Rule 87.Electronic Filing

Trial Rule 87 makes electronic filing the default way to start and pursue a lawsuit in Indiana. A case gets underway by filing through the IEFS, paying the filing fee or securing a waiver, and filing the complaint together with the summons in the form Trial Rule 4(C) requires. That same e-filing requirement carries through the rest of the case: documents have to go through the IEFS unless a rule says otherwise. Two groups get some flexibility. An attorney who wants out of e-filing has to petition for an exception in each case where it applies, and a judicial officer will grant it only on a showing of good cause. Unrepresented litigants, though, aren’t required to e-file at all — they’re encouraged to, but conventional filing remains available to them unless the Supreme Court later orders otherwise.

Once a document is e-filed, the Notice of Electronic Filing serves as proof it was submitted, and a party can also confirm a filing through the court’s Chronological Case Summary. When someone does file on paper — because they’re exempt or the system failed — the clerk or court has to convert that document into an electronic record, and the filer still has to serve it conventionally and file a certificate of service; if a paper document can’t be converted legibly, the court notes that in the case summary and returns it. Rule 87 also requires Users to follow the data and formatting procedures the Office of Judicial Administration publishes, to submit documents the way their e-filing provider requires — using either an internet connection or a Public Access Terminal at the county clerk’s office — and to flag any document that’s excluded from public access with a clear header, label, or stamp.

Filing a will for probate comes with an extra safeguard: the filer submits an accurate copy along with a sworn affidavit confirming that the original is either in the filer’s possession or already deposited with the clerk, that the copy filed is true and accurate, that the filer will hold onto the original until the estate closes or the will-contest period runs out, whichever comes later, and that the original will be filed when the court or a statute requires it. For signatures, an e-filed document can carry either a scanned image of a handwritten signature or the notation “/s/” followed by the signer’s name, and signing a document this way carries the same responsibility as signing it on paper under Trial Rule 11(A). As for timing, a document is filed at the date and time shown on its Notice of Electronic Filing, it has to go in before midnight to count for that day, deadlines run on the time zone where the case is pending, and the system is available around the clock except for scheduled maintenance.

Rule 87 also protects parties when the e-filing system itself is the problem. If an IEFS failure keeps someone from filing, their rights aren’t affected — they can file conventionally instead, and, except for deadlines the law doesn’t allow to be extended, any filing deadline is pushed back one day for every day the system was down, unless the court orders otherwise. On a motion showing the failure occurred, the court has to treat the filing as timely and adjust any deadlines that follow from it. If e-filing is blocked for some other reason the affected User didn’t cause, that User can ask the court for relief under Trial Rule 6(B) or fall back on conventional filing.