E-Filing

Electronic filing is the electronic transfer of legal documents to and from the Court, directly integrating data with the Court's case management system. It permits parties in designated case types to file documents with the Court and also to serve them on opposing parties directly from their computers through approved Electronic Filing Service Providers (EFSPs). Electronic filing will improve accuracy and provide better access to Court records, and should result in significant cost savings to parties and to the Court.

Yes. The Odyssey eFileCA EFM adheres to state and federal security regulations and meets Payment Card Industry Security Standards to protect filer and transaction information.

Electronic filing or e-filing enables filers and courts to efficiently process documents and fees online. Odyssey eFileCA Electronic Filing Manager (EFM) manages the flow of information among filers, clerks, court personnel and judges.

The filer submits documents by establishing an account with an electronic filing service provider (EFSP) at http://www.odysseyefileca.com/service-providers.htm

To file electronically, filers create documents on their computers and then access a designated Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP). The filer will provide the necessary case information on-line to the EFSP [e.g. the case number, the party filing the document, the type of document (answer, motion, etc.) being filed.] The document is attached (in much the same way a document is attached to an e-mail) and sent over the internet to the EFSP server, which immediately sends a receipt back to the attorney's or filer's screen verifying that the document has been received by the EFSP. Once the EFSP confirms that the documents are in acceptable form for filing, the EFSP transmits the case information to the Court along with the filer's documents. Receipt is automatically confirmed by the Court and, in turn, automatically confirmed to the filer. The receipt date merely indicates the date the document entered into the Court's processing queue and not the filing date of the document.

The filing is placed in an electronic filing queue, and then reviewed by the Court Clerk. No document transmitted electronically shall be considered as filed until the clerk accepts it for filing. Any document received electronically by the court between 12:00 a.m. and 11:59:59 p.m. on a court day shall be deemed filed on that court day. Any document that is received electronically on a noncourt day shall be deemed filed on the next court day. If accepted, the document is deemed filed as of the date and time it was received by the Court, unless it is received on a non-court day at which time it will be filed on the next court day. Once accepted, electronic notice is sent via the EFSP to the filing party. Again, the notice can be printed or saved. A docket entry is generated and both the entry and the attached document(s) are available to the parties and to the public via the internet as permitted by law or rules of court.

Yes, self-represented parties are eligible to use the site for e-filing through any Electronic Filing Service Provider (EFSP).

Yes, all users must register with an EFSP prior to using e-filing.

Yes, support is provided for both attorneys and self-represented litigants. Each electronic filing service provider (EFSP) offers a different type of e-filing support. When you pick your EFSP look at the level of filing support that is offered and see if it meets your needs.

Documents should be filed as you would have at the clerk window. For instance a document that would have been stapled together at filing should be filed as one lead document. Another way to think about it as anything that needs its own file stamp should be filed separately, as a lead document that gets its own separate event code. Multiple documents can be filed together in one envelope but each document to be filed needs its own event code.

100 megabytes for the whole envelope and 100 megabytes for a single document.

Yes, pursuant to California Rule of Court 3.1110(f), a document filed electronically with exhibits must include electronic bookmarks with links to the first page of each exhibit and a bookmark title that identifies the exhibit number or letter and briefly describes the exhibit.

Yes, pursuant to California Rule of Court 2.256(b)(3), a document filed electronically must be text searchable.

At present, e-filing is permissive in Civil Complex, Small Claims, Probate, and Family Law actions.

Filers receive a confirmation when the document is received by the Court and another notification when the document has been filed or rejected. Notification of receipt of the document by the Court does not mean that it has been processed by the Court. That will be done in the subsequent notification from the Court.

If the Court is unable to accept filings continuously or intermittently over the course of any period of time greater than one hour after 12:00 noon that day, and case filings due that day were not filed due solely to technical failures, the filings will then be due the next business day. The Court will promptly notify the EFSP of any technical problems, and the EFSP will in turn notify the registered users of the problem and the expected duration. Any delayed filings must be accompanied by a declaration or affidavit attesting to the filing person's failed attempts to file electronically.

Yes, there are fees associated with filing documents electronically with eFIleCA.com. Standard court filing fees: Fee schedule can be found here.

• Contact your local court for additional information on specific filing fees.
• Filings submitted without all the required filing fees, will be rejected for correction.
• E-file Manager fee: A service fee is assessed for use of the e-filing system. The fee is currently $3.50. This is subject to change.
• EFSP fee: The fees charged by an EFSP are determined by each EFSP.
• Credit card payment service fee: A payment service fee is assessed to cover the credit card processing fees. The current fee is approximately 3%, this number can fluctuate quarterly based on credit card payment transaction volume.
• eCheck fee: The fee is $0.25 per transaction.

