SB3831 amends the Clerks of Courts Act and the State Finance Act to increase statutory caps on filing and appearance fees in civil cases and to change how portions of those fees are remitted to state funds. The bill earmarks a $5 portion of specified fee remittances for deposit into the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund and removes a separate statutory guardianship operations fee.
The measure also creates categorical fee exemptions: it bars charging fees for accounts filed in guardianships for minors and for disabled adults under the Probate Act of 1975, and it bars fees for commitment petitions and petitions for discharge under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code. Finally, the bill repeals Section 27.3f of the Clerks of Courts Act, which previously imposed a guardianship and advocacy operations fee.
At a Glance
What It Does
Raises the maximums in the civil filing and appearance fee schedules and adjusts the statutory distribution of those fees so that a $5 share is deposited into the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund. It preserves clerks' county-retained portions and other fund earmarks while repealing a separate guardianship operations fee (Section 27.3f).
Who It Affects
Civil litigants who pay filing or appearance fees, circuit court clerks who collect and disburse those fees, counties that retain portions of fees for court operations, and the Guardianship and Advocacy Commission which receives the $5 earmark.
Why It Matters
The bill shifts how courts and the state finance guardianship and advocacy work by creating a direct, earmarked revenue stream from common civil fees while removing a prior statutory operations fee; that changes the mix of county versus state funding and has implications for access to court and administration of guardianship services.
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What This Bill Actually Does
SB3831 restructures court-fee law in two linked ways: it increases the statutory caps on civil filing and appearance fees in the fee schedules used by circuit court clerks, and it changes the distribution of certain fee remittances so a defined $5 portion flows into the statewide Guardianship and Advocacy Fund. The bill leaves in place the long-standing practice that clerks retain a portion of fees for local court operations and that other earmarks — like contributions to the Mandatory Arbitration Fund, Access to Justice Fund, and Supreme Court Special Purposes Fund — continue, but it inserts the $5 deposit as a recurring allocation from the State Treasurer on the clerk's remittance instructions.
On exemptions, the bill makes explicit that no fee may be charged for accounts filed in guardianships established for minors under Article XI of the Probate Act of 1975 or for disabled adults under Article XIa of that Act. It also forbids charging fees for commitment petitions and petitions for discharge under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.
Those carve-outs remove certain categories of highly sensitive proceedings from the general fee regime, reducing costs for parties in those matters.Administration of the new allocation happens through the State Treasurer: clerks remit designated amounts to the Treasurer who deposits funds per the clerk's instructions. SB3831 also repeals Section 27.3f of the Clerks of Courts Act, which had imposed a separate guardianship and advocacy operations fee; removing that provision reconfigures the statutory side-by-side funding mechanisms for guardianship services.
Practically, clerks, county finance officers, and the Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts will need to update collection, accounting, and remittance workflows to reflect the changed caps, the new $5 earmark, and the removed fee.The net result is a modest per-case revenue shift to the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund financed by higher routine civil fees, coupled with explicit fee relief for certain probate and mental-health filings. How those revenue changes compare to the amount previously raised under the repealed provision will determine whether the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund sees a net increase or simply a reallocation of existing streams.
The Five Things You Need to Know
The bill increases the statutory maximums for filing and appearance fees in Schedules 1–3 of the Clerks of Courts Act (the bill text contains the adjusted caps for each schedule).
It requires clerks to remit an additional $5 portion from specified filing and appearance fee remittances to the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund via the State Treasurer's deposit process.
SB3831 expressly prohibits charging filing fees for (a) accounts filed in guardianships for minors under Article XI of the Probate Act and for disabled adults under Article XIa, and (b) commitment petitions or petitions for discharge under the Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities Code.
The bill repeals Section 27.3f of the Clerks of Courts Act, eliminating a separate statutory 'guardianship and advocacy operations' fee that previously existed.
Clerks and counties retain existing local shares for court automation and county court operations; the change reorganizes only the state's remitted share and earmarks rather than eliminating local retention.
Section-by-Section Breakdown
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Purpose and deposit destination for guardianship and advocacy funding
This amendment to the State Finance Act updates the statutory description of the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund and reiterates that remitted portions of clerks' fees will be deposited into that fund. The provision frames guardianship and advocacy programs as essential and ties the new remittance path to appropriations that may be made from the Fund for legal and guardianship services, the Office of State Guardian, and related administrative bodies. Practically, it signals that the $5 earmark in the clerk-fee statute is intended to be a recurring revenue source for state-level guardianship services and not a temporary or one-off allocation.
