eFiling Rules Summary
New electronic filing rules issued by the Kentucky Supreme Court that became effective in late December, 2022 merit immediate attention by attorneys and their support staff.1 The new rules apply to all levels of e-filing in the Courts including civil, criminal, domestic, juvenile, and probate cases, and at both the trial and appellate courts levels. To the extent that these the Supreme Court’s eFiling Rules conflict or controvert local court rules, procedures or orders, the Supreme Court’s Rules prevail.
Highlights of the eFiling Rules include:
- Standardized format requirements for all e-filed documents;
- Efiled “Entry of Appearances” required in District and Circuit Courts to effect opting into cases by efiling;
- Filing a document electronically does not alter filing deadlines so filing must be completed before midnight in the time zone of the Court to be timely filed;
- Efiling now available in Appellate Courts for motions and briefs;
- Electronic signatures must include efiling party’s contact information;
- Filing party must retain originally executed copy of all documents required to be notarized, acknowledged, verified or signed under oath until all periods for appeals expire;
- Transmission of the NEF with a hyperlink to the electronic document now constitutes service of the document under CR 5 to all efilers but a paper copy must be served to non-registered efilers;
- Orders of the Court may be efiled but not required so checking each county for its policy required to avoid not receiving an entered Order timely; and
- Paper file of the case still constitutes the official court record so you must check to make sure clerk has printed documents which have been electronically filed and placed them in each case.
The Rules further provide that technical difficulties in filing documents will not excuse the efiler’s failure to comply with a jurisdictional deadline. The Administrative Office of the Court’s efiling help line is available for assistance during weekday business hours. For non-jurisdictional technical failures, leave can be granted by the Court when unforseen technical difficulties arise.
1Administrative Rules of Practice and Procedure Electronic Filing in the Kentucky Court of Justice, Order 2022-65 entered December 20, 2022.