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Filing and other fees

The difference between fees and costs

Knowing the difference between fees and costs may affect your decision to bring or continue a proceeding in the Federal Court of Australia. A general outline is given here – if you have any further queries you should seek legal advice.

Fees

Fees are set out in the Federal Court of Australia Regulations 2004. The Regulations are made by the Federal Government. They impose filing fees, setting down fees and hearing fees for an application or appeal filed in the Court. These Court fees are different from the fees that lawyers charge their clients.

A full list of the fees that are payable in the Federal Court of Australia are available on this website.

A filing fee applies to the following human rights forms:

If you cannot afford this fee you may be able to ask the Court to reduce it*. You can get a form to ask the Court to reduce payment and information about the circumstances where a reduction can be given on the Exemption and reduction of fees pages or from the Registry.

* Note: Up to October 2010, the Court could waive Court fees in some circumstances. Changes to the Federal Court of Australia Regulations 2004 introduced on 1 November 2010 means the Court can no longer waive fees; the Court can however, reduce the payment of Court fees if it will result in financial hardship.

Costs

Costs are dealt with in Part 40 of the Federal Court Rules 2011.

Parties may employ lawyers (barristers or solicitors) to represent them in a proceeding. These lawyers usually charge their clients for their services (fees) and expenses that they have paid on the client’s behalf (disbursements). Disbursements may include court fees. Together these charges are known as costs.

The usual rule is that at the end of a proceeding the unsuccessful party pays the costs (ie the fees and disbursements) of the other party. For example, in a migration matter, if the applicant is unsuccessful, the usual rule is that they will be ordered to pay the costs of the Minister. If the Minister is unsuccessful, the usual rule is that the Minister will be ordered to pay the costs of the applicant.

A person who has had their fees reduced can still be ordered to pay the costs of another party.

The amount of costs that an unsuccessful party will be ordered to pay is usually limited to the amount set out in the scale found in Schedule 3 of the Federal Court Rules. A Registrar of the Court will usually be involved in the calculation of this amount.

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