South Australia Court Costs Recoverable — What You Can and Cannot Claim Back

The Cost Rule in Minor Civil Claims

If you win your minor civil claim, the court adds certain costs to the judgment — the defendant pays them on top of the amount they owe you. But the cost recovery rules in the Minor Civil Division are deliberately narrow. The whole point of the minor civil track is keeping costs low and proportionate for claims up to A$12,000.

Here is what you can recover, what you cannot, and how to claim interest on the underlying debt.

Costs You Can Recover

Filing fee — the A$186 you paid to lodge the claim on CourtSA is recoverable as part of the judgment debt. Include it in your statement of claim.

Form P1 fee — if you used the court-issued Final Notice, the fee is A$27.75 electronically or A$66.50 otherwise. That fee is recoverable if you win.

Service fees — Sheriff service costs A$58 per copy when a written report is required to prepare an affidavit of service, or A$49 when it is not. The costs of Sheriff service will not usually be recoverable in the action.

Trial setting down fee — the A$260 (claims up to A$4,000) or A$783 (claims A$4,001 to A$12,000) fee paid to list the matter for trial is recoverable from the losing party.

Reasonable disbursements — registered-mail service, ASIC search fees, and certified copies can be claimed only to the extent the court allows them under the minor civil costs scale.

Costs You Cannot Recover

Lawyer fees — this is the big one. Under Section 38 of the Magistrates Court Act 1991, party-and-party legal costs are not recoverable in minor civil claims. Since lawyers are generally excluded from trial anyway, this rarely matters in practice. But if you paid a lawyer for pre-trial advice or help drafting your statement of claim, you cannot pass that cost on to the defendant.

Lost wages for attending court — the court does not compensate you for time spent away from work to attend hearings.

Travel costs — expenses getting to court (parking, fuel, public transport) are not recoverable.

Stress and inconvenience — there is no general damages award for the hassle of pursuing a claim.

Claiming Interest on the Debt

You can claim interest on the money owed to you — both up to the date of judgment (pre-judgment interest) and after judgment until payment (post-judgment interest).

Contractual interest: if your contract or terms of trade specify an interest rate for overdue payments, you claim at that rate. Include the clause reference in your statement of claim.

Statutory interest: if there is no contractual rate, you can ask the court to award interest under Section 35 of the Magistrates Court Act 1991 from the date the debt became due until judgment. The court determines the appropriate rate and period.

For example, on a A$8,000 debt outstanding for 180 days at an assumed rate of 6% per annum, pre-judgment interest is approximately A$237 — calculated as principal multiplied by the daily rate multiplied by the number of days. Add this to your statement of claim as a separate line item.

Include Costs in Your Statement of Claim

When you file your Form 1S, itemise everything:

• Principal amount owed: A$X
• Pre-judgment interest (calculated to filing date): A$Y
• Form P1 fee: A$27.75 electronically or A$66.50 otherwise
• Filing fee: A$186

List principal, interest, and costs separately. The A$12,000 minor-civil limit applies to the principal claim, excluding interest and costs, so check that amount before filing.

The SA Minor Civil Claim Guide includes a costs worksheet and interest calculator to help you itemise every recoverable cost in your statement of claim.

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