The vendors will calculate the court fees due for any filing. The vendor will collect all amounts due (including filing fees) at the time the filing is submitted, and submit the payments to the Court.

Yes. Filings submitted electronically will be rejected if they are submitted without all the required filing fees. This includes the $30 court reporter fee required in Civil and Probate cases for any hearing initiated by a party such as a civil motion or probate petition (this does not apply to Family Law matters). For additional information on the court reporter fee please see Government Code 68086(a).

If you have a fee waiver or are submitting a request to have your fees waived, you will not be charged fees for using the e-filing system but your chosen EFSP may charge you fees. You will be charged the Court's filing and associated Court fees at the outset. The fee waiver or Request for a Fee Waiver will be applied to offset the filing fees when the existing Fee Waiver is confirmed or if the Request for a Fee Waiver that is being submitted is granted. The filing party will be notified if a fee waiver is not applied. If you are applying for a fee waiver at this time, you must submit the required forms for a Request for a Fee Waiver along with the documents you are filing.

You will be notified by the EFSP of any rejection, and of the reasons for the rejection. It is then your responsibility to correct and re-submit the filing.

Both documents will be filed when they are received. The judicial officer assigned to the case will make a determination as to which document was filed first or whether the case can proceed as a default or not.

California Rule of Court 2.257 governs electronic filing of documents that require signatures. If a document requires a signature under penalty of perjury, the document is deemed signed by the declarant if, before filing, the declarant has signed a printed form of the document. The original, signed document must be kept by the filer, and be available for review and copying at the request of the Court or any party. If a document does not require a signature under penalty of perjury, the document is deemed signed by the party submitting it if the document is filed electronically. In the case of a document, such as a stipulation, which requires the signatures of opposing parties, the following procedure applies:

1. The party filing the document must obtain the signatures of all parties on a printed form of the document;
2. The party filing the document must maintain the original, signed document and must make it available for review and copying;
3. By electronically filing the document, the electronic filer indicates that all parties have signed the document and that the filer has the signed original in his or her possession.

No, only because it is not fair to have parties jump in line.

Yes. Courtesy copies must be delivered to the Complex Civil Judge by one of the following means:

• Email courtesy copies to the Complex Civil Department at complexcivil@sanmateocourt.org
• Mail or hand deliver a hard copy directly to the judge

Your Proposed Order should be e-filed with the pleading it relates to (e.g. stipulation or motion) in conformity with CRC Rule 3.1312(c).

For Complex Litigation cases you must also email an editable version of the Proposed Order in Word format (not PDF) to: complexcivil@sanmateocourt.org so that the judge can modify it prior to signing, if needed.

For Probate actions, you must also email an editable version of the Proposed Order in Word format (not PDF) to: Probate@sanmateocourt.org so that the judge can modify it prior to signing, if needed.

For Small Claims actions ONLY, a proposed order in an editable word-processing format does NOT need to be submitted to the court under Section 3.1312(c)(2) of the California Rules of Court.

eService by the Court is not yet available, filers will be required to serve the other party using traditional means.

Filers are responsible for accomplishing service of all filings as required by applicable court rules. For this purpose, filers may use the mail service, serve by hand delivery, send an e-mail, or use eFileCA as it offers the option of electronic service of each filing to the designated service contact.. The filer must follow court rules as it pertains to service to the other parties in the case.

For questions about EFSP registration, contact the vendor directly. For questions concerning the Court's e-filing requirements, please first check the Court's website.

Please be advised that documents uploaded to an E-Filing Service Provider to be filed with the San Mateo Superior Court (the "Court") may be immediately accessible to the press and members of the public, even though the documents have not been, and may never be, received or accepted for filing by the Court and recorded on its register of actions. It is the responsibility of the e-filer to properly assign the filing code, and thereby the document security level for all e-filed documents. Documents assigned to filing codes with document security designated as "Confidential" or "Sealed" will not be made available to the public . No case information or case documents are available to the public or the press if the entire case is deemed confidential or sealed. The Court does not audit or review e-filed documents to determine whether they should be excluded from public access, and is not responsible or liable for any improperly designated e-filed documents.

For additional information regarding e-filing confidential or sealed documents for Civil-Unlimited cases, please visit this link. For additional information regarding press access to Civil-Unlimited documents, please email: webmaster@sanmateocourt.org.