Served 123 LLC domesticates and serves out-of-state and tribal-court subpoenas across all 67 Pennsylvania counties under the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act, 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5331–5337, in force since late 2012. Pennsylvania runs on county machinery: an elected prothonotary in most courthouses — an office renamed entirely in Philadelphia, Allegheny, and Delaware counties — a filing fee that swings from $44.50 to $349.23 depending on where the witness sits, and a 20-day notice-of-intent regime welded onto every records subpoena by statute. We know every county's intake, front the exact fee, run the 20-day machine, and serve with the witness fee in hand.
Pennsylvania has no statewide filing fee — every county prothonotary publishes its own fee bill, and the spread is enormous. The official numbers: Philadelphia’s Office of Judicial Records charges $349.23 to issue a foreign subpoena through its e-filing system, per the court’s own instructions. Bucks County charges $69.00 on its bill effective January 1, 2026. Chester County charges $44.50. York’s schedule has no foreign-subpoena line at all — a $25.00 miscellaneous filing and a $10.50 subpoena issuance are the nearest entries — and Allegheny’s fee is set by the Department of Court Records and not published on a public line. That is an eight-fold swing between neighboring counties, plus two flavors of opacity. We verify the current fee with the county before every filing and front the exact amount — the witness’s county decides the price, not a guess.
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Pennsylvania adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act as 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5331–5337, enacted by Act 183 of 2012 — approved October 24, 2012 and effective in sixty days. A party submits the foreign subpoena to a prothonotary in the county where the witness resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person — the venue trio is the filing rule itself — and the prothonotary shall promptly issue. The request is not an appearance. Two things decide how it actually goes: the county’s fee — anywhere from $44.50 in Chester to $349.23 in Philadelphia — and, for records subpoenas, the 20-day notice-of-intent machine the statute welds on through Rule 4009.21.
Pennsylvania’s UIDDA is Subchapter B.1 of the Judicial Code — 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5331–5337, added by Act 183 of 2012, approved October 24, 2012 and effective in sixty days, applying by its own terms to discovery requests in cases already pending. The definitions carry two Pennsylvania signatures. First: “‘Prothonotary.’ The term includes a clerk of court, where applicable” — the legislature’s own acknowledgment that the office goes by different names in different counties. Second: “State” includes a federally recognized Indian tribe, so tribal-court subpoenas run through the same channel. And § 5335(a) holds the structural twist most guides miss: the foreign subpoena is submitted to a prothonotary in the jurisdiction where the witness resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person — Pennsylvania wrote the venue trio into the filing rule itself, a deliberate departure from the uniform act’s “county where discovery is sought.” The request does not constitute an appearance; the prothonotary “shall promptly issue”; the issued subpoena mirrors the foreign terms and carries the full counsel and party contact block.
What makes Pennsylvania genuinely county-by-county is the office itself. In most courthouses it is the elected Prothonotary. In Philadelphia the office became the Office of Judicial Records; in Allegheny County it is the Department of Court Records, which adopted its own Local Rule 234.2 in December 2024 — effective February 2025 — requiring the county’s FORM 234.2 request and assigning a miscellaneous docket number that goes on the served subpoena; in Delaware County, home-rule government folded the function into the Office of Judicial Support. Each office sets its own fee bill, its own intake instructions, and increasingly its own e-filing system: Philadelphia’s foreign subpoenas are e-filed under a dedicated “Foreign Subpoena – UIDDA” program — out-of-state attorneys register under the “pro se” user type — with a local subpoena uploaded for sealing, per the court’s official instructions. Filing in the wrong office, under the wrong name, on the wrong county’s budget is how Pennsylvania domestications stall.
And then the statute does something no other state’s UIDDA does: § 5336 enumerates the records-subpoena machinery by rule number — Rules 4009.21 through 4009.27 — welding the 20-day notice-of-intent regime onto every UIDDA records subpoena. Written notice to every other party at least twenty days before service, a filed objection that stops service cold, a sworn certificate as the prerequisite to serving at all, and a custodian’s certificate of compliance due within twenty days of service. Witness economics stay charmingly archaic under 42 Pa.C.S. § 5903: $5 for each day’s attendance plus 7 cents per “mile circular” — round trip — payable on demand at service, with a check enclosed when the subpoena travels by mail. Sixty-seven counties, sixty different fee bills, one machine. We run all of it.
