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LD640 • 2025

An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant

An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant

Enacted

This bill passed the Legislature and reached final enactment based on the latest official action.

Sponsor
Representative Rachel Henderson
Last action
2025-06-11
Official status
Signed by the Governor
Effective date
Not listed

Plain English Breakdown

Using official source text because the generated explanation was unavailable or could not be confirmed against the official bill text.

An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant

An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant Sponsor: Representative Rachel Henderson Reference committee: Judiciary Governor action: Signed by the Governor

What This Bill Does

  • An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant Sponsor: Representative Rachel Henderson Reference committee: Judiciary Governor action: Signed by the Governor

Limits and Unknowns

  • This entry is temporarily using official source text because the generated explanation could not be confirmed against the official bill text during the last sync.

Amendments

These notes stay tied to the official amendment files and metadata from the legislature.

Adopted by House & Senate

Plain English: Page 1 - 132LR1195(02) COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 1 L.D.

  • Page 1 - 132LR1195(02) COMMITTEE AMENDMENT 1 L.D.
  • 640 2 Date: (Filing No.
  • H- ) 3JUDICIARY 4 Reproduced and distributed under the direction of the Clerk of the House.
  • 5STATE OF MAINE 6HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES 7132ND LEGISLATURE 8FIRST SPECIAL SESSION 9 COMMITTEE AMENDMENT “ ” to H.P.

Bill History

  1. 2025-06-11 Governor

    Signed by the Governor

  2. 2025-06-05 Senate

    PASSED TO BE ENACTED , in concurrence.

  3. 2025-06-04 House

    PASSED TO BE ENACTED . Sent for concurrence. ORDERED SENT FORTHWITH.

  4. 2025-06-03 Committee

    Reported Out; OTP-AM

  5. 2025-03-18 Committee

    Work Session Held

  6. 2025-03-18 Committee

    Voted; OTP-AM

  7. 2025-02-20 Committee

    Referred to Committee on Judiciary.

Official Summary Text

An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant
Sponsor:
Representative Rachel Henderson
Reference committee:
Judiciary
Governor action:
Signed by the Governor

Current Bill Text

Read the full stored bill text 
Page 1 - 132LR1195(03)
STATE OF MAINE
_____
IN THE YEAR OF OUR LORD
TWO THOUSAND TWENTY-FIVE
_____
H.P. 408 - L.D. 640
An Act Requiring That Certain Fees Charged by the Courts for Court-
ordered Payments Be Capped and Paid by the Defendant
Be it enacted by the People of the State of Maine as follows:
Sec. 1. 4 MRSA §556, 3rd ¶, as amended by PL 1989, c. 501, Pt. P, §5, is further
amended to read:
Whenever any of these funds are ordered by the courts to be paid to a person entitled
to these funds, all accrued interest shall must be paid to the claimant less a 5% fee based
on the total proceeds. Before receiving any funds under this section, the clerk shall inform
all prospective parties to the court judgment or decree that a 5% fee will be assessed on all
accrued interest as required by this section. The nonprevailing party or parties shall pay the
court a fee equal to 5% of all interest accrued, but in no event may the fee exceed $1,000,
unless otherwise ordered by the court. Whenever any of these funds remain unclaimed for
20 years from the date when payable under the court judgment or decree, the clerk shall
obtain an order from the court, under whose judgment or decree these funds were placed
in the clerk's custody, that a comprehensive abstract of the facts be advertised for 3 weeks
successively in a newspaper of general circulation published in the county, and if no one
appears to claim these funds within 60 days after the date of the last publication, the funds
shall become forfeited to the State and must be paid by the clerk to the Treasurer of State.
That portion of this section providing for the forfeiture of unclaimed funds shall apply
applies to funds held by the clerk of courts for 20 years or more prior to September 16,
1961.
APPROVED
JUNE 11, 2025
BY GOVERNOR
CHAPTER
260
PUBLIC LAW