Court filing paperwork and a pen on a table, representing the filing, sheriff's, motion, and certification fees paid to the court in a Philippine annulment or nullity case

Court Filing Fees and Other Court Costs in a Philippine Annulment or Nullity Case

When people research annulment costs, most of the attention goes to attorney’s fees and psychological evaluations. But every petition for annulment or declaration of nullity also carries a separate, smaller set of court-imposed charges: the filing (docket) fee paid when the petition is lodged, the sheriff’s fee for serving summons and other court processes, fees attached to certain motions, and fees for certified copies and certifications you will need along the way. These are the fees the government itself sets — under Rule 141 of the Rules of Court — as opposed to attorney’s fees, which are privately negotiated. This guide explains what each of these court-imposed fees actually covers, why you should not treat any single peso figure you find online as current, and where to get the exact, up-to-date amount before you file.

Direct Answer

Court filing fees, sheriff’s fees, certain motion fees, and certification fees for a Philippine annulment or nullity petition are all fixed by the Supreme Court under Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, not by the lawyer you hire. Rule 141 has been amended multiple times since it was first adopted — substantially in 2004, and periodically since through Supreme Court resolutions and Office of the Court Administrator (OCA) circulars that adjust legal-fee collection. Because of that history of repeated revision, this guide does not quote a specific current peso amount for any of these fees: a number copied from an older source, or from a source that does not state its effective date, is a common way petitioners end up under-budgeting. The reliable way to get the current, correct amount is to ask the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court (Family Court) where you will file for its current computation sheet, or to have your lawyer or a duly authorized PAO counsel obtain it for you. This guide instead explains what each fee category covers, what drives it up or down, and how indigent litigants may be exempted from paying it altogether.

Decision Snapshot

  • Applies to: Anyone about to file, or already litigating, a petition for annulment or declaration of nullity of marriage in a Philippine Family Court.
  • What this covers: The court-imposed fees only — filing/docket fee, sheriff’s fee, certain motion fees, and certification/certified-true-copy fees. It does not cover attorney’s fees or a psychological evaluation.
  • Who sets these fees: The Supreme Court, under Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, as periodically amended.
  • Why no peso figure appears here: Rule 141’s fee schedule has been revised more than once since it was first adopted, and this guide could not this run verify a single current, dated figure precise enough to publish responsibly — see “Why You Will See Different Numbers Online” below.
  • Free option: Indigent litigants who meet Rule 141’s own income-and-property test are exempted from these fees entirely, independent of PAO representation.

Key Takeaways

  • Filing/docket fees, sheriff’s fees, certain motion fees, and certification fees are the court’s own charges — fixed by Rule 141 of the Rules of Court, not negotiated with your lawyer.
  • Rule 141 has been amended more than once since its original 2000 text, most substantially in 2004, and the Supreme Court and OCA continue to issue circulars adjusting legal-fee collection — so any specific peso figure you see online may already be outdated.
  • Part of what you pay under Rule 141 is allocated to statutory funds — the Judiciary Development Fund and the Special Allowance for the Judiciary Fund — and a separate Legal Research Fund surcharge applies on top of the base fee.
  • The sheriff’s fee covers actual service of court processes (summons, subpoenas, writs) and, in enforcement proceedings, a commission on money actually collected — it is a distinct line item from the filing fee.
  • Most ordinary motions in an annulment case carry no separate fee; a fee applies mainly to specific motions such as repeated postponements after pre-trial.
  • Certified true copies of pleadings, orders, and the final decision — which you will need for PSA annotation — carry a small per-page fee plus a certification charge.
  • Litigants who meet Rule 141’s own indigency test (an income ceiling tied to the minimum wage, and real property with a fair market value not exceeding ₱300,000) are exempt from all these fees by right, not by discretion.
  • The only reliable source for the current, exact amount is the Office of the Clerk of Court where you will file — not a blog, a law firm’s marketing page, or an old printed schedule.

