Rule 36.3 Costs for Transfers Between Magistrate Courts

A. The case shall be transferred with the initial filing fee, and the transferred filing fee shall be the filing fee in the transferee court. All surcharges, such as for local law library funds, retirement funds, and the like shall be retained and reported in the court of initial filing. No additional filing costs shall be required by the transferee court, no surcharges will be collected from the parties or be required to be paid by the transferee court, nor shall any refund be made to the parties if the filing fee is less in the transferee court.

B. If service upon the defendant has not been perfected, a service fee in the amount provided for in OCGA § 15-16-21 (b) (1) for the transferee court shall be paid by the plaintiff prior to the transfer. If a service attempt (beyond a check of map, data base or index of addresses) has been made in the court where the action was originally filed, the original service fee shall be considered as expended and the entire service fee shall be billed to the plaintiff. If no service has been attempted, the plaintiff shall only be billed for the difference between the service fee originally paid and that required by this rule. A bill for the required service fee shall be sent to the plaintiff by regular mail and the case may be dismissed without prejudice for want of prosecution if the bill is not paid within thirty (30) days.

The service fee provided in OCGA § 15-16-21 (b) (1) shall be the service fee in all transferred cases irrespective of whether the transferee court uses sheriff, marshal, or constable as the office for service of process in that county. The parties shall not be entitled to any refund of a portion of the fee.