2012 Connecticut General Statutes
Title 52 - Civil Actions
Chapter 901 - Damages, Costs and Fees
Section 52-261 - Fees and expenses of officers and persons serving process or performing other duties.

(a) Except as provided in subsection (b) of this section and section 52-261a, each officer or person who serves process, summons or attachments shall receive a fee of not more than thirty dollars for each process served and an additional fee of thirty dollars for the second and each subsequent service of such process, except that such officer or person shall receive an additional fee of ten dollars for each subsequent service of such process at the same address or for notification of the office of the Attorney General in dissolution and postjudgment proceedings if a party or child is receiving public assistance. Each such officer or person shall also receive the fee set by the Department of Administrative Services for state employees for each mile of travel, to be computed from the place where such officer or person received the process to the place of service, and thence in the case of civil process to the place of return. If more than one process is served on one person at one time by any such officer or person, the total cost of travel for the service shall be the same as for the service of one process only. Each officer or person who serves process shall also receive the moneys actually paid for town clerk’s fees on the service of process. Any officer or person required to summon jurors by personal service of a warrant to attend court shall receive for the first ten miles of travel while so engaged, such mileage to be computed from the place where such officer or person receives the process to the place of service, twenty-five cents for each mile, and for each additional mile, ten cents. For summoning any juror to attend court otherwise than by personal service of the warrant, such officer or person shall receive only the sum of fifty cents and actual disbursements necessarily expended by such officer or person in making service thereof as directed. Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, for summoning grand jurors, such officer or person shall receive only such officer’s or person’s actual expenses and such reasonable sum for services as are taxed by the court. The following fees shall be allowed and paid: (1) For taking bail or bail bond, one dollar; (2) for copies of writs and complaints, exclusive of endorsements, one dollar per page, not to exceed a total amount of nine hundred dollars in any particular matter; (3) for endorsements, forty cents per page or fraction thereof; (4) for service of a warrant for the seizure of intoxicating liquors, or for posting and leaving notices after the seizure, or for the destruction or delivery of any such liquors under order of court, twenty dollars; (5) for the removal and custody of such liquors so seized, reasonable expenses, and twenty dollars; (6) for the levy of an execution, when the money is actually collected and paid over, or the debt or a portion of the debt is secured by the officer, fifteen per cent on the amount of the execution, provided the minimum fee for such execution shall be thirty dollars; (7) on the levy of an execution on real property and on application for sale of personal property attached, to each appraiser, for each half day of actual service, reasonable and customary expenses; (8) for causing an execution levied on real property to be recorded, fees for travel, twenty dollars and costs; (9) for services on an application for the sale of personal property attached, or in selling mortgaged property foreclosed under a decree of court, the same fees as for similar services on executions; (10) for committing any person to a community correctional center, in civil actions, twenty-one cents a mile for travel, from the place of the court to the community correctional center, in lieu of all other expenses; and (11) for summoning and attending a jury for reassessing damages or benefits on a highway, three dollars a day. The court shall tax as costs a reasonable amount for the care of property held by any officer under attachment or execution. The officer serving any attachment or execution may claim compensation for time and expenses of any person, in keeping, securing or removing property taken thereon, provided such officer shall make out a bill. The bill shall specify the labor done, and by whom, the time spent, the travel, the money paid, if any, and to whom and for what. The compensation for the services shall be reasonable and customary and the amount of expenses and shall be taxed by the court with the costs.

(b) Each officer or person shall receive the following fees: (1) For service of an execution on a summary process judgment, not more than fifty dollars; and (2) for removal under section 47a-42 of a defendant or other occupant bound by a summary process judgment, and the possessions and personal effects of such defendant or other occupant, not more than seventy-five dollars per hour.

