eFiling Processes  


eFiling a New Case

The steps to efile a new case are

  1. Prepare your documents.
  2. Login to the efile system.
  3. From the Home page click on the New Case button.
  4. Clicking on a case type (Civil Superior or Special Proceedings/Foreclosure) will move you to the Case Initiation page.
  5. On the Case Initiation page enter the data you would normally select on a Coversheet.
  6. On the Case Initiation page clicking on the buttons to Add My Parties or Add Other Parties will display the Add a Party page.
  7. When adding parties:
  8. Clicking on the Next button will store this information to the efile server and present the Add a Document page.
  9. When adding your documents:
  10. Once you have added all the documents into this submission clicking on the Next button will display the Review and Approve page.
  11. From the Review and Approve page

Request Issuance of Summons and other documents

When initiating a case using the paper process the filer generally prepares a summons for the clerk to sign. This document is often submitted with the pleading. When the summons are signed by the clerk they are distributed to the sheriff or process server who serves the summons with the pleading information to the other parties of the case. Using the efile system certain types of summons are automatically generated and not prepared in advance by the filer. These automatically generated summons follow a pattern similar to the paper process. In the efile system rather than creating a summons document and then including this document in your submission you will instead supply the information necessary to generate the summons. To make such a request, when you are adding your documents in the Add a Document screen, you will select the Service Document category. Under the Service Document category you will see some entries that begin with Request... For example you will see:

You can select one of these types of documents to be included in your submission. When you select one of these entries you will not have the option to browse and upload one of these types of documents. Instead you will click the ADD button after you select one of these three types of documents. Clicking on the ADD button present a screen where you will answer some questions about the service. When you are finished filling out the information on the screen you will click the Next button at the bottom. From the information you entered the type of document you selected will be automatically generated. The generated document will be included in the list of documents for this submission at the bottom of the Add a Document page. You can click on the document link and download or view the document however the document is not complete or issued because the clerk has not yet signed the document. When you finish adding all the documents you need to included in this submission, complete any payments required, you will then send the information to the clerk. You will not receive a copy of the issued document until after the clerk reviews and files your documents. Once the information is recorded the issued document can be accessed through your receipt. Once the submission is updated with the final status a link in the receipt for the issued document will be included. To access your issued document use the following steps:

You are responsible to deliver the document to the sheriff or process server and pay them to serve the documents on the other parties.

This process to request issuance of one of these documents is not limited to just case initation but can be included in follow-up filings as well.

eFiling on an Existing Case

The steps to efile on an Existing case follow portions of filing to a new case.

  1. Prepare your documents.
  2. Login to the efile system.
  3. From the Home page click on the Existing Case button.
  4. If you have filed on this particular case previously it will be in your list of cases if you included a notice of appearance.
  5. Filing on a case does not automatically associate you to the case, you must include a notice of appearance to make this association.
  6. When you are not yet associated to the case you must verify the case exists in the efile system by searching for it. You can only efile on cases were initiated through the efile system.
  7. When adding your documents:
  8. Once you have added all the documents into this submission clicking on the Next button will display the Review and Approve page.
  9. From the Review and Approve page
  10. If no fees are associated to your submission the message "Your Submission is Complete. Click OK to Continue."
  11. The Filing has been Submitted page assures you that your submission has been sent to the clerk server. The exact time stamp is dependent on when the clerk server receives the entire package and not when you pressed the Submit button.

Pleadings and Issues

When you select the Pleading category, and a Complaint document type you will be presented with the Pleadings and Issues document form.

  1. The first issue, a Complaint is automatically added.
  2. You can add all your pleadings first or you can add issues to each pleading.
  3. Once you add a Pleading each pleading entry will have an Issues pull-down option so that you can associate the Issues to that Pleadings.
  4. After you have added the Issues you can select the by parties or the against parties.
  5. Click on the parties to associate them as needed.
  6. If you need to add new parties you must first include an amended complaint.
  7. Clicking Next will return you to the 'Add a Document' page.
  8. Once you have returned to the 'Add a Document' page you can still go back and edit the Pleadings and Issues by clicking on the Edit Icon at the end of the document entry.

Notice of Appearance

To associate yourself with a case you need to include a Notice of Appearance. Selecting the Filings/Reports and adding a Noticie of Appearance document you will be presented with a document to associate you to one or more of the existing parties on the case.

Motion to Withdraw

To remove yourself from a case you need to include a Motion to Withdraw. Selecting the Filings/Reports and adding a Motion to Withdraw document you will be presented with a document to remove yourself from one or more of the existing parties on the case. The action is not complete until the judge as issued an order.

 

Checking the Status of My Submissions

Whenever you eFile something to the court you receive several different statuses back for each submission. The Filing Status screen displays the status of each submission as it is updated until the final status has been received.

Each entry in the list represents the status of a submission.

