Wisconsin Statutes
Wis. Stat. § 973.07 (2026)
Failure to pay fine, fees, surcharges, or costs or to comply with certain community service work
✓ current as of July 2026
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
WI-LEGdocs.legis.wisconsin.gov
JustiaChapter on Justia
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
973.07973.07 Failure to pay fine, fees, surcharges, or costs or to comply with certain community service work. If the fine, plus costs, fees, and surcharges imposed under ch. 814, are not paid or community service work under s. 943.017 (3) is not completed as required by the sentence, the defendant may be committed to the county jail until the fine, costs, fees, and surcharges are paid or discharged, or the community service work under s. 943.017 (3) is completed, for a period fixed by the court not to exceed 6 months.
973.07 HistoryHistory: 1977 c. 29; 1979 c. 34, 111; 1981 c. 20; 1983 a. 27; 1985 a. 36; 1987 a. 27, 339; 1989 a. 64; 1991 a. 39; 1993 a. 16; 1995 a. 24; 1997 a. 27; 1999 a. 9; 2001 a. 16; 2003 a. 139.
973.07 AnnotationSection 973.05 (1), permitting a delay of 60 days for payment of a fine, and this section, allowing commitment to jail for nonpayment, are constitutional since the court may stay the sentence and put the defendant on probation. The burden of proving inability to pay is on the defendant. State ex rel. Pedersen v. Blessinger, 56 Wis. 2d 286, 201 N.W.2d 778 (1972).
973.07 AnnotationWhen a fine and payment schedule are reasonably suited to an offender’s means, the offender carries a heavy burden of showing inability to pay. Will v. State, 84 Wis. 2d 397, 267 N.W.2d 357 (1978).
973.07 AnnotationCommitment under this section may be consecutive to another term of incarceration. State v. Way, 113 Wis. 2d 82, 334 N.W.2d 918 (Ct. App. 1983).
973.07 AnnotationThe six-month limit on commitments under this section is the aggregate amount of time a defendant may be jailed for nonpayment of a fine. State v. Schuman, 173 Wis. 2d 743, 496 N.W.2d 684 (Ct. App. 1993).
973.07 AnnotationIncarceration as a means of collecting a fine is limited to six months by this section. It was error for a court to make payment of an old, unpaid fine a condition of probation for a new conviction when violation of probation exposed the defendant to incarceration of more than six months. State v. Oakley, 2000 WI 37, 234 Wis. 2d 528, 609 N.W.2d 786, 98-1099.
973.07 AnnotationIn the case of an order for commitment for failure to pay attorney fees, in order to be constitutional this section must require a finding of ability to pay prior to any commitment. The defendant must be given notice and an opportunity to be heard. State v. Helsper, 2006 WI App 243, 297 Wis. 2d 377, 724 N.W.2d 414, 06-0835.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 17
cases, 1972–2009 · leading case: State v. Oakley, 2000 WI 37 (Wis. 2000).
State v. Oakley, 2000 WI 37 (Wis. 2000). “We conclude, as did Judge Snyder in his dissenting opinion in the court of appeals, that imposing the payment of a fine as a condition of probation in this case violates Wis. Stat. § 973.07 . [1] ¶ 3. Section 973.”
State v. Oakley, 594 N.W.2d 827 (Wis. Ct. App. 1999). “" After a defendant has served six months in jail for failure to pay a fine, the state must use other methods, such as civil collection, to collect the fine.”
State v. Martel, 2003 WI 70 (Wis. 2003). “We noted that the penalty for nonpayment of a fine was statutorily fixed at *497 a maximum of six months, pursuant to Wis. Stat. § 973.07 . Id., ¶ 15 . Ordering payment of the old, unrelated fine as a condition of probation on the defendant's felony conviction exposed the…”
In Re Attorney Fees in State v. Helsper, 2006 WI App 243 (Wis. Ct. App. 2006). “We hold that Wis. Stat. § 973.07 1 does not allow commitment absent a finding that the defendant was able to pay an attorney fee obligation.”
State v. Schuman, 496 N.W.2d 684 (Wis. Ct. App. 1993). “1 He further requested, in *745 the alternative, a credit of $10 per day for each day he served in jail under several previous Price County commitment orders, an order granting retroactive good time credit and declaring prior Price County commitment orders invalid under sec.…”
State v. Miller, 2005 WI App 114 (Wis. Ct. App. 2005). “2d 483, ¶¶ 28-35 (holding that the court lacked the authority to order sex-offender registration as a condition of probation where the statutes that more specifically governed sex-offender registration did not apply).”
State Ex Rel. Pedersen v. Blessinger, 201 N.W.2d 778 (Wis. 1972). “We do not have this alternative; nor a predetermined equivalency formula; nor do we have imprisonment in terms of payment of a fine, much less at a certain dollar rate per day.”
State v. Way, 334 N.W.2d 918 (Wis. Ct. App. 1983). “The court denied Way’s request for more time to pay, imposed the additional six-month sentence under sec. 973.07, Stats., and ordered that the additional six months be served consecutive to the first six months.”
State v. Strohbeen, 433 N.W.2d 288 (Wis. Ct. App. 1988). “In Way , this court spoke to the public policy underlying sec. 973.07, Stats.: The obvious purpose of a sentence providing an alternative penalty .”
Will v. State, 267 N.W.2d 357 (Wis. 1978). “Similarly, we held that sec. 973.07, Stats., calling for imprisonment for nonpayment of a fine, is constitutional in cases where the defendant has the ability to pay the fine and will not.”
State v. Galvan, 2007 WI App 173 (Wis. Ct. App. 2007). “2d 786 (payment of a fine from prior unrelated case prohibited as a condition of probation because Wis. Stat. § 973.07 specifically limits the court's means of collecting fines by incarceration), and State v.”
State v. Torpen, 2001 WI App 273 (Wis. Ct. App. 2001). “The court held that a circuit court could not order the payment of an old, unpaid fine as a condition of probation where the defendant would be exposed to more than the six months in jail that the defendant would otherwise face for failing to pay the fine, under Wis. Stat. §…”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.