What the Clerk-Magistrate charges to file an eviction or a small claims case, what the sheriff or constable charges to serve it, and how to ask the court to waive the fees.
Everything the clerk charges on an eviction or small claims case in Nantucket County. The figures set by state statute are verified and apply here. A dash means we have not yet read this county’s own schedule — not that the fee is zero.
| Fee | Amount | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Eviction filing — possession + rent claim | — | |
| Eviction filing — possession only | — | |
| Appearance fee — eviction defendant | — | |
| Appearance fee — small claims defendant | — | |
| Jury demand — 12 jurors | — | Massachusetts does not charge a fee to demand a jury in a summary process (eviction) case. The right comes from the Massachusetts Declaration of Rights, and none of the state's fee schedules lists a jury fee for it. |
| Jury demand — 6 jurors | — | No separate six-person jury fee exists either — there is no jury demand fee at all in Massachusetts summary process. |
| Jury demand — small claims | — | No fee to demand a jury in Massachusetts small claims either; small claims sessions sit without one, and a jury demand simply moves the case out of the small claims track rather than triggering a fee. |
| Mediation fee | — | |
| E-filing surcharge | — |
The filing fee is not the whole bill. Somebody has to serve the defendant, and in Massachusetts the sheriff or constable sets that price county by county — it is the most variable number on this page. We could not confirm a current, real-world service or execution figure. The statute's own numbers — $20 to serve a summons, and a legacy-looking $1-plus-$1-plus-expenses figure to execute an eviction — are set statewide by G.L. c. 262, §§ 8 and 17, but we could not check them against a live sheriff's or constable's civil-process fee page, so we are not presenting either as what you will actually be billed.
Massachusetts courts will waive court fees, costs, and charges for people below certain income levels, under G.L. c. 261, §§ 27A – 27G and G.L. c. 261, § 27C. There is one statewide form — you do not need a Nantucket County version of it.
| The court waives | If your available income is |
|---|---|
| Automatic — Category A | You receive Massachusetts Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children, Emergency Aid to the Elderly, Disabled and Children, federal Supplemental Security Income, MassHealth, or Massachusetts Veterans' Benefits. |
| Automatic — Category B | Your income, after taxes, is 125% or less of the current federal poverty line for your household size. |
| Case-by-case — Category C | You do not qualify under A or B, but paying the fee would deprive you or your dependents of food, shelter or clothing. A judge decides this one on the facts. |
Massachusetts is not all-or-nothing the way Georgia and Florida are. G.L. c. 261, § 27C lets a judge order a partial payment instead of a full waiver if you can reasonably afford to pay something toward the fee, with a deadline to pay it by. Most people who qualify under Category A or B get a full waiver in practice, but the statute itself is built for a graduated outcome, not just a yes-or-no answer.
Fee waiver information verified August 1, 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.
Nantucket County Circuit Court
Clerk-Magistrate
No clerk website found. Contact the county courthouse directly.
eFileMA (Tyler Technologies)
eFileMA is mandatory for attorneys filing summary process, small claims and civil actions in Housing Court under Housing Court Standing Order 1-20, but a self-represented tenant or landlord may still file on paper, so it is not mandatory for the person this site is written for. 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.
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.
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.
Statutory backbone: 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. Statute text checked August 1, 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.