814.04.Items of costs.
Ch. 814: Court Costs, Fees, and Surcharges · Last amended 2021 · Last verified July 15, 2026
Full Text of Section 814.04
Official Notes
Comment of Judicial Council, 1971: Guardian ad litem fees shall not be taxed as a cost or disbursement. Present law permits guardian ad litem fees to be taxed as costs or disbursements. [Re Order effective July 1, 1971]
Plain-English Summary
Section 814.04 supplies the detailed menu of what counts as taxable costs once some other provision allows costs in a Wisconsin civil case, subject to a long list of other statutes it defers to first.
Attorney fees are fixed amounts tied to the amount recovered or the value of the property involved, scaled against the threshold in section 799.01 (1) (d): $500 for the largest cases, $300 for mid-range recoveries or cases with no amount recovered or no property involved, and $100 for the smallest. No attorney fees may be taxed unless the party appeared through an attorney other than the party personally. Disbursements cover a broad range of actual litigation expenses: necessary fees and referee compensation, a reasonable charge for service of process capped at the sheriff’s authorized fee, copies of public records, postage and other communications, the electronic filing fee, deposition costs, plats and photographs up to $100 each, an expert witness fee up to $300 per testifying expert on top of the standard witness fee and mileage, and abstract-of-title costs in land actions; guardian ad litem fees are not taxable as costs or disbursements.
On a money judgment, interest at a rate tied to the prime rate plus 1 percent runs from the time of the verdict, decision, or report until judgment is entered, and the clerk computes and adds it to the costs. If judgment is entered by default or on the plaintiff’s voluntary dismissal, the costs otherwise taxable are cut in half. And if a party rejects an offer of judgment under section 807.01 and the plaintiff fails to recover a more favorable judgment than the offer, the plaintiff recovers no costs while the defendant recovers full costs computed on the complaint’s demand.
A separate rule covers citizen-taxpayer suits brought for the benefit of a county, town, village, city, or other municipal corporation: a prevailing plaintiff recovers the action’s taxable costs plus a reasonable share of the recovery as attorney fees, capped at 20 percent of the recovery and at $500.
Frequently Asked Questions
What counts as taxable disbursements under this section?
Necessary fees, referee compensation, capped service-of-process charges, copying and postage costs, the electronic filing fee, deposition costs, capped plat and photograph costs, a capped expert witness fee, and abstract-of-title costs in land actions, among other items listed in section 814.04 (2).
How are the fixed attorney fee amounts determined?
They scale with the amount recovered or the value of the property involved, measured against the threshold in section 799.01 (1) (d): $500, $300, or $100 depending on the tier, with $300 as the default when there is no amount recovered or property involved.
Can a party recover attorney fees without hiring an outside attorney?
No. Section 814.04 (1) (c) bars taxing attorney fees on behalf of a party who appears by no attorney other than himself or herself.
What happens to costs when a judgment is entered by default?
The costs taxed under section 814.04 (1) are cut to half of what they would have been had the matter been contested.
What happens if I reject a settlement offer under section 807.01 and then don’t do better at trial?
Under section 814.04 (7), the plaintiff recovers no costs, and the defendant recovers full costs computed on the demand of the complaint.
Amendment History
History: Sup. Ct. Order, 50 Wis. 2d vii (1971); 1971 c. 141; Sup. Ct. Order, 67 Wis. 2d 585, 761, 780 (1975); Stats. 1975 s. 814.04; 1977 c. 209; 1979 c. 110 s. 60 (13); 1979 c. 271, 355; 1981 c. 123, 317; 1985 a. 52, 311; 1987 a. 348; 1991 a. 39, 65, 189, 295; 1993 a. 98, 326, 486, 490, 491; 1995 a. 24, 27, 133, 149, 262, 417; 1997 a. 55, 164, 254; 1999 a. 32, 82, 122, 190; 2001 a. 6, 16; 2003 a. 138; Sup. Ct. Order No. 03-06A, 2005 WI 86, 280 Wis. 2d xiii; 2005 a. 155, 325; 2005 a. 443 s. 265; 2005 a. 458; 2007 a. 96; 2009 a. 20; 2011 a. 2, 69, 118, 219; 2013 a. 165; Sup. Ct. Order No. 20-07, 2021 WI 37, 397 Wis. 2d xiii.