When You Cannot Pay
Fla. Stat. 28.246 — a payment plan presumed affordable at two percent of net income a month, or twenty-five dollars
Partial payments. Each clerk of the circuit court accepts partial payments of court fees, costs and fines under an established payment plan, and enters into a plan with anyone the court finds indigent for costs.
What a plan can ask. A monthly payment is presumed to correspond to the person's ability to pay if it does not exceed the greater of two percent of annual net income divided by 12, or twenty-five dollars. A down payment to start a plan is the lesser of 10 percent of the total or $100.
After release. A person released from incarceration with outstanding court obligations contacts the clerk within 30 days after release to pay in full or apply for a payment plan.
Restitution to a victim, license holds for unpaid fines, and the constitutional rule against jailing someone only for being poor are not set out on this page. What a court will do in a particular case is a question for a licensed Florida attorney.
Sources for this section (1)
- Fla. Stat. 28.246 — Payment plans for court fines and costs
Legal information, not legal advice. Verified as of September 2026. Applying it to a particular situation is the work of a licensed Florida attorney.