In This Guide

Authority What it governs Relevance to these fees
Rules of Court, Rule 141 (Legal Fees), originally adopted 2000 and substantially amended by A.M. No. 04-2-04-SC (effective August 16, 2004), with further periodic adjustments The schedule of court filing/docket fees, sheriff’s fees, fees for specified motions, and certification fees The single governing source for every fee described in this guide; because it has been amended more than once, only the current text at the courthouse where you file controls
Presidential Decree No. 1949, Establishing a Judiciary Development Fund Creation of the Judiciary Development Fund (JDF), funded in part by legal fees collected under Rule 141 Explains why part of your filing fee is allocated to the JDF rather than being a single undivided “court fee”
Republic Act No. 9227, Granting Additional Compensation in the Form of Special Allowances for Justices, Judges and Other Judiciary Personnel Creation of the Special Allowance for the Judiciary Fund (SAJF), also funded through legal fees collected under Rule 141 A second statutory fund that legal fees are allocated to, alongside the JDF
Republic Act No. 3870, as amended by Presidential Decree No. 200 and Presidential Decree No. 1856 (Legal Research Fund) A statutory surcharge on legal fees collected by courts and certain other government offices, funding the UP Law Center’s legal research program Explains the additional “legal research fee” line item that appears on top of the base filing fee
Rule 141, Section 19 (Indigent litigants exempt from payment of legal fees), as construed in Spouses Algura v. The Local Government Unit of the City of Naga, G.R. No. 150135 (April 16, 2009) Who qualifies for a mandatory exemption from all fees under Rule 141, and how courts apply the test Provides the legal basis for a litigant to pay nothing at all under Rule 141, independent of whether they are represented by PAO or private counsel
A.M. No. 02-11-10-SC, Rule on Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages (2003) Procedure and venue for the underlying petition Identifies the Family Court as the office where these fees are assessed and paid, and the procedural points (filing, service of summons, motions, judgment) at which they arise

What These Court Fees Actually Cover

A petitioner filing for annulment or declaration of nullity encounters court-imposed fees at several distinct points in the case, not as a single lump payment. The largest of these is the filing or docket fee, assessed by the Office of the Clerk of Court when the petition is first filed. Under Rule 141, this fee is not a single undivided charge — it is composed of several statutorily allocated components, most notably a contribution to the Judiciary Development Fund created under Presidential Decree No. 1949, a contribution to the Special Allowance for the Judiciary Fund created under Republic Act No. 9227, and a Legal Research Fund surcharge collected under Republic Act No. 3870. Depending on the specific relief sought in the petition — for example, if it also asks the court to rule on the division of property — an additional, separately computed fee tied to that relief may apply. Because each of these components is set out in the current, amended text of Rule 141 and its implementing circulars rather than in a single easy-to-quote figure, the Clerk of Court’s own computation sheet — not a generic online chart — is the only way to get an accurate total for your specific petition.

The Sheriff’s Fee

Separate from the filing fee is the sheriff’s fee, which compensates the court’s own sheriff or process server for physically serving summons on the respondent, serving subpoenas on witnesses, and, at the enforcement stage of certain proceedings, executing writs. Rule 141 sets this fee by the type of process served — a fee for each defendant served with summons, a fee for each witness served with a subpoena, and separate fees for executing specific writs — rather than as a single flat charge. In an annulment or nullity case, the sheriff’s fee becomes especially relevant if the respondent cannot be personally served: the court may then order summons served by publication, which involves its own separate newspaper publication cost on top of, not instead of, the sheriff’s fee for the underlying service attempt. For the full procedure and requirements for that scenario, see FamilyCode.ph’s guide to serving summons by publication when your spouse cannot be located. Where a case involves enforcement of a money judgment — for instance, collecting on an award of support in arrears — Rule 141 also provides for a sheriff’s commission calculated as a percentage of the amount actually collected, again set out in the current schedule rather than quoted here.

Fees for Motions

Most motions filed in the ordinary course of an annulment or nullity case — for example, a motion to admit a late pleading for good cause, or a motion for extension of time filed before pre-trial — do not carry a separate court fee under Rule 141; the underlying filing fee already covers the case as a whole. The clearest fee-bearing exception is a motion for postponement filed after the pre-trial stage has been completed: Rule 141 imposes a specific fee for the first such motion and a further fee for each subsequent postponement motion, precisely because repeated post-trial postponements consume court time that the fee is meant to discourage. Rule 141 also allows the court to waive this particular fee where the postponement is justified by a genuinely valid cause (for example, a party’s sudden illness) rather than mere convenience. Because this is one of the provisions most frequently revised, confirm the current amount with the Clerk of Court, or ask your counsel, before filing a late-stage postponement motion.

