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Indigent Defense Services

Indigent Defense Services

The NC Public Defense System

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Tips and Policies

Tips for Prompt Payment

Be sure that your fee application is complete.

Our staff often receives fee applications missing information including signatures, dates, and disposition information.  These must be returned before being processed for payment. To receive timely payment, please confirm that your fee application is complete before submitting it to a clerk or judge.

Some fee apps have required attachments: 

  • If you are seeking miscellaneous expenses over $25, attach receipts.
  • If you are billing for Attorney for the Day, attach the day’s docket.
  • If you are a GAL for a respondent parent, attach documentation of the court’s findings for substitutive GAL.
  • For Class 3 Misdemeanors, be sure to attach a valid form CR224.

Sign up for direct deposit.

Direct deposit is faster and more reliable than paper checks. If you want to sign up for electronic payments, please submit the direct deposit form available here.

Know the correct rate for the offense class, and know your client’s highest charge:

Rate Calculator

If your mailing address has changed – even if you are signed up for direct deposit – email us to let us know.  

If your tax ID has changed, or if you have obtained a tax ID number to use instead of your social security number (recommended), email us to let us know.

Make sure fee applications for Class 3 Misdemeanors establish that the client was entitled to appointed counsel.

IDS cannot pay for representation in a Class 3 misdemeanor case unless the client was entitled to appointed counsel.  If you are submitting a fee application where the most serious original charge was a Class 3 misdemeanor, including traffic, make sure that you have attached a valid form CR224.

Click here for a useful document that lists all misdemeanor offenses by class, statute, and offense title. Click here for IDS’s policy on appointment and payment of counsel in Class 3 misdemeanor cases.

Click here for a chart summarizing the types of cases for which a GAL shall or may be appointed, as well as which agency or person is responsible for payment.

Attorney Fee and Expense Policies

Private Attorney Fee and Expense Policies

  • IDS Transcript Ordering Procedure Aug 2021
  • Private Attorney Fee and Expense Policies (Non-Capital Criminal and Non-Criminal Cases at the Trial Level) Mar 2021
  • Private Attorney Fee and Expense Policies (Potentially Capital Cases and Appeals) Mar 2021

Fee Deadline Extension and Waiver Applications

  • Extension and Waiver of Appointed Attorney Fee Application Deadline Policy Feb 2022
  • IDS-018: Advance Deadline Extension Request Form Aug 2020Permits A 30 day extension. For use before the 1 year Fee Application Deadline – when you anticipate not meeting that deadline.
  • IDS-019: Deadline Waiver Request Form Aug 2020For use after the 1 year Fee Application Deadline

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Related

Tips and Policies
Attorney Fee Application Forms
Payment Dates
Note: This is a BETA version of our new website. Got feedback? Can't find something? Let us know.

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Contact Us

Indigent Defense Services
123 West Main Street, Suite 400
Durham, North Carolina 27701
Phone: (919) 354-7200
Fax: (919) 354-7201

Setoff Debt Program Taxpayer Inquiry Line: (919) 890-1655

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