How to Get a Subpoena: Service, Witness Fees, and Objections

To get a subpoena in a federal case, ask the clerk of the court where your case is pending for a signed, blank subpoena, or have your attorney issue one directly; you then fill in the details, arrange for a non-party adult to serve it along with the required witness fee and mileage, and file proof of service with the court. State courts follow the same basic sequence with local variations. The work is less about permission and more about getting the contents, service, and fees right so the subpoena holds up if the recipient objects.¹

Decide Which Kind of Subpoena You Need

A subpoena to testify compels a person to appear and give testimony at a trial, hearing, or deposition. A subpoena to produce compels someone to turn over documents, electronically stored information, or other physical evidence. You can combine both commands in one subpoena or issue them separately.¹

The distinction is not cosmetic. Someone commanded to produce documents can serve written objections within 14 days and effectively pause the obligation until a court resolves the dispute. Someone commanded to testify generally must show up unless they win a motion to quash first. Choose the type that matches what you actually need, and be specific about it on the form.

Where to Request the Subpoena

Civil Cases in Federal Court

You do not need a judge’s permission. Rule 45 says the clerk “must issue a subpoena, signed but otherwise in blank, to a party who requests it.”¹ You fill in the details before serving. If you have a lawyer, the lawyer can issue and sign the subpoena directly, skipping the clerk. Most state courts follow a similar model, though some require an attorney’s signature or a court order for certain subpoenas. Check your local rules.

Criminal Cases

Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17 works almost the same way: the clerk issues a signed, sealed, blank subpoena to whichever party requests it, and the requesting party fills in the witness’s name, the date, and the location before service.²

A defendant who cannot afford witness fees can file an ex parte application showing financial hardship and that the witness’s testimony is necessary to the defense. If the court grants it, the government covers the witness fees and service costs.²

If You Are Representing Yourself

You can still get a subpoena without a lawyer. Go to the clerk’s office for the court where your case is pending and request a blank subpoena. The clerk is required to issue one.¹ Many state courts follow the same practice, and some post fillable subpoena forms on their websites. You are responsible for filling in every field accurately, and because you are a party to the case, you cannot serve it yourself.

Note the scope: this covers subpoenas issued in court cases. Federal agencies such as the SEC and IRS have separate statutory authority to issue administrative subpoenas during investigations, and those follow agency-specific rules rather than the civil or criminal procedure rules discussed here.

What the Subpoena Must Contain

A subpoena is not a blank demand letter. The federal rules require:

The name of the issuing court
The title of the action and the civil-action number
A clear command to attend and testify, produce designated documents or electronically stored information, or permit inspection of premises, at a specified time and place
The full text of Rule 45(d) and (e), which set out the recipient’s rights and the issuing party’s duties

A deposition subpoena must also state the method for recording the testimony.¹ Federal subpoenas do not need to be notarized or accompanied by a sworn affidavit. State rules can add requirements, so verify locally.

Notify the Other Parties Before You Serve

If your subpoena commands the production of documents or inspection of premises before trial, you must serve a notice and a copy of the subpoena on every other party in the case before serving the target.¹ Skipping this step gives the opposing side a clean challenge, because the notice is what lets other parties object before anything is produced.

Serving the Subpoena

Who Can Serve

Any person at least 18 years old who is not a party to the case can serve a subpoena.¹ That includes a professional process server, a sheriff’s deputy, or a friend who meets the age requirement. In criminal cases, a U.S. Marshal or deputy marshal can also handle service.²

How to Serve, and Why You Need Cash in Hand

Service means delivering a copy of the subpoena directly to the named person. If the subpoena requires the person to attend a proceeding, the server must also hand over the fees for one day’s attendance and the mileage allowed by law at the time of service. Serving without tendering the fees is defective, with a narrow exception for subpoenas issued on behalf of the United States.¹

The federal witness attendance fee is $40 per day.³ Mileage follows the GSA privately owned vehicle rate, which is $0.725 per mile as of January 1, 2026.⁴ Subpoenaing someone who lives 30 miles from the courthouse means tendering $40 plus $43.50 in mileage at the moment of service.

Proof of Service

After delivery, file a statement with the issuing court showing the date and manner of service and the name of the person served.¹ Without proof of service, enforcing the subpoena later becomes very difficult.

