How to Fill Out and Serve the Maine Witness Subpoena (CV-035)

Maine subpoena form CV-035 is the Judicial Branch’s standardized civil subpoena, used to compel a witness to testify at trial, a hearing, or a deposition, or to produce documents or allow inspection of premises. You can download it from the Maine courts website or pick up a blank copy at any clerk’s office.¹ The form itself is short. The parts that trip people up are the witness fees you have to prepay, how service must be done, and the notice you owe the other parties in the case.

Filling Out the Form

The header asks you to identify the court (Superior Court or District Court), its location, the docket number, and the case name. You also need the full legal name and current address of the person you are subpoenaing.²

Below the header are three command sections. Fill in only the ones that apply:

Testimony at trial or hearing: the court name and address, plus the date and time the witness must appear.
Deposition testimony: the name and title of the person taking the deposition (usually an attorney), the office address, and the date and time.
Document production or inspection: a description of the specific documents, objects, or premises, along with the date, time, and place.

A command to produce documents can be combined with a command to appear, or stand alone.³ When you request documents, be specific. Vague language like “all records related to the case” invites an objection. Describe each category clearly enough that the witness knows exactly what to look for.

The form also prints the witness’s objection rights directly on the page, so you do not need to draft that language yourself.

Who Signs It

A Maine-licensed attorney can sign and issue the subpoena directly as an officer of the court. If you are representing yourself, you ask the clerk for a blank subpoena, the clerk signs it, and you fill in the details before serving it.³

Notice to the Other Parties

If your subpoena commands document production, inspection of premises, or a witness’s appearance at a deposition or pretrial proceeding, you must serve notice on every other party in the case at least 14 days before the response date. Those parties then have 7 days to object and bring the issue before the court.³ This notice to the other parties is separate from serving the subpoena on the witness, and skipping it is one of the most common procedural errors.

Witness Fees You Have to Prepay

A subpoena is not enforceable unless the witness is paid their statutory fees up front. Maine law requires you to tender one day’s attendance fee and travel mileage before or at the moment of service. If you skip this step, the witness has no legal obligation to show up.⁴

The daily attendance fee for a witness in Superior Court, District Court, or Probate Court is $10. Mileage is reimbursed at 22 cents per mile, measured round-trip from the witness’s home to the place of testimony.⁵ If attendance runs more than one day, the witness can request the next day’s fee at the close of each preceding day.⁴

Prepare the payment, usually a check or money order, before you hand the subpoena to your process server. The Return of Service on the back of CV-035 has a line for recording the exact amount tendered for travel and attendance, so delivery and payment get documented together.²

Serving the Subpoena

Service has to be personal. The subpoena must be physically handed to the named witness, along with the attendance fee and mileage payment, by someone who is not a party to the lawsuit and is at least 18 years old. The attorney for a party also qualifies. Many people hire a professional process server or use the county sheriff’s office; both create a reliable record if the witness later claims they were never served.³

Leaving the document at a doorstep, mailing it, or handing it to someone else in the household does not satisfy Rule 45. A subpoena can be served anywhere within the state of Maine.³

Completing the Return of Service

After delivery, the server fills out the Return of Service on the back of the original CV-035, recording the date of service, the name of the person served, the dollar amounts tendered for travel and the witness fee, and the server’s own signature and agency.² File the completed original with the court clerk. That filing is your proof the witness was served, and it is the foundation for any later enforcement action.

How Far a Witness Can Be Made to Travel

Rule 45 limits how far a subpoena can force someone to travel, and the limits differ for Maine residents and non-residents:

Maine residents who are not parties: a deposition subpoena cannot require travel outside the county where the witness lives, works, or does business, or farther than 100 miles one way, whichever is greater. For trial attendance, a subpoena cannot require travel of more than 100 miles one way if doing so would impose substantial expense.
Non-residents who are not parties: a subpoena cannot compel appearance outside the county where the witness was served, or more than 100 miles from the place of service, unless the court orders otherwise.

If a subpoena exceeds these limits, the court must quash or modify it on a timely motion.³ Check where the witness lives before you issue the subpoena. If the distance is borderline, scheduling the deposition in the witness’s county is the simplest way to avoid a motion to quash.

If the Witness Objects or Does Not Show Up

A witness who receives a CV-035 can file a motion to quash or modify the subpoena. For document or inspection commands, the witness can also serve a written objection on the issuing party before the date on the form.² The issuing party has an affirmative duty under Rule 45 to avoid imposing undue burden or expense, and a court can award a wronged witness lost earnings, attorney fees, and expenses against a party or attorney who violates that duty. When an objection is raised, the court can quash the subpoena, narrow it, set conditions, or shift costs.³

Ignoring a properly served subpoena is a different matter. The warning printed on every CV-035 states that noncompliance may result in arrest and contempt of court.² If a served witness does not appear, the party who issued the subpoena can ask the judge for a civil order of arrest directing the sheriff to bring the witness before the court. At the contempt hearing, if the court finds the witness disobeyed the subpoena and has the ability to comply, the witness can be held in civil contempt, with fines, imprisonment, or both continuing until compliance. The witness can purge the contempt by complying, at which point the court may release them and reduce or eliminate the fine. Criminal contempt remains available in serious cases.⁶

Witnesses Outside Maine

A CV-035 subpoena only has force within Maine’s borders, so it cannot compel a witness in another state to appear. Maine has adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act (UIDDA) under Title 14, Chapter 15, which provides a streamlined process for reaching out-of-state witnesses.⁷ You obtain a subpoena from the Maine court, then present it to the clerk of court in the county where the out-of-state witness is located, and that clerk issues a local subpoena on the same terms. Most states have adopted UIDDA, though a few, including neighboring New Hampshire, have not, which may require a more involved court petition in those jurisdictions.

1
State of Maine Judicial Branch. Court Forms – Section: Subpoenas
2
Pine Tree Legal Assistance. CV-035 Subpoena Trial, Hrng, Dep
3
Maine Judicial Branch. Maine Rule of Civil Procedure 45 – Subpoena
4
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 16 Section 253 – Witness Not Obligated Unless Fees Paid or Tendered
5
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 16 Section 251 – Fees of Witnesses
6
Maine State Legislature. Maine Code Title 14 Section 3136 – Contempt
7
Maine State Legislature. Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act