California Witness Fees and Mileage

The California Fee: $35 a Day and 20 Cents a Mile

Government Code § 68093 sets the fee for a witness who is legally required to attend a civil action or proceeding in superior court: $35 for each day of actual attendance, plus mileage actually traveled, both ways, at 20 cents a mile. A witness who lives 25 miles from the courthouse and attends for one day is owed $35 plus $10 (50 miles at 20 cents), or $45.

Deposition witnesses get the same fee and mileage as if the subpoena required them to testify in court (CCP § 1986.5). The statute opens with “except as otherwise provided by law,” and the exceptions matter: public employees, records custodians, and experts each have their own rules, covered below.

Multi-day attendance is where the statute is thinnest. The daily fee is clearly owed for each day the witness attends. For mileage, the amount the law requires up front is one day’s fee and one round trip (CCP § 1987(a); Gov. Code § 68097). We haven’t found a case deciding whether a witness who drives home each night is owed a new round trip for each day. The statute pays mileage “actually traveled,” so our reading is that the miles the witness actually drives are covered. The calculator below lets you count it either way.

When the Fee Has to Be Paid

The answer depends on the kind of subpoena, and the old version of this article got the deposition rule wrong.

• Trial or hearing subpoena. The witness may demand the mileage and one day’s fee in advance, and once they’ve demanded it, they can’t be compelled to attend until it’s paid (Gov. Code § 68097). The person serving the subpoena offers the fees for travel to and from the place and one day’s attendance, if the witness demands them (CCP § 1987(a)). Sending a check with the subpoena takes the issue off the table.
• Deposition subpoena for personal appearance. The party noticing the deposition pays the fee and mileage in cash or by check, whether or not the deponent demands it. The noticing party chooses whether to pay at the time of service or when the deponent shows up to testify (CCP § 2020.230(a)).
• Records-only deposition subpoena. The subpoena has to be accompanied by the payment described in Evidence Code § 1563(b)(6), again whether or not the witness asks for it (CCP § 2020.230(b)). More on that below.
• Parties. A party, and a party’s officers, directors, managing agents, and employees, can be required to attend a deposition by the deposition notice alone (CCP § 2025.280(a)). No subpoena means the subpoena payment rules don’t come into play. For trial, CCP § 1987(b) lets you require a party or its officer, director, or managing agent to attend by written notice to the party’s attorney at least 10 days before; that witness, if entitled to fees, is paid on demand before testifying.

Peace Officers and Other Public Employees: The $275 Deposit

Subpoenas for police officers, deputies, and other public employees work differently. Government Code § 68097.1 covers peace officers (including CHP officers, sheriff’s deputies, city police, and probation officers) and firefighters subpoenaed to testify about events they perceived or investigated on duty, and state and trial court employees subpoenaed to testify about expertise they gained at work. Service can be made on the employee personally or by delivering two copies to the employee’s immediate superior or that person’s designated agent.

The employee keeps getting their regular pay while testifying, and the party who requested the subpoena reimburses the employer. To cover it, $275 for each day the employee is required to attend has to be tendered with the subpoena to the person who accepts it (Gov. Code § 68097.2(b)). If the actual cost turns out lower, the difference is refunded; if it’s higher, the requesting party pays the rest. Employees of cities and other local agencies that aren’t parties to the case are handled the same way, also at $275 a day (Gov. Code § 68096.1).

The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s civil manual, for one, says the $275 has to be paid when the subpoena is served. If you’re subpoenaing an officer for a deposition or trial, get the check cut before the subpoena goes out.

Custodians of Records

A business that produces records in response to a subpoena isn’t paid the $35 fee unless someone has to appear. It’s paid its reasonable costs under Evidence Code § 1563(b):

• 10 cents a page for standard copies, 20 cents a page for copies from microfilm, and actual cost for oversized documents
• clerical time to locate and prepare the records, at no more than $24 an hour per person ($6 per quarter hour)
• actual postage, and the actual cost charged by a third party that retrieves or returns records held offsite

The witness can hold the records until those costs are paid. When the records are made available for inspection or copying at the witness’s place of business, the only fee for complying is capped at $15, plus any third-party retrieval cost (§ 1563(b)(6)). That’s the payment a records-only deposition subpoena has to include. If the subpoena requires the custodian to appear in person, the custodian gets the regular witness fee and mileage on top of the costs (§ 1563(c)).

