An amendment to increase Magistrates’ Court fees for the first time in almost 60 years was passed yesterday in the House of Assembly.

The Court Fees and Expenses Amendment and Validation Rules 2024 would see an increase in fees paid for the court and its officers to carry out necessary functions.

This will mostly affect litigants paying to start a new action or continue a previous one.

The increase is expected to generate an additional $750,000 per year in revenue.

Kim Wilson, the Minister of Health, reminded the House that last year’s Budget Speech revealed that Bermuda’s court fees were “considerably lower than competitor jurisdictions”.

She said that the Supreme Court’s and Court of Appeal’s fees, as well as Civil Appeal fees, have all been previously increased by amending the Court Fees and Expenses Act 1992.

Mr Wilson added that the Court Fees and Expenses Amendment and Validation Rules 2024 were the last to move forward.

Ms Wilson said that the legislation will compensate court officers who help with the “increasingly sophisticated” and “more complex” cases that are coming through.

She added: “These demands increase time and effort expended by staff to process proceedings.”

“These amendments are long overdue and will become even more onerous the longer that they are delayed.”

Ms Wilson said that the move will “increase the revenue, and that can only be beneficial to the welfare of the entire community for the positive impact it will have on the administration of justice”.

Scott Pearman, the Shadow Minister of Legal Affairs, welcomed the change, saying that many claims “demand a lot of time and effort from court staff”.

He added: “It is a burden, and it is right that a larger-value case have a larger-value fee.”

Mr Pearman pointed out that the Family Court was struggling to get necessary funding, and that this now could help to fill that gap.

He also called for offering the court system more financial independence through this move.

He said: “If courts can be run properly and well and are run for the benefit of court users, it is possible that they are not a loss to the government but become revenue-generating centres and they can assess where fees can best be applied.”