NOTICE: THIS SERVICE IS ONLY AVAILABLE IF THE ATTORNEY AGREES TO DO THE FILING, AND IT IS THE MINIMUM CHARGE FOR DOING THE FILING, IN ADDITION TO ANY FILING FEES PRO PROCESS FEES ARE CHARGED BY THE COURT AND E-FILING SYSTEM. WITHOUT THAT AGREEMENT BY THE ATTORNEY, YOU ARE REQUIRED TO FILE THE PAPERS, YOURSELF. WE RECOMMEND THAT YOU USE AN ATTORNEY SERVICE NEAR THE COURTHOUSE AS THE BEST CHOICE IF YOU CANNOT PERSONALLY FILE IT.
The reason is that, while e-filing used to be simple and reliable, new systems and procedures, court clerks making erroneous rejections, and the need to continually return to the filing website to check on the status, all tripled the time now required to file a simply paper.
Getting the papers to the courthouse for filing is preferably done by you, so that you can physically have the proof of the filing in your hands, and if the clerk presents a barrier (as they often do), you can call me directly from there on the Hotline and I can help you usher the papers through. We do spend an inordinate amount of time trying to get the clerks to do their job and follow the law. For courts which now require an on-line reservation of a hearing date, which may or may not include uploading of the papers to be filed, a similar process and time are required.
It may be that, due to the time, your inability, or the requirements of the individual courthouse, the paperwork as to be fax filed, or e-filed, or brought there by a courier to hand it to them in person. Each of these systems requires extra work, to fill out, send, and confirm the fax filing or e-filing forms to arranged for the courier to deliver the papers to the filing clerk, address any problems he or she encounters, and usher the papers through to completion of the filing. Each of these processes takes time, and that time is what is paid by this Item, just to do those things.
This charge DOES NOT include the fax filing, e-filing, or courier fees for their services, nor does it include the filing fees themselves, which the court clerks will require to accept your paperwork for filing, unless you have a fee waiver. It also DOES NOT include any time associated with the court clerks ERRONEOUSLY REJECTING such paperwork, because they are untrained and unsupervised. You can save this money by doing it yourself, and then see why there is this charge for the time spent doing it.