What the Clerk of Circuit Court 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.
Everything the clerk charges on an eviction or small claims case in Waukesha 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 | — | There is no 12-juror option in a Wisconsin eviction or small claims case. Chapter 799 actions are tried to a jury of 6 under s. 799.21 and s. 345.43(3)(b). |
| Jury demand — 6 jurors | $89 | $53.00 jury demand fee plus a $36.00 fee for the 6 jurors used in a chapter 799 case, $89.00 total. Wisconsin small claims and eviction actions are tried to a jury of 6, and this figure is the same everywhere in the state. |
| Jury demand — small claims | $89 | Same $89.00 figure as the eviction jury demand fee — Wisconsin does not price small claims and eviction jury demands differently, because both are chapter 799 actions tried to the same 6-person jury. |
| Mediation fee | — | We found no separate statewide mediation fee for eviction or small claims cases in Wisconsin's circuit court fee schedule. Some counties may offer a voluntary mediation program with its own charge, but that would be set locally, not by state law. |
| E-filing surcharge | $35 | $35.00 per case, per party, when a case is filed through Wisconsin's electronic filing system, on top of the regular filing fee. It does not apply if you file on paper. |
The filing fee is not the whole bill. Somebody has to serve the defendant, and in Wisconsin the sheriff sets that price county by county — it is the most variable number on this page. We have one confirmed county figure, not a range: Brown County charges $95.00 for the first attempt at serving eviction papers and $20.00 for each additional attempt, well above the $12.00 the state's fee statute names. We do not yet know how typical that is elsewhere in the state.
Wisconsin courts will waive court fees, costs, and charges for people below certain income levels, under Wis. Stat. 814.29 and Wis. Stat. 814.29(1). There is one statewide form — you do not need a Waukesha County version of it.
| The court waives | If your available income is |
|---|---|
| Full | You receive means-tested public assistance, you are represented by a legal services program for the indigent, or you are otherwise unable because of poverty to pay costs. The court weighs household size, income, expenses, assets, debts and the federal poverty guidelines. |
Wisconsin is all-or-nothing, the same as Georgia and Florida. There is no partial or percentage waiver — you either qualify under Wis. Stat. 814.29 and the fee is waived, or you do not and you pay the full $94.50 (or $98.00 in Milwaukee).
Fee waiver information verified July 31, 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.
Waukesha County Circuit Court
Clerk of Circuit Court
No clerk website found. Contact the county courthouse directly.
Circuit Court eFiling
Wisconsin's statewide electronic filing system is used by attorneys in every county, but nothing we found requires a self-represented landlord or tenant to file electronically rather than on paper at the clerk's counter, so it is not mandatory for the person this site is written for. Where it is used, the circuit court fee schedule adds a $35.00 per-case, per-party electronic filing surcharge on top of the regular 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.
Wisconsin behaves like Florida far more than Georgia: the small claims and eviction filing fee is set by state law, not by the county, and the circuit court system's own statewide fee schedule (updated July 13, 2026) shows the identical total in every county we checked — Milwaukee, Dane, Waukesha, Brown and others — with a single, named exception. The total is $94.50, made up of a $22.00 base filing fee under Wis. Stat. 814.62(3)(a), a $51.00 Court Support Services charge, and a $21.50 Justice Information surcharge. In Milwaukee County only, an additional $3.50 special prosecution clerks surcharge under Wis. Stat. 814.86(1m) brings the total to $98.00. Every other county charges $94.50. This is a real difference from Georgia, where the filing fee varies unpredictably county to county, and from Ohio, where the unit of variation is not even the county. Here the variation is a single, fully-documented $3.50 add-on tied to one specific county by name.
This is one statewide schedule published by the Wisconsin court system, the same way Florida has one and unlike Georgia's county-by-county local rules. Wisconsin's circuit courts are part of a single state court system, and the fee schedule we relied on is issued for use by every clerk of circuit court in all 72 counties, not set locally county by county.
Statutory backbone: Wis. Stat. 814.62(3)(a); 799.01 — Fees in small claims actions; exclusive use of small claims procedure. Wis. Stat. 814.62(3)(a) sets the $22.00 base fee; the Court Support Services and Justice Information add-ons that bring the real total to $94.50 come from separate surcharge statutes referenced on the circuit court's own fee schedule. The $22.00 printed in 814.62(3)(a) is not what anyone actually pays. The circuit court system's own fee schedule shows the $22.00 base fee plus a $51.00 Court Support Services (CSS) charge and a $21.50 Justice Information (JINFO) surcharge, for a real total of $94.50 in 71 of the 72 counties, and $98.00 in Milwaukee County because of an added $3.50 special prosecution clerks surcharge under Wis. Stat. 814.86(1m). We are publishing $94.50 / $98.00 because that is the figure the state court system itself says is collected, not the bare $22.00 the statute alone would suggest. Statute text checked July 31, 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.