Certified Copies and Certification Fees

At multiple points in and after your case, you will need certified true copies of court records — most importantly, the certificate of finality and the decision itself, which you will submit to the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) and the local civil registrar for annotation once the case is final. Rule 141 sets a per-page fee for producing a certified copy of any paper, record, decree, or judgment, plus a separate flat certification fee for the certifying stamp itself. Courts of the first level (Metropolitan, Municipal, and Municipal Circuit Trial Courts) and courts of the Regional Trial Court level, where annulment and nullity petitions are actually filed, have historically had separately stated per-page rates under Rule 141, so do not assume the fee at a first-level court and the fee at the Family Court handling your annulment case are identical. Budget for at least one certified copy of the decision and the certificate of finality, and ask the Clerk of Court in advance how many certified copies you are likely to need for PSA annotation, remarriage documentation, and any other post-decision use.

Why You Will See Different Numbers Online

Rule 141’s original 2000 text set comparatively small peso amounts for these fees. That text was substantially revised by A.M. No. 04-2-04-SC, which the Supreme Court approved on July 20, 2004 and made effective August 16, 2004, raising most fee amounts significantly. Since then, the Supreme Court and the Office of the Court Administrator have continued to issue resolutions and circulars that adjust legal-fee collection and implementation — this guide identified several such OCA circulars issued in 2023, 2024, and 2025 alone, confirming that adjustment is an ongoing, not one-time, process. Because of this repeated history of amendment, a specific peso figure published on any website — including a law firm’s marketing page, a cost calculator, or an older version of this very guide — may reflect an earlier version of the schedule rather than the amount actually in effect today. This guide deliberately does not publish a specific current figure for any of the fees described above, consistent with FamilyCode.ph’s policy of not stating a number it cannot verify as current at the time of publication. For the amount that will actually apply to your petition, ask the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court (Family Court) where you intend to file for its current computation sheet, which reflects whichever Supreme Court resolution and OCA circular is presently in force.

Free of Charge: The Indigent-Litigant Exemption

Rule 141 itself provides a mandatory exemption from all the fees described in this guide for litigants who qualify as indigent — a benefit that exists independently of, and in addition to, PAO representation. In Spouses Algura v. The Local Government Unit of the City of Naga (G.R. No. 150135, April 16, 2009), the Supreme Court explained how this exemption works in two tiers. Under the first tier, set out in Rule 141, Section 19 itself, an applicant whose gross income (combined with that of their immediate family) does not exceed double the monthly minimum wage of an employee, and who does not own real property with a fair market value of more than ₱300,000, is automatically entitled to the exemption — the court has no discretion to deny it once those two conditions are shown. Under the second tier, drawn from Rule 3, Section 21 of the Rules of Court, an applicant who does not meet those specific numeric thresholds may still ask the court for a hearing on indigency under a more flexible standard — whether the applicant lacks money or property sufficient for their own and their family’s food, shelter, and other basic necessities. This exemption is separate from qualifying for free legal representation through the Public Attorney’s Office, though many petitioners who qualify for one will qualify for the other; see FamilyCode.ph’s dedicated guide to free legal assistance through PAO for PAO’s own income-based test and application process.

What These Fees Do Not Cover

The fees described in this guide are only the court’s own charges. They do not include your lawyer’s acceptance fee, per-appearance fee, or any success or completion fee — those are privately negotiated and are the largest cost component in most cases; see FamilyCode.ph’s guide to how annulment lawyers charge and structure their fees. They also do not include the market-rate professional fee for a psychological evaluation or expert witness testimony in Article 36 cases, or the newspaper’s own publication charge when summons is served by publication, which is a cost the newspaper sets, not the court. For the full picture of every cost component in an annulment or nullity case and how uncontested and contested cases compare, see FamilyCode.ph’s overview guide to annulment cost in the Philippines.

Common Misunderstandings

  • “The filing fee is a single flat amount.” It is not. It is composed of several separately allocated statutory components (JDF, SAJF, Legal Research Fund, and others), and an additional fee applies if the petition also seeks a ruling on property division.
  • “A number I found on a law firm’s website is the current fee.” Treat any online figure with caution unless it states the exact Supreme Court resolution or OCA circular it is based on and the date that issuance took effect. Rule 141 has been revised more than once, and older figures remain in wide circulation online.
  • “PAO clients still have to pay court fees.” Not necessarily. A litigant who qualifies as indigent under Rule 141, Section 19 is exempt from these fees by right — a benefit distinct from PAO’s own free-representation service, though the two commonly overlap.
  • “There’s no fee at all for filing a motion.” Most routine motions carry no separate fee, but specific motions — most notably repeated postponement motions filed after pre-trial — do carry a fee under Rule 141.

