Rule 83.05.Application -- Form -- Contents.

Rule 83.05 is the formatting and content rule for transfer applications filed under Rules 83.01, 83.02, and 83.04. It caps the application at twelve pages and tells the applicant exactly how to organize it: the first page has to concisely lay out the questions of general interest, the existing law that needs reexamination, and any appellate opinions from this state that conflict with the court of appeals' ruling. An applicant can raise more than one ground for transfer, either together or as alternatives.

The rule pushes hard for brevity and precision. The grounds for transfer have to be stated in short, concise terms, free of argument or repetition, and nothing else can appear on the page that lays out those grounds. Falling short on accuracy, brevity, or clarity is, by the rule's own terms, enough reason on its own to deny the application. The rest of the application — beyond that first-page statement of grounds — covers the facts relevant to the request and the legal argument supporting transfer. Any written exhibits attached to the application count against the twelve-page limit, and no other exhibit type can be attached or filed separately.

The application also has to arrive with a package of supporting material: a cover page that follows Civil Procedure Form No. 15, the court of appeals' opinion or disposition order, proof that the court of appeals clerk was notified, and the docket fee set by Rule 81.04. All parties must be served with the application on or before the day it is filed.

The rule has been updated twice in recent years, and the changes are mostly a matter of renumbering and terminology, not a new procedure. The service citation moved from Rule 81.006 to Rule 84.026, and the version effective January 1, 2025 replaced references to a "motion for rehearing" with the newer Rule 84.17 "post-disposition motion." That same 2025 version also drops the older, separate requirement that applicants attach one copy of each party's court of appeals brief when the case below had been decided by memorandum decision or written order under Rule 30.25 or Rule 84.16 — the current version does not carry that attachment requirement forward. The twelve-page limit, the first-page statement of grounds, and the core list of required attachments otherwise carry through all three versions unchanged.