Types of Subpoenas: Civil, Criminal, and Administrative

There are three types of subpoenas based on the proceeding they come from—civil, criminal, and administrative—and two forms every subpoena takes regardless of context: one that compels you to testify (subpoena ad testificandum) and one that compels you to hand over documents or other evidence (subpoena duces tecum). The rules, the rights that protect you, and the penalties for ignoring one all shift depending on which kind you have received.

Civil Subpoenas

Civil subpoenas come out of lawsuits between private parties: personal injury claims, contract disputes, divorces, and similar litigation. In federal court, Rule 45 of the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure sets the framework for how they are issued, served, and enforced. State courts use their own procedural codes, and most of them track the federal rule closely. An attorney admitted to practice in the issuing court can sign and issue a subpoena directly as an officer of the court, with no judge’s signature required. Court clerks also hand out blank subpoenas that the requesting party fills in before service.¹

Most civil subpoenas go to third parties who are not themselves suing or being sued but hold relevant information. A hospital receives one for treatment records. A bank receives one for transaction histories. The requesting side usually serves the subpoena by delivering a copy directly to the recipient, and most of this activity happens during discovery, well before any trial.

The 100-Mile Rule

Federal civil subpoenas carry a geographic ceiling. Rule 45 lets you compel someone to attend a deposition, hearing, or trial only if the location is within 100 miles of where that person lives, works, or regularly conducts business in person. A party to the lawsuit, or a party’s officer, can be required to appear anywhere within the state where they reside or work. A non-party witness can be compelled to attend trial inside their home state as well, provided it would not cause substantial expense.¹ A subpoena ordering a Chicago witness to a Miami deposition is a strong candidate to be quashed on this ground alone.

Criminal Subpoenas

Criminal subpoenas work inside a system where someone’s liberty is on the line, and that changes how both sides use them. The Sixth Amendment guarantees every criminal defendant the right to compulsory process, meaning the ability to force witnesses to appear and testify in their defense. The Supreme Court has treated this right as no less important than the right to confront the prosecution’s witnesses.² Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 17 sets the mechanics: the clerk issues a signed and sealed subpoena, the requesting party fills in the details, and the witness is commanded to appear at a specific time and place.³ Prosecutors use the same tools aggressively during investigations, and enforcement tends to be swifter than on the civil side.

Grand Jury Subpoenas

Grand jury subpoenas sit in a category of their own. A grand jury investigates possible crimes before any charges are filed, and its proceedings are secret. Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 6(e) bars grand jurors, court reporters, and government attorneys from disclosing what happens in the room, and all related records, orders, and subpoenas are kept under seal.⁴ A witness called in front of a grand jury often has no idea what the investigation is about until they walk in. These subpoenas are also unusually broad: they can demand testimony, documents, or both, and the standard trial rules of evidence do not apply.

The Fifth Amendment Limit

A subpoena can force you to appear. It cannot always force you to speak. The Fifth Amendment protects individuals from being compelled to give testimony that could incriminate them, and the protection reaches courtroom testimony, grand jury appearances, and administrative hearings alike. You generally must affirmatively invoke the privilege; simply refusing to answer without explanation is not enough. A court evaluating the claim will side with the witness unless it is “perfectly clear” from the circumstances that the answer could not possibly be incriminating.⁵

Two limits to keep straight. The privilege protects individuals, not corporations: a company’s custodian of records cannot refuse to produce corporate documents by claiming the Fifth, even if the documents might incriminate the custodian personally. And the privilege shields only compelled testimony; it does not protect documents or physical evidence that already exist.

Administrative Subpoenas

Federal agencies such as the Federal Trade Commission and the Securities and Exchange Commission can issue subpoenas on their own authority, without first going to a judge. Congress grants that power through specific statutes so agencies can investigate possible violations of the laws they enforce. The FTC, for example, draws its subpoena authority from Sections 6, 9, and 20 of the FTC Act, which authorize it to compel witness testimony and the production of documents related to any matter under investigation.⁶ These usually arrive at the investigation stage, before any formal enforcement action is filed.

The key limit sits on the enforcement side. If a business or individual refuses to comply, the agency cannot hold the recipient in contempt on its own. It has to go to federal court and petition for an enforcement order. The court then examines whether the agency is acting within its statutory authority and whether the request is reasonable. Only once the court issues that order does noncompliance become contempt.

The Two Forms: Testimony or Evidence

Underneath the civil, criminal, and administrative labels, every subpoena takes one of two forms.

Subpoena Ad Testificandum

A subpoena ad testificandum commands a person to appear and give oral testimony. It can require attendance at a trial, a deposition in an attorney’s conference room, or a hearing before an administrative law judge. The witness is placed under oath, and false answers carry perjury penalties. If a properly served witness fails to appear, a judge can issue a bench warrant directing law enforcement to bring the witness in.