The status information is temporary and is deleted after a certain period of time. You should check each entry. Sometimes, although a status is complete there may still be a note from the Clerk of the Court notifying you of fees due or other information.

To check the status of your submissions:

  1. From the Home page, click Filing Status or click eFile > Check Status from the menu.
  2. (Optional) Filter the list by using the calendar icons to select a starting and ending date, then click Go.

A filing can have the status of

When a submission is rejected, a Resubmit button appears next to the Rejected status. Clicking Resubmit automatically creates a new submission based on the previously rejected submission. You can then change what was rejected by either deleting the document in question or correcting the information entered.

If a submission is rejected, the receipt will include a reason field. Although some reasons are entered automatically by the system, for example, if one of the documents contained a virus, the clerk typically types in the reason for the rejection.

Note: The My Filing screen is not where you should look for case information; instead, click My Recent Cases on the home page.

 

Draft

The Draft feature acts as a backup if you are disconnected from the internet. Whenever you begin creating a new submission, eFlex records data each time you advance to the next screen, including any document data you have loaded. If your internet connection goes down, the system creates a draft of your submission. When you're back online, you can continue the process. Each time you log out, you will be prompted if you have any partially completed submissions.

To resume work on a draft filing:

  1. Click eFile > Draft Filings to see a list of partially completed submissions.
  2. Click the Filing Description name to return to the last page you worked on.
  3. Continue with the submission.
    You can also delete entries if you no longer need the information or if you completed the submission by starting over.


Notice of Electronic Filing (NEF) (e-service)

Whenever someone eFiles something on a case you are involved in, the efiling system will send you an email message and post the Notification of Electronic Filing (NEF) to your account.  However, this will only occur if the case is listed on the My Cases screen. This list shows the cases you are registered as a participant in through the eFiling system. If you are a participant on a case that is not listed, you can eFile a Notice of Appearance on the case. A clerk will review the submission, and, if approved, add you to the case.

Note: The notification information is temporary. After a configurable length of time, the notification information is deleted. You should check each entry and download the documents, then delete the notification. The Envelope icon changes once you have clicked the link to view the documents, indicating which notifications you have viewed.

To view the NEF list:

  1. Click Notifications from the homepage or select Cases > Notifications from the menu.

Note: The notification section is not where you should look for case information; instead, click My Recent Cases on the home page or select Cases > My Cases from the menu.


How do I know who will be served electronically?

  1. Click My Recent Cases from the home page or select Cases > My Cases from the menu.
  2. Click Get Service List. [Where is this button?]
    A list appears of who will be served electronically and who you must notify in paper with a paper copy of your submission.


Payment Problems

There are three conditions that could cause your filing to have payment problems. They are:

  1. No Money Collected / Submission not complete: For some reason the payment process was not completed and no fees were paid. In this case the filing receives a status of MAKE PAYMENT and the submission date and time is not recorded.
  2. Money Collected / Submission not complete: For some reason the payment was paid but the epay response returning to efiling was interrupted. In this case the filing receives a status of MAKE PAYMENT and the submission date and time is not recorded.
  3. Money Collected / Submission was completed / The clerk rejects the submission for some reason.

    4. For the first two conditions listed eFlex cannot tell whether payment was made or not because epay did not return to the efiling system with an update. For both of these conditions you need to look at the Filing Status screen and click on the Make Payment button. eFlex will query epay to see if payment was completed. If payment was completed the efiling system will complete the submission and display the �Your Filing is submitted� page with the payment information. From this point your filing will receive a time stamp. If payment was not completed the efiling system will redirect you to the epay system to make a payment. If the epay system does not return you to the efiling system you should repeat this step. If after a few tries the payment process continues to fail you should contact the court and ask how they would like you to proceed. If payment was collected and for some reason your filing was rejected the court has money and no entry in VACP their case management system to associate the payment with.

Note: Make sure you keep your epay receipt in case you need to request a refund.

Refund process

The steps below identify the proceedure to request a refund from the courts.

  1. A civil or special proceedings clerk should verify that an overpayment has been made. The civil clerk then completes a Payment Authorization form including the name and address of the person/entity to receive the refund, the amount to be refunded and the case number (if one was assigned) or the eFiling reference number in the case number field.
  2. A copy of the epay receipt should be attached to the Payment Authorization.
  3. The bookkeeper should use the attached receipt to verify that the funds were actually deposited to the clerk�s checking account. The receipt number or the eFiling reference number can be used to search for the receipt on the epay website.
  4. Once the deposit of funds is verified, the bookkeeper should process the Payment Authorization by refunding the amounts receipted from their associated account numbers.
  5. A record of the refund is attached to the epay receipt and placed in the civil or special proceedings file.

Note: When processing the refund, the epay processing fee will not be part of the refund. Those fees are collected by epay and are part of the value the court can refund.