When a court pro-rates court cost and fees, the cost and fees owed to the state must be paid before the cost and fees, retained by the city.

• A. True
• B. Depends
• C. Not specified
• D. False

Answer: (D)

The key idea is how costs are distributed when a court pro-rates them. Pro-rating means dividing the total court costs among the involved entities according to a statutory formula or the court’s order, reflecting each party’s share rather than a fixed “who gets paid first” rule. There isn’t a universal requirement that the state’s portion must be paid before any funds retained by the city. The actual distribution depends on the applicable statutes and what the court directs in the judgment. So saying the state must be paid first is not universally true—the correct understanding is that the distribution follows the pro-rated shares or specific orders, not a presumed priority.