Bailiff service and execution fees

This service gives fee information to clients who have civil matters in the magistrates court and want documents served or enforcement processes carried out.

You can use this free search function to find the fees for having:

• a bailiff or licensed commercial agent serve a magistrates court civil document—generally a claim and statement of claim—on a party you have started civil action against
• an enforcement officer carry out or execute an enforcement process, such as an enforcement warrant, within the civil jurisdiction of the magistrates court.

The fee is the maximum amount that may be claimed from the court—you won’t be able to claim more if you use a private company that may have charged a higher fee to serve your documents instead of a bailiff.

Who serves and executes enforcement of documents

A bailiff is appointed by the magistrates court to serve and enforce the process, judgments and orders authorised by the Magistrates Courts Act 1921 (Opens in new window) .

Alternatively, you may pay a field agent, subagent or commercial agent licensed  to serve documents by the Office of Fair Trading.

Costs

Bailiffs charge the allowable fees outlined on this website, while external agents are not limited to these fees.

If a magistrates court grants costs, it will allow only these set fees to be paid—even if the agent used charged more than the court's fee.

Use the search function to find the allowable fees and the amounts you can claim. You can also find these in schedule 2, part 2 of the Uniform Civil Procedure (Fees) Regulation 2019 (Opens in new window) .

The regulation also explains what other fees can be charged, such as additional travelling fees required to serve or execute the documents.

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