Under Section 8001 of New York’s Consolidated Laws, any person compelled to testify or produce documents in court must be served a witness fee along with the subpoena. A witness fee is a compensation paid to a witness for their attendance in court. It may also cover travel costs.
Serving a subpoena without the applicable fee voids the witness’s duty or obligation to appear in court.
Witness fees vary depending on federal and state guidelines as well as the jurisdiction. If you’re not sure how much needs to be paid in New York, Serve Index LLC can provide you with the exact figure at no cost.
In the meantime, you can use this guide to get a general idea of how to calculate witness fees for New York court cases.
Subpoena Witness Fees in New York State
New York residents served with a Subpoena to Testify or a Subpoena for Records are entitled to a $15.00 witness fee for each day they are called to court. If the person resides outside New York City, 23 cents per mileage fee from the place of service to the courthouse shall also be paid.
However, if the witness is a resident of New York, the mileage fee for transportation within the city is voided.
If a witness is not a party or agent to a case, they are given an additional $3 compensation per day. This is applicable every time they are compelled to testify or produce records, books, papers, items, and the like at pre-trial examinations. Also, a 10 cents-per-folio reimbursement is available to those who need to prepare transcripts of records.
All necessary fees must be paid within a reasonable time before the date of appearance in court. As a rule of thumb, the service of witness fees should be carried out at least five days before the hearing date. Failure to comply voids the witness’s duty to appear.
Understandably, calculating and serving witness fees can be overwhelming, given that you also have the actual trial to worry about. Fortunately, you don’t have to do it all alone—Serve Index LLC has you covered.
Work with Reliable Process Servers in NYC
With over decades of experience, Serve Index LLC ensures that witness fees are calculated and advanced in compliance with New York State laws. Once done, our experienced process servers will be dispatched to hand-deliver the subpoena and the applicable fees to the witness. We do thorough research on the recipient, making sure that service is done correctly within three attempts.
Having worked with attorneys, enterprises, and civilians on different cases, we know how to serve process even to the most evasive recipients. Additionally, you get access to the following benefits:
- Email status notifications
- Real-time photo logs
- Regular updates on the service process
- Advanced and precise GPS tracking
- An emailed copy of the Affidavit of Service (proof of service)
- Three delivery attempts
For urgent cases, we also provide same-day service. Contact us today at 1-888-994-6339 to get a free quote.