Pennsylvania does not let a records subpoena reach the custodian until a certificate is filed of record — and Rule 4009.25 scripts exactly what it must swear.
Under Rule 4009.22(a), the party seeking production may serve the subpoena only after filing of record a certificate that:
Point (4) is the trap inside the trap: the subpoena served must be identical to the one attached to the notice of intent. Change a date, a custodian name, or a document category after the notice goes out, and the twenty days start over. The notice period is for the parties' benefit and can be waived by them — we calendar the clock, hold the document frozen, and collect waivers when speed matters.
Pennsylvania forks every subpoena into one of two tracks — and the official note to Rule 234.1 draws the line in ink. Get the track wrong and you either waited 20 days for nothing or served an unserveable subpoena.
A subpoena to attend and testify at a deposition — even one commanding documents — rides Rule 234.1, and its official note says the twenty-day notice requirement of Rule 4009.21(a) is not applicable. The safeguard is built in differently: materials are produced at the deposition and not earlier absent all parties' consent. Issue, serve with the tender, depose.
Rule 234.1 · No 20-day notice · Production at the depositionA standalone subpoena for documents and things runs the full machine: written notice of intent to every other party at least 20 days before service — not to the witness — with the proposed subpoena attached; any filed objection means the subpoena shall not be served until the court rules; then the sworn certificate, filed of record, before service; then the custodian's certificate of compliance within 20 days.
Notice +20 days · Certificate filed · Identical document · Compliance in 20One more wrinkle most guides miss: under Rule 234.2, if the subpoena is served by mail, the witness-fee check must be enclosed with it — restricted-delivery return-receipt mail completes on delivery, while ordinary mail is enforceable only if the witness signs the Rule 234.9 acknowledgment. We pick the track, run the clock, and put the check in the envelope.
From intake to affidavit — the witness-county venue check, the county-correct package, the exact fee fronted, the 20-day machine where it applies, and tendered service.
Upload the out-of-state or tribal-court subpoena with the Pennsylvania county where the witness sits. Venue runs on § 5335(a)'s trio — the county where the person resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person — and we verify it before anything is drafted, because Pennsylvania wrote the trio into the filing rule itself.
Sixty-seven counties, sixty-some fee bills, three renamed offices. We confirm the current figure with the county — $349.23 in Philadelphia, $69.00 in Bucks, $44.50 in Chester, unpublished in Allegheny, no line at all in York — and front the exact amount, payable the way that office demands.
We draft the Pennsylvania subpoena mirroring your foreign terms with the full § 5335(c) contact block, then build the county’s intake around it: Philadelphia’s “Foreign Subpoena – UIDDA” e-filing with the local subpoena uploaded for sealing per the court’s instructions; Allegheny’s FORM 234.2 request under its 2025 local rule, with the miscellaneous docket number carried onto the served subpoena; a petition or praecipe where that is the county’s instrument.
Our representative files with the prothonotary — or the Office of Judicial Records in Philadelphia, the Department of Court Records in Pittsburgh, the Office of Judicial Support in Media. The prothonotary shall promptly issue the signed and sealed subpoena; the request is not an appearance; and we report the docket number back the day it issues.
For standalone records subpoenas, we serve the notice of intent on every other party with the proposed subpoena attached, hold twenty days, confirm no objection was filed, and file the sworn Rule 4009.25 certificate — the served subpoena identical to the noticed one — before service. Deposition subpoenas skip the wait entirely under Rule 234.1’s note. Where all parties will waive, we collect the waivers and move immediately.
Service by the tiers of Rule 234.2: personal delivery by an adult with the $5 fee and 7¢-per-mile-circular tender on demand per § 5903, restricted-delivery return-receipt mail with the check enclosed, or acknowledged ordinary mail — with guardians served for minor witnesses. You receive a filing-ready affidavit of service (PDF); the custodian’s certificate of compliance runs on its own 20-day clock; and any motion to quash lands in the issuing county under § 5337, on Rule 234.4’s unreasonable-annoyance standard.
Before Act 183 of 2012, an out-of-state subpoena had no force in Pennsylvania — discovery ran through the assistance machinery of former § 5326, repealed the day the UIDDA arrived.
