PACER Fees – “Temporary” Five-Year Fee Increase to Begin January 1, 2027
If you access the federal court dockets with any regularity, now is the time to be budgeting for a fee increase that takes effect January 1, 2027. On that date, PACER fees will increase by 20%, i.e., from ten cents per page to twelve cents per page.
PACER stands for Public Access to Court Electronic Records. It is the system through which most law firms and other interested parties can access federal court filings. Charges are assessed when people access the system to perform docket searches or to retrieve docket materials, with some exceptions.[1] Charges are assessed quarterly. Currently, a user must incur at least $30 in charges in a quarter before PACER will bill the user.
The Judiciary states that the fee increase will be used to “fund the accelerated initiative to modernize and strengthen the security of its case management and public access system.” To limit the burden of the increase on occasional system users, the $30 quarterly threshold will be raised to $40. Presumably, this will limit the price increase to more frequent system users who likely can better afford it. The last fee increase—from eight cents per page to the current ten cents per page—occurred in 2012.
For more details on the announced price increase, the Judiciary’s announcement can be accessed here.
Miller Canfield regularly assists clients in navigating the Bankruptcy Code and in many other areas involving the federal court system. Should you have any questions or need any assistance, please feel free to contact us.
[1] Many courts do not charge a PACER fee to access issued opinions, for example.
