Short answer. Yes. Section 21 of Rule 3 lets an adverse party contest your indigent status before judgment, and if the court then finds you actually had sufficient income or property, the clerk of court assesses and collects the docket and other lawful fees you were exempted from. Unpaid fees can lead to execution.
What the law says
Any adverse party may contest the grant of such authority at any time before judgment is rendered by the trial court.
Rule 3, Section 21 — Indigent party. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If the court should determine after hearing that the party declared as an indigent is in fact a person with sufficient income or property, the proper docket and other lawful fees shall be assessed and collected by the clerk of court.
Rule 3, Section 21 — Indigent party. Read the full provision →
What the law says
If payment is not made within the time fixed by the court, execution shall issue or the payment thereof, without prejudice to such other sanctions as the court may impose.
Rule 3, Section 21 — Indigent party. Read the full provision →
Indigent status can be contested, not just assumed
Being allowed to litigate as an indigent is not a status that, once granted, is beyond question for the rest of the case. Any adverse party may contest the grant of such authority at any time before judgment is rendered by the trial court. The other side in your case can challenge whether you genuinely qualified, and the court can revisit the question at any point up until judgment, not only at the start of the case.
What happens if the court finds you were not indigent
Section 21 states the consequence directly. If the court should determine after hearing that the party declared as an indigent is in fact a person with sufficient income or property, the proper docket and other lawful fees shall be assessed and collected by the clerk of court. The exemption is not treated as final once granted — it is reversed if a hearing shows you actually had enough income or property to pay, and the clerk of court then computes and collects what you owe.
Why this connects to the lien on your fees
Even for a genuinely indigent litigant, the exemption is not necessarily free money. The article separately provides that the fees an indigent was excused from become a lien on any judgment favorable to that party, unless the court says otherwise. A finding that you were never really indigent works the same way in substance — the fees you were excused from become fees you owe, whether recovered from a favorable judgment or assessed and collected directly.
What happens if you do not pay
Once the clerk of court assesses what you owe, the matter does not end there if you fail to pay. If payment is not made within the time fixed by the court, execution shall issue or the payment thereof, without prejudice to such other sanctions as the court may impose. Non-payment within the deadline the court sets can lead to execution to collect the fees, on top of whatever other sanctions the court decides are appropriate for the false claim of indigency.