Where the Recipient Can Be Compelled to Appear

You can serve a federal subpoena anywhere in the United States, but you cannot force appearance anywhere. The compliance limits are narrower than the service reach:

For testimony, a deposition, or document production, compliance can be required only within 100 miles of where the person lives, works, or regularly transacts business in person.
Parties and their officers can be compelled to attend trial anywhere within the state where they live, work, or regularly transact business, even beyond 100 miles.
Non-parties can be compelled to attend trial beyond 100 miles but within the same state only if attendance would not cause substantial expense.

A subpoena that exceeds these geographic limits must be quashed on request.¹

Reaching a Witness in Another State

The 100-mile rule often makes a federal subpoena useless against an out-of-state witness, and a state court subpoena has no force in another state on its own. The Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (UIDDA), adopted by 47 states plus the District of Columbia, creates a domestication process:

Issue the subpoena in the state where your case is pending.
Present the original to the clerk of court in the county where the witness lives or where the evidence is located.
The clerk in the discovery state issues a new local subpoena incorporating the terms of your original.
Serve the new local subpoena under that state’s rules.

Filing under UIDDA does not count as appearing in the discovery state’s courts, so out-of-state counsel generally does not need local admission. Build extra time into your deadlines. Between filing, waiting for the clerk to issue the new subpoena, and giving the witness room to respond or object, the process can add weeks.

What It Costs

Court Filing Fees

Some courts charge a small administrative fee to issue a subpoena; others fold it into the general filing fees for the case. Amounts vary widely by jurisdiction, from under $10 to over $100.

Process Server Fees

A professional process server typically charges $40 to $100 for a standard serve. Rush service, difficult-to-locate recipients, and multiple attempts push the price higher. Sheriff’s offices also serve subpoenas, often more cheaply but more slowly.

Witness Fees and Mileage

You must tender one day’s attendance fee ($40) and mileage ($0.725 per mile in 2026) at the time of service for any subpoena requiring appearance.³⁴ Additional daily fees accrue for multi-day proceedings. Expert witnesses charge their own rates, often hundreds or thousands of dollars per day, and those costs fall on the party who calls them.

Compliance Costs

A recipient asked to produce documents may incur real costs gathering, copying, and reviewing materials. Courts can require the issuing party to cover reasonable compliance costs, especially for large requests. Offering to cover copying and retrieval costs up front can head off objections.

When the Recipient Pushes Back

Written Objections to Document Requests

A person commanded to produce documents can serve written objections on the issuing party by the earlier of the compliance date or 14 days after service.¹ Once objections are served, the requesting party cannot inspect or copy the materials until the court resolves the dispute. If you issued the subpoena and objections come back, your next step is a motion to compel.

Motions to Quash

For broader challenges, the recipient files a motion to quash in the district where compliance is required. The court must quash or modify a subpoena that:

Fails to allow reasonable time to comply
Exceeds the geographic limits
Requires disclosure of privileged or protected information, such as attorney-client communications or matter protected by the Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination
Subjects the person to an undue burden

The court also has discretion to quash or modify a subpoena that would require disclosing a trade secret or other confidential research, or that demands testimony from an unretained expert.¹

The best defense against a successful motion to quash is a narrow, specific request. Courts routinely quash subpoenas that demand “all documents related to” a broad topic. The tighter your request, the harder it is to argue undue burden.

If the Recipient Simply Ignores It

When someone ignores a properly served subpoena with no valid objection or quash motion pending, you can move for contempt. The judge has wide discretion, and sanctions can include fines, an order to pay the other side’s attorney fees, or in extreme cases jail time. Courts generally escalate gradually and weigh whether the recipient had a legitimate reason for not complying, such as logistical problems, genuine confusion about scope, or privacy concerns. Short lead times and overbroad requests make harsh sanctions unlikely.

If you are handling all of this without a lawyer, the request and service steps are manageable on your own. The point where self-represented litigants tend to struggle is responding to objections and motions to quash, because the arguments about burden and privilege get technical. Consulting an attorney for that stage alone, even if you handle the rest yourself, is often worth the cost.

1
Cornell Law School. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45 – Subpoena
2
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 17 – Subpoena
3
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1821 – Per Diem and Mileage Generally; Subsistence
4
General Services Administration. Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rates