The complete framework — the act, the venue trio, the 20-day machine, the service tiers, and the fee statutes — each linked from the sections above.
| Authority | Subject | Key requirement |
|---|---|---|
| Act 183 of 2012 | Adoption | Approved October 24, 2012, effective in sixty days; added Subchapter B.1 (§§ 5331–5337), repealed former § 5326, and applies to discovery requests in cases pending on the effective date |
| 42 Pa.C.S. § 5333 | Definitions | “Prothonotary” includes a clerk of court where applicable; “State” includes the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands, a federally recognized Indian tribe, and U.S. territories; “subpoena” means a document however denominated commanding testimony, production, or inspection |
| 42 Pa.C.S. § 5335(a)–(b) | Where + Clerk's Duty | Submit the foreign subpoena to a prothonotary in the jurisdiction where the witness resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person; the request is not an appearance; the prothonotary shall, per that court's procedure, promptly issue |
| 42 Pa.C.S. § 5335(c)–(d) | Contents + Voluntary Compliance | The issued subpoena incorporates the foreign terms and contains or is accompanied by the names, addresses, and telephone numbers of all counsel of record and unrepresented parties — and a person not served may voluntarily testify or produce |
| 42 Pa.C.S. § 5336 | Rules Welded On | Pennsylvania's service and compliance rules apply to every subchapter subpoena — expressly including Rules 4009.21 through 4009.27 |
| Pa.R.C.P. 4009.21 | 20-Day Notice | Written notice of intent to every other party at least twenty days before service, proposed subpoena attached, no notice to the witness; a filed objection means the subpoena shall not be served until the court rules; the period may be waived |
| Pa.R.C.P. 4009.22 + 4009.25 | Certificate Prerequisite | Service is permitted only after a certificate is filed of record swearing the 20-day notice ran, no objection arrived, and the subpoena served is identical to the one noticed — in Rule 4009.25's scripted form |
| Pa.R.C.P. 4009.23 | Custodian's Side | The custodian executes a certificate of compliance and delivers it with the production within twenty days of service — the form is served with the subpoena — and the receiving party gives notice of receipt to every other party |
| Pa.R.C.P. 234.1 | The Deposition Fork | Deposition subpoenas are exempt from the 20-day notice — materials are produced at the deposition and not earlier absent consent — and no subpoena may compel ex parte appearance or production before an attorney or party |
| Pa.R.C.P. 234.2 | Issuance + Service + Tender | The prothonotary issues signed and sealed but otherwise in blank; service by any adult — personally, by restricted-delivery return-receipt mail, or by ordinary mail with the Rule 234.9 acknowledgment; fees tendered on demand at service, with a check enclosed when served by mail; minors served through a guardian |
| Pa.R.C.P. 234.4 + § 5337 | Relief + Motions | Motions to quash by a party, the person served, or anyone with sufficient interest, on an unreasonable annoyance, embarrassment, oppression, burden, or expense standard — submitted to the court that ordered service, with contempt and Rules 4011–4012 available |
| 42 Pa.C.S. § 5903 | Witness Fees | $5 for each day's attendance plus mileage at 7 cents per mile circular, payable on demand at the time of service; lodging per diem beyond 50 miles overnight; a witness who attends but is never called is paid the same |
County fee bills are set office by office under the Prothonotary Fee Law and change on their own schedules — the figures cited on this page are drawn from each county's current published schedule or official instructions as of their stated effective dates. Philadelphia's, Allegheny's, and Delaware County's offices operate under different names than the statute's; the statute's definition of prothonotary covers them all.
A statute with its own venue rule, three renamed offices, a 7.8× fee spread, and a 20-day machine with an identical-document trap — every failure below is live on a competitor page or built into the county system.
There is no Pennsylvania fee — there are sixty-seven. $44.50 in Chester. $69.00 in Bucks. $349.23 in Philadelphia. No published line in Allegheny; no foreign-subpoena line at all in York. Guides shrugging “fees vary” leave you to find out at the counter. We verify the county’s current figure and front it exactly.
Mail a “Prothonotary” package to Philadelphia and you’ve addressed an office renamed years ago — it’s the Office of Judicial Records, and foreign subpoenas go through its e-filing system. Pittsburgh is the Department of Court Records; Delaware County is the Office of Judicial Support. We file with the right office under the right name, in the system it actually uses.
A standalone records subpoena served without the 20-day notice of intent and the filed certificate violates Rules 4009.21–4009.22 at the moment of service — and point (4) of the certificate means a subpoena edited after notice is no longer servable at all. We run the clock, freeze the document, and collect waivers when speed matters.
