How to calculate fee waiver & indigency screener in North Carolina

Quick takeaways

• In North Carolina, the indigency/fee-waiver mechanism starts with an affidavit stating that you are unable to advance the required court costs. See N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-110.
• Use DocketMath to build a jurisdiction-aware screener focused on two things:

  1. What costs are “required” for the stage you’re in, and
  2. Whether your available funds and monthly surplus (after essential expenses) make it realistic that you can’t advance those costs.
• North Carolina rule specificity note: No claim-type-specific sub-rule was found in the provided statute excerpt. Treat the timing/approach as the general/default rule under § 1-110 rather than tailoring it to a special category.
• DocketMath can help you generate two practical outputs:

  • a fee waiver / indigency affordability score (screener), and
  • a documentation checklist to help you prepare an affidavit package.

Inputs you need

To calculate an indigency screener in North Carolina with DocketMath, collect inputs that map to the statutory idea of inability to advance required court costs (supported by an affidavit under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-110).

Financial inputs (for affordability math)

• Monthly gross income (all sources)
• Monthly net income (optional but helpful)
• Monthly essential expenses, such as:

  • rent/mortgage
  • utilities
  • food
  • transportation
  • necessary medical costs
• Dependents (count), if it affects your essential expenses
• Unreimbursed medical / disability costs (monthly estimate)
• Cash on hand (money available right now)
• Money in checking/savings (liquid funds)
• Vehicle(s) / other assets (high-level values, if you track them for your narrative)
• Debt obligations that meaningfully reduce monthly affordability (monthly minimums)

Court cost inputs (for “required court costs”)

Because § 1-110 ties the waiver decision to court costs, you’ll want to enter costs that are actually required for the stage you’re selecting:

• Court stage (for example: initial filing versus later proceedings)
• Estimated required court costs for that stage, including (where applicable):

  • the filing fee
  • any service-related costs that are charged upfront at that stage
  • other known administrative charges that the clerk requires up front

Affidavit readiness inputs (for documentation)

• Affidavit statements you can support, including truthful statements such as:

  • “I am unable to advance the required court costs.”
  • the income/expense figures you enter
  • what liquid funds you have available
• Supporting documents you already have, such as:

  • pay stubs / income statements
  • bank statements (if available)
  • expense support (lease, utility bills, prescriptions, etc.)

How the calculation works

In DocketMath’s fee-waiver-indigency calculator, your goal is to answer a practical question consistent with N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-110: Can the person advance the required court costs right now? The statute’s trigger uses an affidavit and focuses on inability to advance required court costs, not just general financial hardship.

1) Anchor the screener to the statutory trigger

Under N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-110, a judge or clerk may authorize someone to sue as an indigent when the person:

• makes an affidavit, and
• states the person is unable to advance the required court costs.

So, when you build your DocketMath screener:

• connect affordability to required court costs, and
• ensure your numbers can support the affidavit you’ll submit.

2) Build an “affordability gap” inside DocketMath

DocketMath’s jurisdiction-aware screener typically evaluates the gap between:

• Available funds (for example, liquid funds such as cash/checking/savings, and/or)
• Monthly surplus after essential expenses,

compared to

• Required court costs due at the selected stage.

A practical workflow:

• Step A: Compute available-to-pay

  • Use a conservative “available” estimate, such as:

    • liquid funds (cash + bank balances), and/or
    • income remaining after essential expenses for the month.
• Step B: Compare available-to-pay to required costs

  • Roughly think in terms of:

    • required costs ÷ available-to-pay
  • If required costs are high relative to available-to-pay, your screener should reflect greater inability to advance costs.
• Step C: Convert the affordability gap into a screener score

  • The calculator translates the input relationships into an overall screener output.

3) Apply North Carolina as a general/default rule (no claim-type branching)

Because the brief instruction says no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found for North Carolina in the provided materials, keep your approach aligned with the general/default rule under § 1-110:

• Default treatment for North Carolina: use the general rule tied to inability to advance required court costs via an affidavit.
• Do not branch into claim-type-specific thresholds unless you find an explicit additional rule (for example, another statute or a court rule with special categories).

4) Use DocketMath outputs for preparation (score + evidence checklist)

When you run the tool in US-NC, treat results as preparation signals:

• Indigency screener score

  • Interprets the affordability gap relative to required costs for the stage you selected.
• Affidavit evidence checklist

  • Helps you align your documentation with the factual statements your affidavit will need to support under § 1-110.

Common pitfalls

Avoid these mistakes when calculating indigency and preparing materials in North Carolina:

1. Using income alone while ignoring required court costs

   • § 1-110 is cost-centered: the focus is inability to advance required court costs, not just “low income.”

2. Underestimating what counts as “required” at your stage

   • If you enter only a filing fee but the clerk requires additional upfront charges at that stage, your screener may look more favorable than reality.

3. Mismatch between affidavit statements and your entered numbers

   • DocketMath can generate a score, but your affidavit is what the court relies on. If your documentation can’t back up the numbers you used, consistency may break down.

4. Treating North Carolina as if it has claim-type thresholds without evidence

   • Follow the instruction: since no claim-type-specific sub-rule was found, use the general/default approach under § 1-110.

5. Not recording liquid funds

   • Some screeners are sensitive to time-sensitive ability to pay. Even if monthly expenses are high, the presence/absence of cash can materially affect “available” calculations.

6. Overstating expenses with vague figures

   • Essential expenses are more credible when you can point to verifiable support (lease, utilities, prescriptions). When in doubt, keep inputs conservative and consistent.

Sources and references

• N.C. Gen. Stat. § 1-110 (Indigency / suing as an indigent; affidavit of inability to advance required court costs)
  https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/HTML/BySection/Chapter_1/GS_1-110.html

Next steps

1. Open the DocketMath North Carolina calculator: /tools/fee-waiver-indigency
2. Select the stage that matches when the clerk/court requires payment of costs.
3. Enter required court costs for that stage (not just one component).
4. Enter financials using consistent monthly figures:

   • income
   • essential expenses
   • liquid funds / cash on hand
5. Review the affidavit evidence checklist output and make sure each affidavit claim you plan to submit is supportable.
6. Collect documents now while they’re available:

   • pay stubs/income statements
   • key expense records
   • bank statements reflecting liquid funds (if you plan to show them)

Related reading

• How to calculate fee waiver & indigency screener in New York — Full how-to guide with jurisdiction-specific rules
• How to file in forma pauperis in Alabama — Direct answer to the question
• How to file in forma pauperis in Alaska — Direct answer to the question