Electronic Filing
**The information on this page is specific to Superior Court E-Filing. District Court has their own E-Filing webpage, instructions and rules**
For District Court E-Filing information go to: www.clark.wa.gov/district-court/electronic-filing
To register for or update an existing E-Filing account in Superior Court please fill out and submit a registration form. Return the completed registration form to the Clerk's Office via e-mail to efilereg@clark.wa.gov. Please use the following naming convention (LastnameFirstname.pdf) when naming your form. You may also mail or deliver the completed registration form to the Clerk's Office. (Registration may take up to 4 weeks to process.)
Instructions for logging on to your registered FTP User Account:
(Does NOT work in Internet Explorer or any Internet Browser ie. Chrome/Firefox etc.
Use File/Windows Explorer only)
Instructions from Windows 7 pc
Instructions from Windows 10 pc
E-Filing will not be mandatory in Superior Court.
Only Black & White Group 4 .TIF images scanned at 300 dpi will be accepted for E-Filing ( NO PDF’s).
**Color or gray scale documents will be rejected.
**New procedures E-Filing New Cases**
Opening a new case and paying the filing fee:
Prior to E-Filing a new case you will need to Email the following documents to newefiledcase@clark.wa.gov :
- Case Information Cover Sheet
- Copy of Petition or Complaint
- Confidential Information Form (required for all Family Law, Firearms or DV matters)
Once the E-file staff have added the case they will contact you to collect payment and provide a case number. You will then upload all of the pleadings, complete with case number, to the FTP site as you have always done. As a reminder, if you purchase a case number for e-filing, all initial pleadings must be submitted by e-file and not via mail or in person.
Paying other filing fees:
Prior to E-Filing a document that requires payment, you must call the E-Filing number at 564-397-2298 to pay all applicable fees. Your filing may be rejected if this is not done. Sending a check via mail or paying in person IS NOT an acceptable form of payment for E-Filed documents.
Common documents that require a fee:
- Jury Demand
- Notice of Appeal
- Modification
- Arbitration
- Counterclaim
- Third Party Complaint
- Etc. (for a full list of fees please go to our fee schedule page)
New Superior Court cases can be E-Filed after the filing fee has been paid and a case number has been issued. New cases may be E-Filed for case types 2, 3, 4 and 5. Please include a Case Information Cover Sheet (CICS) for all new cases and for civil cases also review the LR40.
Attorney Signature: For purposes of E-Filing, attorneys may sign their documents in the following manner
s/ John Attorney
State Bar Number 12345
ABC Law Firm
123 South Fifth Avenue
Seattle, WA 98104
Telephone: (206) 123-4567
Fax: (206) 123-4567
E-mail: John.Attorney@lawfirm.com
Or you can sign and scan the document. See GR 30 Electronic Filing Rule.
**PLEASE WRITE OR TYPE THE TOTAL NUMBER OF PAGES PER PLEADING IN UPPER LEFT CORNER OF DOCUMENT TO CONFIRM WE RECEIVED ALL PAGES OF YOUR FILING.**
The electronic documents will be considered filed when it is received by the clerk's designated computer during the clerk's business hours; otherwise the document is considered filed at the beginning of the next business day. (Monday - Friday 8:00 am - 4:30 pm, except scheduled holidays)
A confirmation e-mail will be sent to the filing party along with a conformed copy of the document. If you need to change an e-mail address please send and updated registration form to efilereg@clark.wa.gov. NOTE: If you do not receive a confirmation email, please call (564-397-2298) before resubmitting any documents.
Sealed Cover Sheets: Per GR 22 in Family Law and Guardianship cases, the appropriate cover sheet must be attached to the original document(s) for it to become sealed AND a separate copy of the cover sheet must be filed for the public file. This policy applies to E-Filing as well as documents filed at the Clerk's Office in person or by mail. Please use the correct cover sheet for the type of documents being filed. E-File the document with the cover sheet as the 1st page and also E-File the cover sheet separately as a 1 page only document for the public file. Below are the sealed covers sheets provided by Washington State Courts at www.courts.wa.gov/forms.
| Sealed Financial Source Document |
| Sealed Personal Health Care Records |
| Sealed Confidential Reports |
| Sealed Medical Health Information |
Declarations: If you are E-Filing a declaration follow instructions as described in GR17(2) for facsimile transmission and attach a GR17(2) declaration to the back of your document.
The following documents cannot be E-Filed and must be filed in paper form:
- Court orders signed by a judge - Original orders must be filed at the Clerk's Office
- Exparte orders to be signed by exparte judge
- Foreign judgments
- Original wills and codicils, including new probate cases that include original wills or codicils
- Certified records of proceedings for purposes of appeal
- Negotiable instruments
- Bail bonds
- Documents presented for filing during a court hearing or trial
- Documents of foreign governments under official seal
- Bench copies for the judicial office
- Bonds in probate and guardianship cases
- Documents for filing in an Aggravated Murder case
- Interpleader or Surplus Funds Petitions
- Documents submitted for in camera review
- Affidavits for Writs of Garnishment and Writs of Execution
- Writs (that have to be issued by the Clerk)
- Letters of Testamentary
- Letters of Guardianship
- Letters of Administration
Instructions and E-Filing videos
E-Filing Presentation and demonstration of the E-Filing process. ppsx format
Video Demonstration of how to E-File (wmv)
How to upload documents using FileZilla (PDF)
How to use site manager in FileZilla (PDF)
Creating TIF documents using PDF Creator
The instructions below are for a free software printer(PDF Creator) that will print any digital document to TIF. This software is available at http://www.pdfforge.org
Install instructions for PDF Creator(PDF) ***Note: Please follow install instructions carefully. DO NOT INSTALL PDF ARCHITECT PDF Creator does not work on MAC computers.
Instructions for proper settings PDF Creator 4.0 (PDF)