DC SUPERIOR COURT EFILING

eFiling provides the Court with an efficient and cost-effective way to receive filings and transmit orders. It also provides lawyers, their clients and self-represented parties with easy and inexpensive access to court filings.

*eFiling is required in most Civil Actions Branch, Criminal Division, Criminal Domestic Violence Unit, Probate, and Tax Division cases. Parties represented by counsel must eFile, unless specifically excluded by Administrative Order (organizations that hold a 501(c)(3) IRS tax status).

Changes to DC Superior eFiling as of October 31, 2022

D.C. Superior Court eFiling has moved to DC Superior Court eFileDC for the following case types:

• Civil Division cases, including Landlord and Tenant and Small Claims
• Civil cases in the Tax Division
• Probate Division
• Office of the Auditor Master (NEW)

For all other case types, continue to use CaseFileXpress / File & Serve Xpress.

About Superior Court eFiling

Electronic filing (“eFiling”) and electronic service (“eService”) provide the public with a fast, efficient, and cost-effective way to file and serve documents.

In general, a party represented by an attorney must eFile and eServe. A party who is not represented by an attorney may eFile but is not required to eFile. If a party who is not represented by an attorney chooses to eFile, the party is consenting to receive filings by eService. All eFilings must be submitted in a PDF format.

A note on fee waivers: You no longer need to email the fee waiver and wait for approval before submitting the complaint or subsequent attachment. When eFiling in the new system, you will submit the fee waiver and other filing in the same eFiling envelope under separate filing codes within that envelope. Select the non-fee option when submitting each document.

Please see specific information below for eFiling in a particular division:

Civil | Family | Office of the Auditor Master | Probate | Tax

Civil Division

The filer must complete all fields in the summons, except for the date and case number.

Civil Actions Branch

Parties represented by attorneys must eFile all complaints and petitions, except those seeking enforcement of foreign judgments or recognition of foreign-country judgments. A party who is eFiling a complaint or petition must include a Civil Actions Branch information sheet and a prepared summons for each defendant. A party who is eFiling in a Title 47 case must also include a proposed order of publication.

Landlord and Tenant Branch

A party who is eFiling a complaint must submit a copy of the complaint and a summons for each defendant.

Small Claims and Conciliation Branch

A party represented by an attorney must eFile a statement of claim, except one seeking enforcement of a foreign judgment or recognition of a foreign-country judgments.

A party who is eFiling a statement of claim must submit a small claims information sheet and must indicate the requested method of service on the information sheet. An application for approval of special process server in a small claims case may be submitted with the statement of claim, or as a subsequent filing.

Family Division

Domestic Relations Branch

All parties (attorneys and self-represented parties) must eFile all Adoption filings, including the petition.

Office of the Auditor Master

The following documents may not be eFiled:
Accounts, Financial statements, receipts, and all documents submitted in response to the Order for Production of Documents. These documents must be submitted by email to AMFinancialBox [at] DCSC.gov, or delivered in person by appointment.

Probate Division

The following may not be eFiled and must be filed in paper with the clerk:

• Wills and codicils;
• Bonds;
• Confidential Information Form or Form 26 (personal identification information);
• Form 27 (Financial Information);
• Filings that require payment of court costs that vary in amount (e.g. new decedent estate cases) or require deposits into the Estate Deposit Account;
• Supporting documents (for Inventories and Accounts) that contain financial information;
• Subpoenas for medical records; and
• Applications to proceed in forma pauperis.

Tax Division

A party who is eFiling a petition must submit an addendum to the petition identifying related cases, if applicable. After the eFiled petition is accepted by the clerk’s office, the petitioner, the Office of the Attorney General for the District of Columbia, and the Office of Tax and Revenue will be served with a completed “petition package,” which includes the petition (reflecting the assigned case number and judge) and the Initial Order and Notice of Service and Mediation Procedures.