Online Payments

Online payment functionality will feature at a later stage in the development of this website. While no government department is thought to accept online payment currently, there are at least two departments which accept credit card payments over the counter.

The Judicial Administration collects fines imposed by the court for traffic and other offences as well as fees for court services. The Judicial Administration also collects compensation and maintenance payments which, when received, are paid out to third parties. The funds collected for payment to third parties are known as Court Fund Payments. Accepting payments online is expected to reduce the work for the cashiers and to improve customer service, while also offering the public greater convenience. There would be a particular improvement in customer service where the individual or law firm making payment is resident overseas.

There are various types of court fines/fees, described below, for which payment will be taken online. Each fine/fee type would be listed within a database together with the amount payable, which could either be a fixed dollar amount or a percentage.

Online payments will be made by debit or credit card. However, a limit will be put on the amount that is payable by debit/credit card. Unless there is such a limit, the debit/credit card transaction fee (which is a percentage of the amount paid) would give rise to a situation where, beyond a certain amount, the price of the payer’s convenience would be borne by the public purse rather than by the payer. It may be decided, for instance, to limit credit card payments to a maximum value of $1,000 per transaction, or impose a credit card payment surcharge. This limit will be configurable by the website administrator.

In order to prevent users from circumventing the limit by paying amounts in excess of the limit in more than one attempt, the system will allow partial online payments up to the maximum only once.

Fees that are above the maximum accepted by debit/credit card could also be accepted by electronic funds transfer, in addition to by cheque, thereby potentially reducing the Government’s banking fees and the amount of work for the cashiers. In order to cater for such cases, the Government’s bank account details would be published on the site, together with instructions.

The website administrator will be able to edit the fine/fee calculations for each type of fine/fee, and to add new fine/fee types.

It will be possible for fines/fees to be paid for a given user or case (using the user’s identification particulars or case number), and for more than one type of fine/fee to be paid per user or per case (e.g. for an individual with more than one fine or fee outstanding). Whereas each case is assigned a unique number which can be used for identification purposes, the identification of users would require more than one identifying particular, as there is no nationally unique identification (e.g. Social Security Number, National Identification Number, etc.,) assigned to citizens of the Cayman Islands. As there are many individuals with the same first name and last name, date of birth, etc., users would have to be identified by more than one variable. In addition to first name, middle initial and last name, users could also be identified by any three (3) of the following:

  • date of birth
  • driver’s licence number
  • occupational status
  • company
  • vehicle registration number
  • parking, speeding, or other ticket number
  • mother’s maiden name
  • e-mail address
  • street address
  • home telephone number.

Where the user is a corporate entity, some of the variables just mentioned would not apply. The name of the entity would be used in place of first name, middle initial and last name, and there would be no mother’s maiden name, etc. The applicable particulars for corporate entities would be as follows:

  • name
  • street address
  • corporate registration number
  • Trade & Business Licence number
  • e-mail address
  • office telephone number
  • vehicle registration number (where a company vehicle is involved)
  • parking, speeding, or other ticket number (where a company vehicle is involved)
  • Law firms making online payments would use their assigned log-on credentials.

In order to minimise the possibility of debit/credit card fraud, the name of cardholder making an online payment would have to match with the name of the party on whose behalf the payment was being made. The terms and conditions under which debit/credit card payments are accepted would have to be such as to minimise the incidence of payments being reversed by the debit/credit card provider (also known as charge-backs). A penalty fee of say CI$50.00, in addition to the recovery of transaction costs, would have to be imposed on online payers who used charge-backs to delay or avoid meeting their payment obligations. This, of course, would be without prejudice to any criminal sanctions that might flow from the payer’s action.

While the plan initially is to limit payment of fines to only routine traffic offences ,regardless of the type of fee or fine, the system would provide a facility for the user to print a paper receipt. The paper receipt would clearly indicate the purpose for which the payment was made. For example, where the payment is for filing a document, the case number and the description of the document would be stated. In the case of the payment of fines for traffic tickets, the number of the ticket would be stated, etc. If a user did not have the means to print a paper receipt, it would be possible to use the unique receipt number assigned by the system to view the details related to the payment made by the user.