National guides tell you to file “where discovery is sought” — the uniform formula Pennsylvania deliberately rewrote. § 5335(a) sends the filing to the county where the witness resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person. Wrong county, wrong prothonotary, rejected package. We venue-check the witness first.
One national guide dates Pennsylvania’s adoption “September 22, 2012” — a month before the act was signed. A Pennsylvania agency cites a “21-day” notice rule — it’s twenty — and “Pa.R.C.P. 234.10,” a rule that does not exist. We cite the act, the rules, and the fee bills, dated and linked.
Rule 234.2(c) is unambiguous: served personally, the $5 fee and 7¢-per-mile-circular mileage are tendered on demand; served by mail, “a check… shall be enclosed with the subpoena” — and ordinary mail binds nobody unless the witness signs the acknowledgment. We tender at the door or put the check in the envelope, by the rule.
End-to-end handling of a sixty-seven-county system — the fee verified, the office named correctly, the machine run on time.
The current figure confirmed with the county before filing — from Chester's $44.50 to Philadelphia's $349.23 — fronted exactly and itemized on your invoice.
Prothonotary, Office of Judicial Records, Department of Court Records, Office of Judicial Support — filed in the office's own system, including Philadelphia's UIDDA e-filing program and Allegheny's FORM 234.2 intake.
The Pennsylvania subpoena incorporating your foreign terms with the full § 5335(c) counsel-and-party block — frozen identical through the notice period when the 20-day machine runs.
Notice of intent to every party, the objection window honored, the Rule 4009.25 certificate filed of record, waivers collected when all parties will sign — and deposition subpoenas routed past the wait entirely.
Personal delivery with the $5-and-mileage tender on demand, restricted-delivery mail with the check enclosed, acknowledgment mail where it fits — and guardian service for minor witnesses.
Docket number reported on issuance, the compliance clock tracked, receipt notices handled, and a signed affidavit of service (PDF) ready for your originating court.
Every discovery subpoena the act reaches — a document however denominated — issued in the witness's county and served by the rule.
Standalone records and ESI on the full 20-day machine — notice, certificate, identical document, the custodian's 20-day compliance certificate.
Testimony — with or without documents produced at the deposition — on Rule 234.1's no-wait track, served with the tender in hand.
Combined commands routed to the correct track, the foreign terms mirrored, and the docket number carried onto the served paper where county practice assigns one.
Hospital systems, insurers, banks, and employers — served with the compliance-certificate form enclosed and the receipt-notice obligations handled after production.
Out-of-state counsel and the teams behind them — anyone who needs a Pennsylvania witness without learning sixty-seven fee bills and a 20-day clock.
Out-of-state litigators reaching Pennsylvania witnesses and custodians without decoding the venue trio, the renamed offices, or the certificate machinery.
Records from Philadelphia-metro health systems and statewide insurers — the 20-day machine calendared and the compliance certificates collected.
Discovery from the banks, employers, and institutions concentrated from Center City to Pittsburgh — served with the tender the rule demands.
Subpoenas from federally recognized tribal courts domesticated through the same § 5335 channel — the statute counts a tribe as a state.
One vendor for the chain — venue check, fee verification, county-correct package, filing, the machine, service, affidavit — with the docket number reported back.
Agencies reselling Pennsylvania coverage — we run the prothonotary filings and Rule 234.2 service under your brand's timeline.
We file and serve in every Pennsylvania county — Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, the collar counties, and every courthouse from Erie to the Delaware.
That’s all 67 — each with its own prothonotary or successor office and its own fee bill. We file where § 5335(a) puts the request — the county where the witness resides, is employed, or regularly transacts business in person — and we confirm that county’s current fee and intake practice before anything is submitted, because in Pennsylvania the county decides the price.
Straight answers on domesticating and serving an out-of-state or tribal-court subpoena in Pennsylvania under 42 Pa.C.S. §§ 5331–5337.
Send the originating state or tribal court, the Pennsylvania county where the witness sits, and your subpoena PDF. We verify the county's current fee and front it exactly, prepare the county-correct package, file with the right office under the right name, run the 20-day machine where it applies, serve with the tender in hand, and return a filing-ready affidavit — all 67 counties.
Served 123 LLC is a process service and litigation-support company, not a law firm, and does not provide legal advice. Prothonotary filings and service are performed administratively at the direction of the client and its counsel. County fee figures are cited from each office's published fee schedule or official instructions as of their stated effective dates and are subject to change by the issuing office; we confirm the current amount with the county before every filing.
