Electronic Filing

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**The information on this page is specific to Superior Court E-Filing. District Court has their own E-Filing webpage, instructions and rules**
 

For District Court E-Filing information go to:  www.clark.wa.gov/district-court/electronic-filing

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To register for or update an existing E-Filing account in Superior Court please fill out and submit a registration form.  Return the completed registration form to the Clerk's Office via e-mail to efilereg@clark.wa.gov.  Please use the following naming convention (LastnameFirstname.pdf) when naming your form. You may also mail or deliver the completed registration form to the Clerk's Office. (Registration may take up to 4 weeks to process.)

Instructions for logging on to your registered FTP User Account:
(Does NOT work in Internet Explorer or any Internet Browser ie. Chrome/Firefox etc. Use File/Windows Explorer only)

Instructions from Windows 7 pc  
Instructions from Windows 10 pc

E-Filing will not be mandatory in Superior Court.

Only Black & White Group 4 .TIF  images scanned at 300 dpi will be accepted for E-Filing ( NO PDF’s).
        **Color or gray scale documents will be rejected.

                                             **New procedures E-Filing New Cases**                                                

Opening a new case and paying the filing fee:

Prior to E-Filing a new case you will need to Email the following documents to newefiledcase@clark.wa.gov :

  • Case Information Cover Sheet
  • Copy of Petition or Complaint
  • Confidential Information Form (required for all Family Law, Firearms or DV matters)

Once the E-file staff have added the case they will contact you to collect payment and provide a case number. You will then upload all of the pleadings, complete with case number, to the FTP site as you have always done.  As a reminder, if you purchase a case number for e-filing, all initial pleadings must be submitted by e-file and not via mail or in person.

Paying other filing fees:
Prior to E-Filing a document that requires payment, you must call the E-Filing number at 564-397-2298 to pay all applicable fees.  Your filing may be rejected if this is not done.  Sending a check via mail or paying in person IS NOT an acceptable form of payment for E-Filed documents.

Common documents that require a fee: 

  • Jury Demand
  • Notice of Appeal
  • Modification
  • Arbitration
  • Counterclaim
  • Third Party Complaint
  • Etc. (for a full list of fees please go to our fee schedule page)

New Superior Court cases can be E-Filed after the filing fee has been paid and a case number has been issued.  New cases may be E-Filed for case types 2, 3, 4 and 5. Please include a Case Information Cover Sheet (CICS) for all new cases and for civil cases also review the LR40. 

Attorney Signature: For purposes of E-Filing, attorneys may sign their documents in the following manner: 

s/ John Attorney
State Bar Number 12345
ABC Law Firm
123 South Fifth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
Telephone: (206) 123-4567
Fax: (206) 123-4567
E-mail: John.Attorney@lawfirm.com

Or you can sign and scan the document.   See GR 30 Electronic Filing Rule.

**PLEASE WRITE OR TYPE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES PER PLEADING IN UPPER LEFT CORNER OF DOCUMENT TO CONFIRM WE RECEIVED ALL PAGES OF YOUR FILING.**

The electronic documents will be considered filed when it is received by the clerk's designated computer during the clerk's business hours; otherwise the document is considered filed at the beginning of the next business day. (Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, except scheduled holidays)

A confirmation e-mail will be sent to the filing party along with a conformed copy of the document. If you need to change an e-mail address please send and updated registration form to efilereg@clark.wa.gov. NOTE: If you do not receive a confirmation email, please call (564-397-2298) before resubmitting any documents.

Sealed Cover Sheets:  Per GR 22  in Family Law and Guardianship cases, the appropriate cover sheet must be attached to the original document(s) for it to become sealed AND a separate copy of the cover sheet must be filed for the public file. This policy applies to E-Filing as well as documents filed at the Clerk's Office in person or by mail.   Please use the correct cover sheet for the type of documents being filed.   E-File the document with the cover sheet as the 1st page and also E-File the cover sheet separately as a 1 page only document for the public file.   Below are the sealed covers sheets provided by Washington State Courts at www.courts.wa.gov/forms.

Sealed Cover Sheets for use in Family Law and Guardianship Cases

Declarations:  If you are E-Filing a declaration follow instructions as described in GR17(2) for facsimile transmission and attach a GR17(2) declaration to the back of your document.

The following documents cannot be E-Filed and must be filed in paper form:

  • Court orders signed by a judge - Original orders must be filed at the Clerk's Office
  • Exparte orders to be signed by exparte judge
  • Foreign judgments
  • Original wills and codicils, including new probate cases that include original wills or codicils
  • Certified records of proceedings for purposes of appeal
  • Negotiable instruments
  • Bail bonds
  • Documents presented for filing during a court hearing or trial
  • Documents of foreign governments under official seal
  • Bench copies for the judicial office
  • Bonds in probate and guardianship cases
  • Documents for filing in an Aggravated Murder case
  • Interpleader or Surplus Funds Petitions
  • Documents submitted for in camera review
  • Affidavits for Writs of Garnishment and Writs of Execution
  • Writs (that have to be issued by the Clerk)
  • Letters of Testamentary
  • Letters of Guardianship
  • Letters of Administration

Instructions and E-Filing videos

E-Filing Presentation and demonstration of the E-Filing process. ppsx format

How to upload documents using FileZilla (PDF)

How to use site manager in FileZilla (PDF)

Creating TIF documents using PDF Creator 

The instructions below are for a free software printer(PDF Creator) that will print any digital document to TIF. This software is available at http://www.pdfforge.org 

Install instructions for PDF Creator(PDF) ***Note: Please follow install instructions carefully.  DO NOT INSTALL PDF ARCHITECT PDF Creator does not work on MAC computers.
​Instructions for proper settings PDF Creator 4.0 (PDF)