Massachusetts Court Filing Fees by County

How Massachusetts court filing fees are actually set

Massachusetts eviction filing fees are set entirely by state law, not by county, but they are not one number either. An eviction entered in a District Court or the Boston Municipal Court costs $195 ($180 plus a $15 surcharge), while the identical case entered in a Housing Court costs $135 ($120 plus the same $15 surcharge). Both figures are fixed by statute and identical everywhere in Massachusetts they apply — we found the same two numbers, unchanged, on the Trial Court's own District/BMC and Housing Court fee pages, with none of the county-by-county spread Georgia has. What varies is not the county but which department hears the case: Housing Court now sits in six regional divisions — Central, Eastern, Metro South, Northeast, Southeast and Western — that between them reach the whole Commonwealth, and over most of the state a landlord can choose to file the same eviction in either the local Housing Court or the local District Court (or, in Boston, the Boston Municipal Court). Small claims fees are identical in both departments too: $40 for claims up to $500, $50 for $501 to $2,000, $100 for $2,001 to $5,000, and $150 for $5,001 to $7,000, each figure already including its $10 surcharge.

The statutory caps

This is one statewide statutory schedule, applied identically by every District Court, the Boston Municipal Court, and every Housing Court in the Commonwealth. There is no county-level fee schedule to look up in Massachusetts, because counties do not run the courts here — the Trial Court does, department by department.

Source: G.L. c. 262, § 2 (District/BMC entry fee); G.L. c. 185C, § 19 (Housing Court entry fee); G.L. c. 262, § 4C (surcharge); G.L. c. 218, § 22 (small claims fees), Fees of clerks of the district and Boston municipal court departments; Housing Court entry fees; surcharge on filing fees; small claims fees. G.L. c. 262, § 2 and G.L. c. 185C, § 19, as currently in force; surcharge added by G.L. c. 262, § 4C. The advertised total is built from two statutes, not one. G.L. c. 262, § 2 sets the District and Boston Municipal Court entry fee at a flat $180 for "a complaint, third-party complaint, petition or other action," which is the same line summary process is billed under. G.L. c. 185C, § 19 sets the Housing Court entry fee at $120 for the same range of filings. G.L. c. 262, § 4C then adds a $15 surcharge to a standard civil or summary process entry in either department, and a $10 surcharge to a small claims entry. $180 + $15 = $195 in District Court and the BMC; $120 + $15 = $135 in Housing Court. We found both totals printed exactly this way, with the arithmetic shown, on the Trial Court's own fee pages for each department. Checked August 1, 2026.

Massachusetts does not have one eviction court per county. An eviction, which the law here calls a summary process case, can be heard in a District Court, in the Boston Municipal Court if the property is in Boston, or in a Housing Court. Housing Court is organized into six regional divisions — Central, Eastern, Metro South, Northeast, Southeast and Western — whose sessions are defined by city and town, not by county. A single county can sit inside more than one Housing Court division, and a single division routinely spans several counties. That is the most important structural fact about this state: a county map cannot tell you which courthouse will hear your case.

The fee itself, unlike the courthouse, really is set statewide by statute. Every District Court and the Boston Municipal Court charge $195 to enter a summary process case, and every Housing Court charges $135 for the same filing, no matter which of the 14 counties the property is in. We checked both departments' own published fee tables rather than a county clerk's page, because in Massachusetts one statute fixes the amount for the whole department at once, not court by court or county by county.

The $60 gap between the two courts is not a discount for a strong case — it is a real choice available to most landlords. Over most of Massachusetts, Housing Court and District Court have concurrent jurisdiction over the same eviction, so where you file can come down to price, docket speed, or a housing specialist judge, not just the law. A county page that only shows one number will be right about half the time here; we would rather say both numbers than guess which one applies to you.

Massachusetts prices sheriff and constable service by one statute statewide, G.L. c. 262, § 8, rather than leaving it to each county the way Georgia does. But the figures written into that statute — $20 to serve a summons, and a bare $1-plus-$1-plus-expenses figure to execute an eviction under G.L. c. 262, § 17 — read like they have not kept pace with what movers, storage and labor actually cost today, and we could not find a sheriff's-office fee page to confirm them against. We are publishing that we could not confirm them rather than repeating an old number as if it were current.

There is no charge to demand a jury in a Massachusetts eviction. A defendant has a right to a jury trial in a summary process case under the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and the trial is held in whichever department — District Court, Boston Municipal Court or Housing Court — is already hearing the case. None of the fee schedules we checked lists a separate jury fee for it.

The fee waiver here is not all-or-nothing the way Georgia's and Florida's are. Massachusetts automatically waives fees for anyone on certain public benefits or with after-tax income at or below 125% of the federal poverty line, and beyond that a judge can order a partial payment instead of a full waiver for someone who could reasonably pay something. That is a genuine third option neither Georgia nor Florida has.

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