | Collection of costs and fines |
On motion of the prosecuting attorney, the magistrate court may issue execution or employ other means of enforcing judgment to collect fines and costs imposed in proceedings before the court and tax the cost thereof as a part of the execution or other process. Such execution or other process shall be directed to the sheriff for collection. The sheriff shall collect the fees prescribed for his services from the party from whom the fine or costs are being collected. Money so collected shall be paid by the sheriff to the magistrate court and shall be paid by the magistrate court in the manner provided by law.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 59-1-21 | Fee bills of county clerk. |
The clerk of the county court may make out tickets for his fees and place them in the hands of the sheriff, or other officer, to be collected and accounted for in the same manner that the fees of the clerk of the circuit court are collected and accounted for. The clerk of the county court shall be subject to the same penalties as the clerk of the circuit court for issuing fee bills wrongfully.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 59-1-24 | Collection of fees; receipt. |
Every officer mentioned in this article shall, on or before the first day of July in any year, deliver fee bills for all fees then due and unpaid, duly signed, to any sheriff or collector of the public taxes, who shall receive and endeavor to collect the same. A sheriff or collector may distrain therefor, or for any fee bills due himself, such property of the person to whom the fees are charged as might be levied on under a writ of fieri facias against him, except as hereinafter mentioned, and the fourteenth [§ 11-9-14], fifteenth [§ 11-9-15] and sixteenth [§ 11-9-16] sections of article nine chapter eleven of this Code shall apply to such fee bills in like manner as to taxes. Every such officer shall deliver to each person who pays him, or from whose property he makes such fees, a receipt for all that is so paid or made.
|
|
Add to Dashboard
|
West Virginia | W. Va. Code § 59-1-12 | Payment of fines by credit card or payment plan |
A circuit court may accept credit cards in payment of all fines, cost, forfeiture, restitution or penalties. The Supreme Court of Appeals shall adopt rules regarding the use of credit or check cards to pay fines, and any charges made by the credit card company may be paid from the gross credit card collections.
|