Court & Hearings
Worried about doing this on your own? You may be able to get free legal help.
This Easy Form helps you ask the court to waive or reduce criminal court assessments. It can also help you ask the court to waive or reduce traffic court assessments in Cook County, Illinois. Based on your income, expenses, and the value of your belongings, your criminal or traffic court assessments may be waived or reduced.
The Easy Form does not e-file the forms. You can download the forms and e-filing instructions at the end of the program.
This program will help you make your court forms. It will ask questions for you to answer. At the end of the program, you will get completed court forms and instructions. You can save and print them, or the program can email them to you.
Form completion time: 10 minutes to 15 minutes
You will not be able to save your work in the middle of the program.
The interview and forms are in English.
Can I use this program?
You can use this program if you have been ordered to pay assessments in a criminal case in Circuit Court in Illinois.
The forms work for all criminal cases, including felony and misdemeanor. They do not work in:
- Civil cases,
- Juvenile cases, or
- Traffic cases, unless you are filing in Cook County.
If you are filing in Cook County, the forms work for traffic and petty offenses in Schedules 2, 6, 9, 10, and 13 of Article 15 of the Criminal and Traffic Assessment Act.
When you are convicted of an offense in Illinois, the judge must enter a judgment requiring you to pay the costs of the prosecution. If you are convicted and incarcerated, you cannot be ordered to pay any outstanding fines, taxes, or costs related to your criminal proceeding during the first 180 days after your release from incarceration.
Note: in criminal cases you must file an Application for Waiver of Criminal Court Assessments no later than 30 days after the sentencing date. You are responsible for knowing if there are other deadlines to file the documents.
What do I need first?
To use this program, you will need to know:
- Your criminal court case number and county,
- Your traffic court case number (if in Cook County),
- The public benefits that you get,
- Your income each month,
- Your income over the past 12 months,
- Your monthly expenses, and
- The value of your belongings.
What documents will this create?
This program prepares the following forms. The forms you get will depend on your answers.
- How to Ask the Judge to Waive Criminal Court Assessments
- How to Ask the Judge to Waive Criminal and/or Traffic Court Assessments in Cook County
- Application for Waiver of Criminal Court Assessments
- Application for Waiver of Criminal and/or Traffic Court Assessments For use in Cook County Only
- Supplemental Form - Winnebago County
- Order on Application for Waiver of Criminal Court Assessments
- Order for Waiver of Criminal and/or Traffic Court Assessments For use in Cook County Only
Please note your assessment waiver does not need to be filed in-person, but can be e-filed, mailed, or filed through other means allowed by your local court.