Practical Checklist

  1. Before filing, ask the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court (Family Court) where you will file for its current fee computation sheet for a petition for annulment or declaration of nullity.
  2. Ask specifically whether your petition, as drafted, will also trigger an additional fee for property-related relief.
  3. Check whether you meet Rule 141’s own indigency thresholds (income tied to the minimum wage; real property not exceeding ₱300,000 in fair market value) before assuming you must pay these fees at all.
  4. If PAO is representing you, ask your PAO lawyer directly whether the indigent-litigant fee exemption has been applied to your case.
  5. If summons will likely need to be served by publication, ask the Clerk of Court which sheriff’s fee applies to that attempted service, separate from the newspaper’s own publication charge.
  6. Confirm in advance how many certified true copies of the decision and certificate of finality you will need for PSA annotation, and budget for the per-page and certification fees for each.
  7. Keep official receipts for every court fee paid — you may need to account for them later, including in connection with PSA annotation or any subsequent proceeding.

Frequently Asked Questions

Are court filing fees for annulment the same nationwide?

The fee schedule itself is set nationally by the Supreme Court under Rule 141, so it does not vary by province in the way attorney’s fees might. However, incidental costs that ride alongside the filing fee — such as newspaper publication charges when summons is served by publication — can vary by location.

Why doesn’t this guide state the exact current filing fee amount?

Rule 141’s fee schedule has been amended multiple times since it was first adopted, most substantially in 2004, and the Supreme Court and the Office of the Court Administrator continue to issue circulars adjusting legal-fee collection. This guide could not verify a single, precisely dated current figure reliably enough to publish it as fact, so it directs readers to the Clerk of Court instead, consistent with FamilyCode.ph’s policy against publishing unverified figures.

Is the sheriff’s fee the same as the filing fee?

No. The filing fee is assessed once, when the petition is filed, and funds the case generally. The sheriff’s fee is a separate charge tied specifically to the physical service of summons, subpoenas, or writs, and is assessed per act of service.

Do I have to pay a fee every time I file a motion?

No. Most routine motions in an annulment case carry no separate fee under Rule 141. A fee applies mainly to specific motions, most notably repeated motions for postponement filed after the pre-trial stage has been completed.

Can these fees be waived if I cannot afford them?

Yes, if you qualify as an indigent litigant under Rule 141, Section 19, or under the more flexible indigency test in Rule 3, Section 21 of the Rules of Court, as explained by the Supreme Court in Spouses Algura v. LGU of Naga. This exemption applies to the court fees themselves and is separate from, though often paired with, free legal representation through PAO.

Where do I get the exact current amount before I file?

From the Office of the Clerk of Court of the Regional Trial Court (Family Court) where you intend to file your petition. Ask for its current computation sheet for a petition for annulment or declaration of nullity, which will reflect whichever Supreme Court resolution and OCA circular is presently in effect.

Related Guides

Sources and Legal Citations

Statutes and codes

  • Presidential Decree No. 1949, Establishing a Judiciary Development Fund — Supreme Court E-Library
  • Republic Act No. 9227, Granting Additional Compensation in the Form of Special Allowances for the Judiciary — Official Gazette
  • Republic Act No. 3870, as amended by P.D. No. 200 and P.D. No. 1856 (Legal Research Fund) — Supreme Court E-Library

Supreme Court rules and jurisprudence

  • Rules of Court, Rule 141 (Legal Fees), as periodically amended — full text via LawPhil
  • A.M. No. 02-11-10-SC, Rule on Declaration of Absolute Nullity of Void Marriages and Annulment of Voidable Marriages (2003) — full text via LawPhil
  • Spouses Algura v. The Local Government Unit of the City of Naga, G.R. No. 150135, April 16, 2009 — Supreme Court E-Library

Official agency material

  • Office of the Court Administrator, circulars on legal fee collection (issued periodically; confirm the currently effective circular with the Clerk of Court) — oca.judiciary.gov.ph
  • Public Attorney’s Office, official eligibility and services information — pao.gov.ph

Sources rechecked as of: September 9, 2026

This article is general legal information for the Philippines and is not legal advice. It deliberately does not state specific current peso amounts for court filing fees, sheriff’s fees, motion fees, or certification fees, because Rule 141 of the Rules of Court has been amended more than once and this guide could not verify a single current figure precise enough to publish as fact. For the exact amount that applies to your petition, consult the Office of the Clerk of Court where you will file, a Philippine lawyer, or, if you qualify, the Public Attorney’s Office.

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