Rule 5.Service and Filing of Pleadings, Documents, and Other Papers

Once a lawsuit is underway, Rule 5 governs the paperwork that moves between the parties and the court after the original complaint. Section A lists what has to be served on every party — and any special judge assigned to the case — going forward: court orders, later pleadings, written motions except ones a judge can rule on without a hearing, trial briefs, discovery papers, and notices, appearances, demands, offers of judgment, and similar filings. A party who has defaulted by failing to appear ordinarily does not need to be served with anything more, with one exception: a later pleading that adds a new claim against that party has to be served on them the way a summons is served under Rule 4.

Section B covers the mechanics of service. When a party has a lawyer of record, papers go to the lawyer, not the party, unless a judge orders service on the party directly. Delivery can mean handing the document over while describing what it is (refusing to accept it does not defeat service — it waives any objection to how the document was served), leaving it at the office with whoever is in charge, leaving it at a home if the office is closed, or dropping it at another spot a local rule allows. Service by mail — U.S. mail or a commercial carrier, postage prepaid — counts as complete the moment the papers are deposited, not when they arrive, and can be proven with a written acknowledgment, an affidavit from whoever mailed it, or a certificate of service. Electronic service runs through methods the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration has approved: the clerk can transmit rulings, orders, and judgments to attorneys and to unrepresented parties who have supplied an email address, and parties who have consented to electronic service can serve each other the same way. Electronic service is complete once transmitted, unless it goes out after 5 p.m., on a weekend, on a legal holiday, or on a day the court is closed — then it counts as served the next day the court is open.

Section C requires a certificate of service on anything filed with the court, listing who was served and how — and that certificate has to sit at the end of the document itself, not as a separate filing, though filing one separately by mistake is not grounds to reject the document. Section D sets the filing deadline: most papers get filed before service or within a reasonable time afterward. Discovery materials are the notable exception — depositions, discovery requests, and responses are not filed with the court as a matter of course. They stay with the party who took the deposition or served the request until a discovery dispute requires the court to see the original, a party wants to use the material as evidence, or the case is otherwise resolved by judgment, settlement, or the close of any appeal. Filing a deposition with the court formally publishes it, folding it into the case record.

Section E lists the accepted ways to file something with the court: handing it to the clerk, sending it by approved electronic transmission, mailing it by registered, certified, or express mail, using a third-party commercial carrier that will deliver it to the clerk within three calendar days, handing it to the judge if the court allows that, or filing it through the electronic filing system the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration has approved. Mail and carrier filings count as complete once sent, and anyone filing by a method other than personal delivery has to keep proof of filing. Section F confirms that court records stay open to the public except where separate rules on access to court records exclude them, and Section G puts the clerk in charge of sending signed orders to non-defaulting parties who have not supplied an email address — except in proceedings supplemental, execution, and foreclosure sale matters, where the party who submitted the proposed order handles distribution.