Adjust fee schedules and add $5 earmark to distributions
This is the operational heart of the bill. SB3831 revises the fee caps in the civil filing and appearance schedules (Schedules 1–3) and modifies the disbursement lines so that, among existing earmarks, $5 is expressly directed into the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund via the State Treasurer. The provision keeps the structure where clerks retain a portion for automation and county treasurers receive a larger share for local court operations, and it preserves other fund transfers (Mandatory Arbitration Fund, Access to Justice Fund, Supreme Court Special Purposes Fund) while inserting the new $5 allocation. The section also codifies fee exemptions for certain probate accounts and mental-health petitions and preserves various other fee rules and billing mechanics (e.g., billing for units of local government in very large counties).
Repeals separate guardianship and advocacy operations fee
SB3831 removes Section 27.3f, which previously imposed a guardianship and advocacy operations fee. Repealing that provision eliminates a parallel statutory source that had been dedicated to guardianship operations. The practical effect is to consolidate statutory funding paths: rather than two discrete statutory fees for guardianship purposes (the old §27.3f fee and other remittances), the bill pivots toward using the $5 earmark within the general fee distribution framework as the routed state-level contribution. That repeal may require administrative reconciliation to map historical receipts under §27.3f into the new remittance flows.
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Explore Justice in Codify Search →Who Benefits and Who Bears the Cost
Every bill creates winners and losers. Here's who stands to gain and who bears the cost.
Who Benefits
- Guardianship and Advocacy Commission and related programs — they receive a recurring $5-per-fee earmark into the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund, increasing a predictable revenue stream earmarked for legal and guardianship services.
- Minors and disabled adults in guardianship proceedings — the bill forbids charging fees for accounts in guardianships for these groups, lowering direct costs on their estates or caregivers.
- Individuals subject to civil commitment filings — the prohibition on fees for commitment petitions and discharge petitions removes a financial barrier in sensitive mental-health proceedings.
- Legal service providers and public guardians — with an explicit revenue allocation into the Fund and the State Finance Act language authorizing appropriations, programs that provide court-based guardianship and advocacy services may gain steadier funding to support representation.
Who Bears the Cost
- Civil litigants who pay filing and appearance fees — the raised statutory caps mean higher maximum fees on routine civil filings and appearances, which will be borne by parties who initiate or appear in civil litigation.
- Counties and circuit court clerks (administratively) — clerks must adjust collection, accounting, and remittance systems to route the new earmark and to reflect the repeal of Section 27.3f; counties may face changes in cash-flow or budgeting if historical §27.3f receipts shift to state control.
- Small-scale claimants and self-represented litigants — even modest fee increases can create marginal access-to-court barriers for low-income individuals, especially in non-exempt case types.
- Administrative Office of the Illinois Courts and the State Treasurer — those offices must update rules, deposit instructions, and monthly reconciliation processes to implement the new distribution and to track the removed fee stream.
Key Issues
The Core Tension
The bill pits two legitimate goals against each other: creating a stable, state-level revenue stream to support guardianship and advocacy services versus preserving low-cost access to civil courts. Funding guardianship services via routine civil fees is administratively tidy and generates recurring dollars, but it spreads costs across all litigants and raises fees for non-exempt cases — a trade-off between sustainable service funding and minimizing financial barriers to court access.
Two implementation gaps will determine whether SB3831 strengthens guardianship services or simply reshuffles existing dollars. First, the bill creates an explicit $5 earmark for the Guardianship and Advocacy Fund but simultaneously repeals an earlier statutory fee that also funded guardianship operations.
Without a side-by-side revenue projection, it is unclear whether the new $5-per-fee allocation will net more, less, or the same funding to the Fund once court volume, fee caps, and county retentions are accounted for. Second, the bill increases statutory fee caps while carving out sensitive exemptions for guardianship and mental-health filings.
That combination reduces fee exposure for certain vulnerable proceedings but raises it for the broader pool of civil cases; the net equity effect depends on case mix and who typically brings routine civil suits.
Operationally, courts and clerks will need precise accounting changes: updating fee schedules, altering remittance instructions to the State Treasurer, and reconciling historical receipts from the repealed §27.3f. The statute presumes clean technical implementation, but ambiguous drafting in the fee-cap lines (the bill text shows paired figures and moved amounts) could produce confusion about which numeric caps apply and in which counties.
Finally, small fee increases can produce outsized access consequences for self-represented litigants. The bill's exemptions mitigate that risk in specific guardianship and mental-health contexts but do not address access issues for other low-dollar civil matters.
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