Records slow to arrive is its own topic; see The Subpoena Was Served. Where Are the Records?

Expert Witnesses Are Paid Differently

A designated expert deposed by the other side isn’t paid $35 a day. The deposing party pays the expert’s reasonable and customary hourly or daily fee for the time from the start of the deposition set in the notice until the expert is dismissed, whether or not the deposition actually goes forward (CCP § 2034.430). The fee is tendered with the deposition notice or at the start of the deposition (CCP § 2034.450).

Federal Cases: $40 a Day and 76 Cents a Mile

Federal witnesses are paid under 28 U.S.C. § 1821:

• Attendance: $40 a day, for each day of attendance and for the time spent traveling to and from the place of attendance.
• Mileage: for a witness who drives, the General Services Administration rate for a privately owned vehicle, counted both ways. The GSA raised that rate mid-year in 2026: 72.5 cents a mile through June 30, and 76 cents a mile for travel on or after July 1, 2026. A witness who travels by common carrier is paid the most economical fare reasonably available, with a receipt.
• Extras: tolls, parking, and taxi fares between lodging and the carrier terminal, with receipts, and a subsistence allowance up to the federal per diem when the distance requires an overnight stay.

Under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45(b)(1), serving a subpoena that requires attendance means tendering one day’s fee and the mileage allowed by law at the same time. The exception is a subpoena issued on behalf of the United States or one of its officers or agencies. Approved amendments to Rule 45 would let the fee and mileage be tendered at the time and place of attendance instead, but not before December 1, 2027; see the Rule 45 changes coming in 2027. The old version of this article listed 54 cents a mile, the 2016 rate. Check the GSA page for the current rate before a federal subpoena goes out.

Witness Fee Calculator

Enter the one-way distance from the witness’s home or workplace and the number of days of attendance. The calculator uses $35 and 20 cents for California, $40 and 76 cents for federal cases, and the $275 daily deposit for public employees in California cases.

Before You Serve the Subpoena

• Measure the distance from the witness’s address to the place of attendance and double it.
• Personal appearance deposition: have the fee and mileage ready at service or at the deposition. It’s owed even if the witness never asks.
• Records-only subpoena: include the payment under Evidence Code § 1563(b)(6), and expect a bill for copy and clerical costs.
• Peace officer or other public employee: $275 for each day, tendered with the subpoena.
• Federal case: tender $40 and mileage at the current GSA rate with the subpoena.
• Expert: the expert’s own hourly or daily fee, with the notice or at the start of the deposition.

Direct Legal serves deposition and trial subpoenas throughout California. Ask us to advance the witness fee when you order and our process server will tender it with the subpoena. For federal cases, see our federal subpoena service, and for subpoenas in other states, our out-of-state subpoena service.

About This Article

Sources

• Government Code section 68093
• Government Code section 68097
• Government Code section 68097.1
• Government Code section 68097.2
• Government Code section 68096.1
• Code of Civil Procedure section 1986.5
• Code of Civil Procedure section 1987
• Code of Civil Procedure section 2020.230
• Code of Civil Procedure section 2025.280
• Code of Civil Procedure section 2034.430
• Evidence Code section 1563
• 28 U.S.C. section 1821, Per diem and mileage generally
• U.S. General Services Administration, privately owned vehicle mileage rates
• Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 45

Keep Reading

• Federal Subpoenas by Mail: The Rule 45 Changes Coming in 20272026 · Subpoenas, Records, and Out-of-State Service
• The Subpoena Was Served. Where Are the Records?2026 · Subpoenas, Records, and Out-of-State Service
• Interstate Subpoenas and DiscoveryUpdated 2026 · Subpoenas, Records, and Out-of-State Service

See all 32 articles on the Direct Legal blog

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