Subpoena Duces Tecum

A subpoena duces tecum, Latin for “bring with you,” demands physical or digital evidence rather than spoken testimony. These routinely cover paper records, emails, electronically stored information, financial statements, and corporate databases. The recipient must search for everything the subpoena describes and deliver it by the deadline. Scope is limited to materials relevant to the underlying matter, though “relevant” is read broadly during discovery. When responsive documents include privileged material, the recipient may need to provide a privilege log that identifies each withheld item and the legal basis for withholding it, such as attorney-client privilege or work-product protection, without revealing the privileged content itself.¹

Many subpoenas combine both forms. A corporate custodian of records might be ordered to show up at a deposition carrying three years of financial statements and then answer questions about them.

If You Receive One: Objecting and Moving to Quash

A subpoena is not the last word. In federal court, a person commanded to produce documents can serve a written objection on the requesting party before the earlier of the compliance deadline or 14 days after service.¹ Once an objection is served, the requesting party cannot enforce the subpoena without a court order.

A motion to quash goes further, asking the court to cancel or narrow the subpoena. Under Rule 45, a court must quash or modify a subpoena that:

Fails to allow a reasonable time to comply.
Requires attendance beyond the 100-mile limit or other geographic boundaries in Rule 45(c).
Requires disclosure of privileged or otherwise protected material with no applicable exception or waiver.
Subjects the recipient to undue burden.

Those grounds are mandatory. If one applies, the court is required to act, though it can narrow the subpoena rather than cancel it outright.¹ Most fights happen under the undue-burden heading, especially where broad document demands land on non-parties with no stake in the case.

If a court compels a non-party to produce documents over an objection, the order must protect that person from significant expense resulting from compliance. That can mean requiring the requesting party to cover copying costs, storage fees, or the cost of reviewing documents for privilege. Where the subpoena seeks trade secrets or confidential research, the court can condition production on reasonable compensation.¹

Extra Walls for Medical and Financial Records

Some records sit behind added statutory protections, and a subpoena by itself cannot clear them.

A healthcare provider covered by HIPAA cannot simply release your medical records because an attorney sent a subpoena. Before disclosing protected health information, the provider needs evidence that reasonable efforts were made either to notify you and give you a chance to object, or to obtain a qualified protective order from the court. A subpoena missing those safeguards does not satisfy the Privacy Rule.⁷ A court order signed by a judge is a different instrument and can override those restrictions.

The Right to Financial Privacy Act puts similar hurdles in front of a government agency that uses an administrative subpoena to obtain your bank records. The agency has to serve you with a copy of the subpoena and a notice explaining the nature of the investigation in reasonable detail, and the notice must inform you of your right to challenge the disclosure by filing a motion in federal court. The agency then has to wait, ten days from personal service or fourteen days from mailing, before collecting the records, which gives you time to object.⁸ If you file a motion to quash during that window, the records stay put until a judge rules.

Witness Fees

Appearing as a subpoenaed witness is not free, and federal law pays something, though not much. In federal court, a witness is entitled to an attendance fee of $40 per day, covering each day of testimony as well as travel time to and from court.⁹ That rate has not moved in decades and rarely covers an actual missed workday.

Witnesses who drive to court also receive mileage reimbursement at the rate set by the General Services Administration. For 2026, the GSA rate for a privately owned automobile is $0.725 per mile.¹⁰ An overnight stay can trigger a subsistence allowance on top of that.

State courts set their own witness fees, and the range is wide, from a few dollars a day to roughly $50 or more. In many states the fee has to be tendered at the time the subpoena is served for the subpoena to be valid, so check the local rule.

What Happens If You Ignore One

A subpoena carries the force of a court order. Ignoring one triggers the contempt process.

In federal court, a judge has broad authority to punish contempt by fine, imprisonment, or both, for disobedience of any lawful court order, writ, or process.¹¹ Federal law does not cap the fine at a specific dollar figure. Civil contempt is coercive and ends once you comply. Criminal contempt punishes past disobedience and can carry a fixed jail sentence.

For witnesses who refuse to testify or produce evidence after being ordered to do so, the consequences get sharper. A federal court can summarily order confinement of a recalcitrant witness until they agree to cooperate. That confinement can last up to 18 months, and it does not require a separate trial. The judge can order it immediately upon the refusal.¹²

In civil cases, the issuing party’s usual first step is a motion to compel, asking the court to order compliance. If the court grants it and the recipient still refuses, contempt follows, and the court can award the requesting party their attorney’s fees and lost earnings caused by the noncompliance.¹ If you think a subpoena is improper, the move is to file a formal objection or a motion to quash. Not showing up is never the right strategy.

1
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 45 – Subpoena
2
Constitution Annotated. Right to Compulsory Process
3
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 17
4
Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 6
5
Constitution Annotated. General Protections Against Self-Incrimination Doctrine and Practice
6
Federal Trade Commission. A Brief Overview of the Federal Trade Commission’s Investigative, Law Enforcement, and Rulemaking Authority
7
U.S. Department of Health & Human Services. Court Orders and Subpoenas
8
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 12 US Code 3405 – Administrative Subpena and Summons
9
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1821 – Per Diem and Mileage Generally; Subsistence
10
U.S. General Services Administration. Privately Owned Vehicle (POV) Mileage Reimbursement Rates
11
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 401 – Power of Court
12
Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1826 – Recalcitrant Witnesses