(1949 Rev., S. 3622; 1953, S. 1979d; 1959, P.A. 28, S. 178; 152, S. 75; 615, S. 10; 1961, P.A. 122; 311; February, 1965, P.A. 574, S. 42; 1969, P.A. 297; P.A. 74-183, S. 92, 291; P.A. 75-479, S. 1, 25; P.A. 81-80, S. 1; 81-410, S. 5; P.A. 82-160, S. 132; P.A. 91-350, S. 2; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-11, S. 60, 65; P.A. 99-157, S. 3; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9, S. 69, 131; P.A. 03-224, S. 10.)

History: 1959 acts deleted provisions for attending trials before justice of the peace and excepted state employees in classified service from payment for arrest in criminal cases; 1961 acts added proviso setting cost of travel at same amount where one, or more than one, process is served on one person at one time and added fee for setting prisoner at bar of circuit court for trial on indictment or information; 1965 act deleted reference to setting prisoner at bar of criminal court of common pleas, its criminal jurisdiction having been abolished; 1969 act substituted “community correctional center” for “jail”; P.A. 74-183 removed reference to personal service of warrant summoning juror “under the provisions of section 51-230” and replaced circuit court with court of common pleas, reflecting transfer of circuit court functions to common pleas court, effective December 1, 1974; P.A. 75-479 amended provisions to add proviso allowing increased mileage allowance where more than one prisoner is transported at same time and to delete reference to fee for setting prisoner at bar of superior court or court of common pleas for trial on one indictment or information; P.A. 81-80 increased the fee for service of process to not more than $20 for each process served and an additional $5 for the second and each subsequent defendant upon whom process is served, increased the fee for copies of writs and complaints from $0.60 to $1.00 per page; increased the fee for levying an execution from 3% to 6% on the amount of execution and exempted officers or persons who serve process for the state or transport prisoners from the provisions of this section, deleting former provisions re fees for transporting and holding prisoners, etc.; P.A. 81-410 eliminated provision re fee of 2% of execution when execution is levied on the body of the debtor and he is committed to a community correctional center; P.A. 82-160 rephrased the section and inserted Subdiv. indicators; P.A. 91-350 added “summons or attachments” after “process”, increased fee for second and subsequent defendant upon whom process is served from $5 to $10, increased fee for travel from $0.20 to $0.21 for each mile, deleted fee of $0.20 for serving summons or attachment by reading or copy, added limit of $900 in any particular matter for fees for copies of writs and complaints, increased fee for service of warrant and seizure of liquor from $1.00 to $20, increased the fee for removal and custody of seized liquor from $1.00 to $20, increased the fee for levying an execution from 6% to 10% of the amount of execution and added a minimum fee of $20, deleted specific fees for levy of execution on real property and added “reasonable and customary expenses”, increased fee for recording execution on real property from $0.50 to $20 and costs, increased fee for committing person to correctional center in civil actions from $0.20 to $0.21 a mile for travel and changed the compensation for services of property held by any officer under attachment or execution from “fixed on the basis of two dollars per hour” to “reasonable and customary”; June 18 Sp. Sess. P.A. 97-11 changed travel allowance from $0.21 per mile to fee set by Department of Administrative Services for state employees per mile, effective July 1, 1997; P.A. 99-157 designated existing provisions as Subsec. (a) and amended said Subsec. to add exception re Subsec. (b) and make provisions gender neutral and added new Subsec. (b) to establish maximum fee of $50 for service of an execution on a summary process judgment and $75 per hour for removal of a tenant or occupant and such tenant’s or occupant’s property after a summary process judgment; June Sp. Sess. P.A. 01-9 amended Subsec. (a) to increase fee for service of process, summons or attachment from $20 to $30, effective July 1, 2001; P.A. 03-224 amended Subsec. (a) by making technical changes, increasing fee for second and each subsequent service of process from $10 to $30, adding provision re additional $10 fee for subsequent service of process at the same address or notification of the office of the Attorney General re party or child receiving public assistance and, in Subdiv. (6), adding “or a portion of the debt is”, deleting “to the acceptance of the creditor”, increasing percentage amount of execution from 10% to 15% and increasing minimum fee from $20 to $30, effective July 2, 2003.

See Sec. 12-162(c) re fees for execution of alias tax warrant.