Under General Order 20-031, the Clerk of Court is authorized to issue refunds for online payments made using Pay.gov, resulting in:
- Duplicate Payments – for example, filing fee, annual attorney registration fee, attorney admission fee, or certificate of good standing fee paid more than once resulting in two or more identical credit card charges; or
- Erroneous Payments – for example, payment of the wrong amount or made in the wrong case.
A person requesting a refund must complete the Refund Request Form, save the completed form as a PDF document, and file the form using the court’s CM/ECF system. A refund may not be processed if the Pay.gov Tracking ID numbers are not included in the Refund Request Form.
In newly filed cases, please wait 24-48 hours to request a refund because the case will need to be opened in CM/ECF before a refund can be issued. The completed form will be a restricted entry in the court’s CM/ECF system and will be unavailable to the public. If the court discovers an erroneous filing for which a fee has not yet been collected, the court may correct the erroneous filing administratively and not collect the fee.
Authorized refunds for credit card or debit card payments will be processed through Pay.gov. Authorized refunds of ACH payments will be issued by check through the U.S. Treasury. A waiting period of up to 30 days may be required before the approval of any request. In no event will the Clerk of Court issue a cash refund. If a person or law firm repeatedly requests refunds for mistakes made when paying fees online, the Clerk of Court may request that the court order remedial action, which may include requiring the person to take additional CM/ECF training.
To request a refund for a duplicate or erroneous payment made in a civil case, please review these instructions.
To request a refund for a duplicate or erroneous payment made in a criminal case, please review these instructions.
To request a refund for a duplicate or erroneous payment made for attorney admission or annual attorney registration, please review these instructions.
To request a refund for a duplicate or erroneous payment made when requesting a certificate of good standing, please review these instructions.