Sentencing Fines and Fees Assistant (SFFA)
Cost Recovery
Enhanced Collections
Cost Recovery
About Cost Recovery
Penal Code section 1463.007 provides the standards by which a court or county may recover the costs of operating a comprehensive collection program. Costs may be recovered from the collection of delinquent court-ordered fees, fines, forfeitures, penalties, and assessments before revenues are distributed to another government entity.
The Judicial Council approved the Guidelines and Standards for Cost Recovery to aid court-ordered debt collection programs in the cost recovery process. Its definitions and interpretations, as well as those in the Collection Cost Recovery template and glossary, use information taken directly from Penal Code sections 1463.007 and 1463.010. The interpretations presented are consistent with those made by the Collaborative Court-County Working Group on Enhanced Collections, the Manual of Accounting and Audit Guidelines for Trial Courts, the Manual of Accounting Standards and Procedures of Counties, and the Trial Courts Policy and Procedures Manual. The Guidelines and Standards for Cost Recovery, Cost Recovery template and glossary, as well the Cost Recovery Distribution template can be downloaded below.
Available Resources
- Guidelines and Standards for Cost Recovery (PDF)
- Cost Recovery Template and Glossary (Excel)
- Cost Recovery Distribution Template (Excel)
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