Court Fees

Court fees are set out in the Grand Court Fees Rules, which are published on this web site. They fall into two broad categories, namely, ad-valorem fees and fixed fees.

Ad-valorem fees

Ad-valorem fees are those which vary based on the capital amount of the judgment or transaction that they relate to. They currently range from a minimum of CI$150.00 to a maximum of CI$10,550.00. It is proposed that these may be paid online.

For each type of ad-valorem fee (claims for liquidated sums, judgment for damages, appeals against a money judgment, and court of appeal judgments) the website would display the text of the rules from the current schedule of fees, together with any interpretation that may be deemed useful. As there are often discrepancies between the amount of ad-valorem fees as determined the parties responsible for paying these fees and that computed by the Finance Department of the Judicial Administration, the system would have built-in formulas to enable users to compute the exact amount of ad-valorem fees payable. The user would have the option of paying online the amount due in full or in part.

Fixed fees

In contrast to ad-valorem fees described above, fixed fees do not vary according to the value of the judgment. Fixed fees are a dollar amount rather than a percentage.

The website will provide the ability to pay a fixed fee of one of several different types. The site will provide a drop-down box or similar from which the user could select the type of fee to be paid. The system would then show the current fee and a description of the fee’s applicability.

Where the fee is for filing a document or carrying out a search, the payment functionality for these would be integrated within the overall process of e-filing and searching the court registry. It will also be possible to pay a fee online for the filing of a document or making a search that is still carried out by visiting the court registry in person. The database would contain a different fee for this, if necessary.

The fee for the issue of a plaint or summons would also be payable using the site.

Bailiff fees

The bailiff is the officer of the court who is responsible for serving subpoenas, summonses, and other court documents as well as executing writs of fieri facias (cause to be done). Bailiff fees are paid to the court for the bailiff undertaking this service. These fees are paid by which ever party to an action requires court documents to be served by the bailiff. The party requiring the service pays the cashier who in turn stamps the document to indicate that the fee has been paid and forwards it to the Civil Registry, where it is processed and entered for action by the bailiff. The bailiff checks with the Civil Registry for matters entered for action in the “Bailiff Book,” and signs the book when he takes the document for action. The bailiff fee payable varies by district, so the amount payable for service in Bodden Town, for example, would be different from the amount payable for service in East End. The actual amount payable is set out in the Grand Court Fees Rules, which are published on this web site along with other court fees. The party on whom the writ of fieri facias is served by the bailiff is required to pay the amount in default as determined by the court in addition to the bailiff’s fee. If the party concerned is either unwilling or unable to pay the amount specified in the writ, the bailiff will distrain on the assets of that party to recover the specified amount.

Payment of bailiff fees online will obviate the need for the party requiring the service of the bailiff to go to the cashier to pay the fee. Instead, he/she could go directly to the Civil Registry after having paid the fee on-line with the document to be processed for action by the bailiff. In order to make the payment on-line, the user would enter the case number and would then be prompted to select the district. Thereupon, the appropriate fee would be displayed. The system would generate a receipt for the user to present to the Civil Registry as proof of having paid. In processing the document(s) for service, the Civil Registry clerk would also stamp the receipt to indicate that it had been tendered in exchange for the required service. If the user did not have the means to print his/her receipt, the unique receipt number assigned by the system could be used to verify the payment.

Search fees

The e-filing section of the web site would require the user to pay the appropriate fee when carrying out searches. Fees for searches that are carried out in person at the court building may also optionally be paid online. However, the receipt generated for such payments would indicate whether it was for a manual or online search. Receipts issued for manual searches could not be used for online searches, and vice versa. A receipt that is used to procure a manual search would have to be tendered at the Civil Registry in exchange for the search, and would be stamped accordingly. In the absence of a paper receipt, the registry clerk could use the unique identification number for each receipt to obtain the user’s payment details from the system and to ensure that receipts issued for online searches could be used only once.

Other Payments into Court

These may include payments for security for costs, payments of judgement sums or partial awards of damages, or other payments in escrow into court to await final determination. As such payments typically involve large lump sum amounts it is not intended that they will be payable on line.