A domestic violence accusation in Broward County usually runs on two tracks at once: a criminal case the State controls, and a civil injunction the other person files. Defense work on the criminal side cannot be billed as a share of the outcome, the injunction petition cannot be charged a filing fee at all, and the amounts Florida attaches to a conviction are fixed by statute.
Call (754) 291-8480No obligation · Written for Fort Lauderdale · Broward County
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Or call (754) 291-8480A lawyer must not enter into an arrangement for, charge, or collect a contingent fee for representing a defendant in a criminal case. A battery charge under chapter 741 is a criminal case.
Assessment of a filing fee for a petition for protection against domestic violence is prohibited, and no bond is required for entry of an injunction.
The court shall impose it on a conviction, with $85 to the Domestic Violence Trust Fund. Payment is a condition of probation or other court-ordered supervision.
Paid to the Broward County Clerk of Courts for each application filed, by cash, money order or online payment.
A fee taken out of the result is not allowed in a criminal case, so nothing here is a percentage. The amounts below are what Florida law itself sets, and what a firm charges to handle the case is separate, written down, and agreed before the work starts. Nothing on this page is a quote.
| The item | What the rule, statute or clerk sets | What that means | Where it says so |
|---|---|---|---|
| A defense fee measured by the result | Prohibited | Subparagraph (f)(3)(B) bars a contingent fee for a criminal defendant. The neighboring provision, (f)(3)(A), covers domestic relations matters and does not apply to a prosecution. | R. Regulating Fla. Bar 4-1.5(f)(3)(B) |
| Filing the injunction petition | No fee, no bond | The statute prohibits a filing fee and reimburses the clerk $40 per petition, out of which the serving law enforcement agency receives a fee that may not exceed $20. | Fla. Stat. 741.30(2)(a) |
| Probation and the intervention program | Minimum one year | On a finding of guilt, a withheld adjudication or a plea of nolo contendere to a crime of domestic violence, the court shall order at least a year of probation with a batterers' intervention program as a condition. | Fla. Stat. 741.281 |
| Statutory minimum jail on a finding of bodily harm | 10 / 15 / 20 days | First, second and third or subsequent offense, rising to 15, 20 and 30 days where the offense occurred in the presence of a family or household member under sixteen. | Fla. Stat. 741.283(1) |
| Maximum sentence on a first-degree misdemeanor | Up to one year | Battery is a first-degree misdemeanor unless a prior battery conviction makes it a third-degree felony, and a first-degree misdemeanor carries a definite term not exceeding one year. | Fla. Stat. 775.082(4)(a) and 784.03 |
| Sealing or expunging the record afterward | $75 plus $42 | The Broward clerk lists the initial Florida Department of Law Enforcement charge and a statutory processing fee, with the instruction packet at sixty cents and copy and certification charges on top. | Broward County Clerk of Courts, felony division |
Rule 4-1.5(f)(3)(B) of the Rules Regulating The Florida Bar is unqualified: where the client is the defendant in a criminal case, a lawyer here may not arrange for, charge or collect a fee contingent on the outcome. The companion subparagraph, (f)(3)(A), covers domestic relations matters where payment turns on securing a divorce or on the amount of alimony, support or property settlement. A battery charge sits under (B), so a percentage of a dropped charge or an acquittal is not an arrangement available in this kind of case.
What is left is an hourly rate against a deposit, or a fixed sum for a stated scope. Scope is where two quoted numbers stop being comparable: a fixed sum ending when the State announces its filing decision is a different agreement from one carrying through a motion hearing, a deposition, and a trial.
Section 741.30(2)(a) provides that notwithstanding any other law, assessing a filing fee for a petition for protection against domestic violence is prohibited. The clerk is instead reimbursed by the Justice Administrative Commission at $40 per petition issued, and out of that reimbursement pays any law enforcement agency serving the injunction a fee that may not exceed $20. Subsection (2)(b) adds that no bond is required for entry of an injunction, and the cause of action does not require either party to have an attorney.
The Broward County Clerk of Courts says the same in plainer words: there is no fee associated with filing a restraining order. Petitions are taken at the Central Courthouse downtown and at the West Regional Courthouse in Plantation.
Battery under section 784.03 is a first-degree misdemeanor unless a prior battery conviction applies, in which case it becomes a third-degree felony. Section 775.082(4)(a) caps a first-degree misdemeanor at a definite term not exceeding one year, and (4)(b) caps a second-degree misdemeanor at sixty days.
Then the domestic violence statutes add their own layer. Section 938.08 requires a surcharge of $201 for an offense of domestic violence as described in section 741.28. Of that, $85 goes to the Domestic Violence Trust Fund and $1 is retained by the clerk, with the remainder going to the county. Payment is a condition of probation or other court-ordered supervision.
Section 741.281 requires a minimum term of one year's probation on a finding of guilt, a withheld adjudication, or a plea of nolo contendere to a crime of domestic violence, with attendance and completion of a batterers' intervention program as a condition. Section 741.325 defines that program as at least 29 weeks, including 24 weekly sessions, funded by user fees the attendees pay, and section 948.09 puts county misdemeanor supervision at not less than $40 per month. Section 741.283 sets minimum jail where the person intentionally caused bodily harm: ten days for a first offense, fifteen for a second, and twenty for a third or subsequent one. Those terms rise to fifteen, twenty and thirty days when the offense happened in the presence of a family or household member under sixteen.
People try to make a domestic violence case cheap by resolving it fast. A plea that keeps the case short still triggers the one-year probation term, the intervention program, the $201 surcharge, and the statutory minimum jail where bodily harm was found. A withheld adjudication does not remove the probation-and-program requirement, because section 741.281 is written to include it. On the injunction side, a final judgment must state on its face that it is a first-degree misdemeanor under section 790.233 for the respondent to have any firearm or ammunition.
One more line is worth knowing. Under section 741.30(6)(a)6., a respondent ordered into treatment, intervention or counseling services pays for them. That recurring cost shows up after the hearing and never appears in a number quoted at the front end.
Broward's Clerk publishes the figures for the appointed-counsel route: an applicant pays a $50 application fee for each application filed, payable online, in person or by money order. Later cleanup has its own price list — the clerk's sealing and expungement packet costs sixty cents, the initial charge from the Florida Department of Law Enforcement is $75, and the clerk adds a $42 statutory processing fee on top of copies and certification.
Ask which proceedings the written agreement covers, because the criminal case and the injunction hearing are separate matters that often need separate work. Ask what happens if the State files a charge different from the arrest paperwork. Ask who pays for a records subpoena, a deposition transcript, or a phone extraction if messages are in dispute.
Bring the document that is already controlling the situation: a temporary injunction, hearing notice, release order, arrest paperwork, or alleged-violation notice. Legal work starts with the actual wording, the court date, and the records that can be preserved—not with a promise about an outcome.
Call (754) 291-8480No obligation · Written for Fort Lauderdale · Broward County