What the Dougherty County Magistrate Court Clerk charges to file an eviction or a small claims case, what the sheriff charges to serve it, and how to ask the court to waive the fees. Cases are heard in the Dougherty County Magistrate Court.
This is a floor, not a total. It adds up only the components this county actually publishes — the missing pieces below will push it higher. Attorney fees, if you use one, are on top of this and are not included.
Everything the clerk charges on an eviction or small claims case in Dougherty County. A dash means the county does not publish that figure — we would rather show you a gap than a guess.
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eviction filing — possession + rent claim | $87 | Georgia magistrate courts do not charge a different amount for an eviction that also claims unpaid rent, so this is the single dispossessory filing line. Dougherty County's Magistrate Court Fee Schedule (effective July 1, 2024) lists 'DISPOSSESSORY WARRANT $87.00' as a flat figure -- it does not scale by defendant count the way most other Georgia counties' schedules do. The only other dispossessory-section charges are 'To dispossess tenant.(OUT) $25.00 (Payable to Sheriff)' and 'To personally serve on commercial property or serve registered agent $50.00.' The '(OUT)' wording reads as the fee for the Sheriff to physically remove a tenant after judgment (a move-out), not as an initial service charge, so it is recorded below as an enforcement fee rather than a service fee. Because no separate charge for ordinary residential service of the warrant on the first defendant is itemized anywhere on this schedule, whether the $87.00 already includes it or simply omits it could not be confirmed either way. |
| Eviction filing — possession only | $87 | Same figure as possession-plus-rent; Georgia magistrate courts do not charge a different amount for an eviction that also claims unpaid rent, so this is the single dispossessory filing line. Same caveat about the unclear service charge applies. |
| Appearance fee — eviction defendant | — | Not found on the pages checked. |
| Appearance fee — small claims defendant | — | |
| Jury demand — 12 jurors | — | There is no jury demand fee in Georgia magistrate court, because there are no jury trials there. O.C.G.A. 15-10-41(a) provides that magistrate court cases are tried without a jury. To get a jury you must remove the case to State or Superior Court, which has its own higher fee schedule. |
| Jury demand — 6 jurors | — | Not applicable — Georgia magistrate court does not empanel juries. |
| Jury demand — small claims | — | Not applicable — Georgia magistrate court does not empanel juries. |
| Mediation fee | — | |
| E-filing surcharge | — | Not found on the pages checked. |
| If your claim is | You pay | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| $0 – $15,000 | $112 | 'STATEMENT OF CLAIM $112.00' with 'Each additional defendant +$50.00' and 'Each additional service attempt $50.00 (Payable to Sheriff)' billed separately on the same fee schedule. |
Claims above $15,000 are not small claims in Georgia — they are filed as Law cases and cost more.
The filing fee is not the whole bill. Somebody has to serve the defendant, and in Georgia the sheriff sets that price county by county — it is the most variable number on this page. Across the Georgia counties verified so far, service runs from $0 to $60 per tenant and executing the writ of possession from $10 to $88 — in the counties that publish those separately at all.
Dougherty County's own fee schedule does not clearly itemize a charge for the Sheriff's initial service of a dispossessory warrant on an ordinary residential defendant -- the only dispossessory-specific Sheriff charges shown are $25.00 'To dispossess tenant.(OUT)' (read here as a post-judgment move-out fee, not initial service) and $50.00 for personal service on a commercial property or registered agent. Call the Magistrate Court at 229-431-3216 to confirm whether the $87.00 filing fee already covers standard service, and if not, what it costs.
'To dispossess tenant.(OUT) $25.00 (Payable to Sheriff)' on the Magistrate Court's own fee schedule -- read here as the fee for the Sheriff to physically remove a tenant and their belongings after a judgment for possession, since the schedule's wording describes putting the tenant 'out' rather than serving papers.
Source: Dougherty County Sheriff civil process fees, dated July 1, 2024. Checked July 31, 2026.
Georgia courts will waive court fees, costs, and charges for people below certain income levels, under O.C.G.A. § 9-15-2 and O.C.G.A. § 9-15-2(a). Georgia has no single statewide form: the Magistrate Court Clerk hands you the court's own affidavit when you ask.
| The court waives | If your available income is |
|---|---|
| Full | You file a sworn poverty affidavit stating you are unable to pay costs. If no one contests it, the case proceeds without prepayment of costs. |
Georgia is all-or-nothing. Unlike Illinois, which has four graduated bands, O.C.G.A. § 9-15-2 offers a single full waiver by poverty affidavit — you either qualify or you pay in full. A judge may inquire into the affidavit, and any party may contest it.
Fee waiver information verified July 30, 2026 against the Illinois General Assembly statute text and the Illinois Courts approved-forms library. We report what the statute and the form say. We cannot tell you whether you qualify — that is the court's decision.
Dougherty County Magistrate Court
PeachCourt
PeachCourt is used by many but not all Georgia magistrate courts, and it is generally not mandatory for a self-represented filer. Where it is used, PeachCourt adds its own service fee on top of the court's filing fee. eFileIL →
We publish the court's and clerk's own contact information and link to their pages. We do not take your information, route you to anyone, or file anything on your behalf. For questions about court procedure — as opposed to what it costs — use the Illinois Courts self-help center.
Georgia behaves like Illinois, not Texas: both halves of the cost vary. Across the 90 counties we have verified the magistrate court's dispossessory filing fee runs from $47 to $120, and what the Sheriff, Marshal or Constable charges to serve the papers and carry out the writ varies on top of that. There is one Georgia-specific trap you will not meet in the other two states: 29 of those counties fold service on the first tenant into the filing fee rather than billing it separately, so adding a published filing fee to a published service fee double-counts. Where we know a county bundles, its page says so and our total does not add service twice.
Georgia has no statewide magistrate court fee schedule. Each county's magistrate court publishes its own, usually as a one-page PDF or a table on the clerk's site, and the great majority of them print no effective date at all.
Statutory backbone: O.C.G.A. § 15-10-80(a); § 15-21A-6(a) — Magistrate court costs; Georgia Superior Court Clerks' Cooperative Authority fee. O.C.G.A. § 15-10-80 as amended; § 15-21A-6 indigent defense add-on. § 15-10-80(a) lets each magistrate court set a filing deposit by local court rule "not to exceed $22.00," and § 15-21A-6(a) adds a $15 statewide indigent-defense fee on civil filings. Statute text checked July 30, 2026.
Compiled and verified by David Scott. We re-check every source document monthly and re-read any county whose schedule has changed. If the clerk quotes you something different from what is on this page, tell us and we will fix it. Read the full methodology.