(a) Unless the court awards a lesser amount, costs awarded on an appeal to the appellate division shall be in the amount of two hundred fifty dollars.
§ 8203.Amount of costs on appeal to appellate division and appellate term
Article 82. Amount of Costs · Last amended 1989 · Last verified July 21, 2026
In one sentenceCPLR 8203 sets the dollar amount of costs on an appeal to the Appellate Division at two hundred fifty dollars unless the court awards less, and separately fixes smaller discretionary amounts for appeals to an appellate term from a county court.
Full Text of CPLR 8203
(b) Costs on an appeal from a county court to an appellate term may be awarded by the appellate term in its discretion, and if awarded shall be as follows:
1. to the appellant upon reversal, not more than thirty dollars; 2. to the respondent upon affirmance, not more than twenty-five dollars; 3. to either party on modification, not more than twenty-five dollars. On appeal from any other court to an appellate term costs shall be governed by the provisions of the applicable court act.
Plain-English Summary
CPLR 8203(a) sets a default cost figure of two hundred fifty dollars for an appeal to the Appellate Division, but it builds in flexibility: the court may award a lesser amount. That default-with-discretion structure differs from the flat, non-adjustable stage amounts in CPLR 8201, and it means the two hundred fifty dollar figure operates as a cap the court can move below rather than a fixed number the court must apply.
Subdivision (b) addresses a narrower situation, an appeal from a county court to an appellate term. There the appellate term has discretion whether to award costs at all, and if it does, the amounts are smaller and vary by outcome: up to thirty dollars to an appellant who wins reversal, up to twenty-five dollars to a respondent who wins affirmance, and up to twenty-five dollars to either side on a modification. For appeals from any other court to an appellate term, the subdivision defers to the applicable court act rather than setting its own figures.
Frequently Asked Questions
What is the default cost award for an appeal to the Appellate Division under CPLR 8203?
Two hundred fifty dollars, unless the court awards a lesser amount. The court has discretion to reduce the figure but the statute does not describe a way to award more.
Can the Appellate Division award less than two hundred fifty dollars in costs?
Yes. CPLR 8203(a) expressly allows the court to award a lesser amount than the two hundred fifty dollar figure.
What costs apply to an appeal from a county court to an appellate term?
Under CPLR 8203(b), the appellate term may, in its discretion, award up to thirty dollars to an appellant on reversal, up to twenty-five dollars to a respondent on affirmance, and up to twenty-five dollars to either party on a modification.
Does CPLR 8203(b) apply to appeals to an appellate term from courts other than a county court?
No. For appeals to an appellate term from any court other than a county court, CPLR 8203(b) says costs are governed by the provisions of the applicable court act instead of by this section's fixed amounts.
Is an appellate term required to award costs under CPLR 8203(b)?
No. The subdivision says costs on such an appeal may be awarded by the appellate term in its discretion, so an award is not automatic.
How does CPLR 8203 relate to CPLR 8204?
CPLR 8203 covers costs on appeals to the Appellate Division and to an appellate term. CPLR 8204 covers the separate, higher cost figure for an appeal to the Court of Appeals.
Advisory Committee Notes
This section is based upon CPA § 1508. The major change it makes is the elimination of subparagraph 1(c) which provided a term fee of ten dollars for each term that the cause was necessarily on the calendar. In today’s practice, such a provision is obsolete and bears no relation to the amount of work involved in the appeal. The similar provision for trial term fees in subparagraph 3(m) of CPA § 1504 was deleted for New York city in 1951 and has been deleted in the entire state by § 8201. See notes to § 8201. The former provision for a term fee in the Court of Appeals has also been deleted. See notes to § 8204.
In order to compensate for the elimination of the term fee, the other amounts have been slightly increased.
CPA § 1508 contained two subdivisions. The first provided a fixed amount of costs ($20 before argument, $40 for argument, $10 per term) to be awarded on appeals (1) from judgments, (2) from orders granting or refusing a new trial, and (3) from determinations rendered on appeals from judgments or new trial orders. While the appellate court, since 1943, has had the power to deny costs entirely (see notes to § 8107), if they were allowed in those cases, they must have been in these fixed amounts.
The second subdivision of CPA § 1508 provided that the court might have fixed the amount of costs not to exceed fifty dollars, on any other appeal.
Since the amounts in the two subdivisions were not significantly different, this section combines them into a fixed rate for all appeals which may be decreased in the discretion of the court.
Costs on appeals from inferior courts to the Appellate Term of the Supreme Court or to County Courts are regulated by the inferior court acts. See, e.g., Justice Ct Act §§ 447, 451, 452, 456; Munic Ct Code § 172.
Amendment History
Add, L 1962, ch 308, § 1; amd, L 1972, ch 391, § 1, eff Sept 1, 1972; L 1972, ch 734, § 8; L 1972, ch 735, § 6; L 1988, ch 101, § 3, eff Jan 1, 1989.
Source & verification. Provision text, History, and Advisory
Committee Notes are reproduced verbatim from the Consolidated Laws of New York.
Last verified July 21, 2026.
· Official source
Also known as: costs on appeal to appellate divisionCPLR 8203 appellate term coststwo hundred fifty dollars appeal costs NYamount of costs on appeal CPLR