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DUI public defender costs: court-appointed counsel is not priced at zero
Our attorney guide prices hiring a lawyer privately, where the fee is a market price no statute publishes. This page prices the other route — court-appointed counsel for a driver who cannot afford to hire one — because two states publish its price points in their statutes: an application fee to ask, and a minimum attorney-fee assessment that can follow a conviction.
Florida charges $50 to apply, in the statute
Florida Statutes section 27.52 governs the determination of indigent status for a person seeking a public defender. An applicant applies to the clerk of court, and section 27.52(1)(b) states the application price plainly: the applicant shall pay a $50 application fee to the clerk for each application for court-appointed counsel filed, payable within seven days after submitting the application. Each application is priced separately — a defendant who applies in a new case pays in that case. If the fee is not paid before the case ends, the clerk notifies the court, and the court shall assess the fee as part of the sentence or as a condition of probation, or pursue the other routes the subsection lists; a 2025 administrative order of Florida's Twelfth Judicial Circuit, applying the same subsection, confirms the $50 figure and the seven-day window in current practice.
The application fee is not the whole price. Section 938.29 makes a convicted defendant who received the assistance of the public defender — or of criminal conflict and civil regional counsel, or a private conflict attorney — liable for the assessed application fee and for attorney's fees and costs, and it sets statutory floors: attorney's fees and costs shall be set at no less than $50 per case when a misdemeanor or criminal traffic offence is charged, and no less than $100 per case when a felony offence is charged, including a probation-violation proceeding. A DUI in Florida is a criminal traffic offence at the misdemeanor tiers and a felony at the tiers priced in our Florida breakdown, so both floors are live figures for DUI readers. The court may set a higher amount on proof of higher fees or costs actually incurred, and payment can be ordered in instalments or as a condition of probation.
Ohio prices the same door differently. Revised Code section 120.36 requires the court to assess a non-refundable application fee of $25 where a defendant in a criminal case requests or is provided a state, county or joint county public defender or other court-appointed counsel, unless the fee is waived or reduced. The fee is paid to the clerk when the financial disclosure form is filed or within seven days after it, and if it is not paid in that window the court assesses it at sentencing or final disposition. The same section protects the right itself: no court or defender may deny a person counsel solely for failure to pay the fee, and present inability to pay does not disqualify a person from representation.
The appointed-counsel components that are published
Two components are deliberately not priced in the table. The first is any contribution above the statutory floors: Florida's section 938.29 lets the court set a higher amount on proof of the actual fees and costs, and Ohio's section 120.36 states that its application fee is separate from, and additional to, any amount assessed under section 2941.51 toward the cost of representation — both are case-specific assessments, not schedules. The second is the lien: Florida's section 938.29 payments are enforceable against the defendant, and the application paperwork warns that a judgment and lien may be imposed; enforcement cost is not a published figure either.
| DUI component | Published amount |
|---|---|
| Florida application for a public defender (Fla. Stat. § 27.52(1)(b)) | $50 per application for court-appointed counsel, paid to the clerk within 7 days; unpaid at disposition, the court shall assess it in the sentence or as a condition of probation |
| Florida attorney's fees after conviction (§ 938.29(1)(a)) | Not less than $50 per case for a misdemeanor or criminal traffic offence; not less than $100 per case for a felony; the court may set a higher amount on proof of higher fees or costs |
| Ohio application for appointed counsel (Ohio Rev. Code § 120.36(A)(1)) | $25 non-refundable application fee, unless waived or reduced; payable to the clerk with the financial disclosure form or within 7 days, otherwise assessed at sentencing or disposition |
| Ohio protection against fee-based denial (§ 120.36(B)) | Counsel may not be denied solely for failure to pay the application fee, and present inability to pay does not disqualify the person from representation |
| Contribution above the floors (Fla. § 938.29; Ohio § 2941.51 via § 120.36(C)) | Case-specific court assessment on the actual cost of representation — no published schedule; described, not priced |
Sources: Florida Statutes §§ 27.52(1)(b) and 938.29(1)(a); Twelfth Judicial Circuit Administrative Order 2025-06.3 applying § 27.52; Ohio Revised Code § 120.36(A)(1), (B), (C). Last verified: October 2026.
The fine is one line in a longer stack — court costs, program fees, interlock, supervision and reinstatement all bill separately. Price the layers that apply to your case in the calculator.
Open the DUI cost calculatorWhy this layer is small but never zero
Set against the private market, the appointed route is inexpensive by design — that is its purpose. But the statutes priced here reject the idea that it is free, and they reject it in writing: an application fee in both states, a minimum fee assessment after conviction in Florida, and authority in both states to assess more of the real cost where the court finds the ability to contribute. A driver budgeting a DUI case on appointed counsel should still budget these lines, because they are assessed as court obligations, can be made a condition of probation, and in Florida can follow the defendant as a judgment and lien if unpaid.
Eligibility is the gate in front of every figure in the table. Both schemes begin with a financial disclosure and a determination of indigent status; a driver found not indigent does not receive appointed counsel at these prices and returns to the private market priced on our attorney page. The figures also do not buy the rest of the case: the fine, court costs, programme, interlock and reinstatement layers of a DUI sentence are charged identically whichever lawyer stands next to the defendant, and they are priced in the state breakdowns, not here.
A closing caution on scope. Application-fee statutes differ sharply by state — some states publish a different amount, some assess none at the application stage — so this page prices the two statutory schemes it actually read, Florida's and Ohio's, and does not present $25 or $50 as a national figure. Where a state publishes no application fee in its appointed-counsel statute, the honest statement is the one this page makes for other components: not published, not priced.
Common questions
- Is a public defender free in a DUI case?
- Not entirely, in the states priced here. Florida charges a $50 application fee under § 27.52(1)(b) and assesses attorney's fees of at least $50 per misdemeanor or criminal traffic case after conviction under § 938.29. Ohio charges a $25 non-refundable application fee under § 120.36, unless it is waived or reduced.
- Can counsel be denied if the fee is not paid?
- Ohio's statute says no: § 120.36(B) provides that counsel may not be denied solely for failure to pay the application fee, and present inability to pay does not disqualify a person from representation.
- When is Florida's $50 due?
- Within seven days after the application is submitted. If it is still unpaid at the end of the case, the clerk notifies the court and the court shall assess it as part of the sentence or as a condition of probation.
Related cost guides: DUI attorney costs, Florida DUI penalties breakdown, Ohio DUI penalties breakdown, DUI probation and supervision fees.
Sources: Florida Statutes §§ 27.52, 938.29; Ohio Revised Code § 120.36. Last verified: October 2026. This page is educational information about costs only — not legal advice. Laws and fees change; confirm current figures with your court and your state's driver-licensing agency.