Who pays for a trial?

I know this may be a silly question, but I have never had a reason to go to court.

City? State? County?

Who pays for criminal trials?
Civil trials?
Misdemeanors?
Traffic Violations? (if you go to trial)

Also, I see on court show TV that people try to recover the cost of 'court fees'. What do these 'court fees' go to pay for?

Any information would be appreciated.
you (if you are being tried) regardless you pay your lawyer....the court fees go to judges amount of time and court clerks, stenogapher...don't do the crime if you can't pay the time
The loser.
There are a good many considerations when determining costs for trial - in civil court, usually each side pays its own court costs up front. The prevailing party is usually entitled to recover its attorneys' fees and costs of defense. However, courts have the right to refuse to award fees and costs, so it is not a shoe-in that the prevailing party will be awarded attorneys' fees and costs. Many times, each party must pay their own fees and costs and this will be stated within a civil judgment. In criminal court, (which includes traffic court) the defendant is responsible to pay for court costs - you see these when you pay a ticket for example. They will tack on an extra $55.00 for court costs to the amount of your fine. If you elect to hire an attorney to represent you on a criminal matter, you are responsible to pay your attorneys' fees and any costs associated with your case (expert witnesses, etc.). In criminal court, you do not personally pay for the judge's time or the stenographer as the above poster mentioned. Your court costs cover that. Court costs are exactly that - we each pay a little share of what it takes to run the courthouse from the deputies who staff the entrances to the college kid who does data entry in the records room. Hope this helps !
If you have a job and pay taxes buddy then YOU are paying for it!!!


Answer:
If you have a civil case, when the plaintiff files the case he has to pay the filing fee to the courthouse. The Defendant, then, has to pay an appearance fee to the courthouse if he wants to defend against the case. If someone wants a jury trial, they pay an extra fee for wanting a jury trial.

While the case is pending, assorted other costs may arise: discovery of evidence, depositions of witnesses, hiring expert witnesses, subpoenas, and other items can run up a bill. The parties end up having to pay their attorney so the attorney can pay these costs prior to trial, or it comes out of a settlement in lieu of trial or after trial.

The above costs, in most civil cases, can be recovered by the winning party from the losing party. These are the 'court fees' they refer to on TV court shows.

Attorney's fees, unless there is a contract or statute otherwise, are each party's expense. Some statutes allow the winner to have the loser pay their fees. In fact, some cases, often civil rights cases and injunction cases, allow no money damages or limited money damages, but huge attorney bills.

Criminal trials, whether traffic, misdemeanor, or felony, is a cost of the state. But if you plead guilty, or are found guilty, the court has a fee schedule which you have to pay, on top of any fine imposed. In many cases the payment that is made is more for costs than for fines.

Counties rarely make money from the courthouse. The filing fees rarely come close to covering the actual costs of holding a trial. But remember, 99% of cases settle before trial, so the averaging out of the costs works well. And don't think that you can just forget about paying your traffic fines and costs - the county has worked those into their budgets, and you may lose your license if you don't pay.