Superior Court of Delaware eFiling

E-Filing Update. Designation of Cases Filed as Civil Miscellaneous for e-Filing.
Effective May 1, 2012 all Civil Miscellaneous cases, excluding expungements, gun permits, material witness warrants, search warrants, appeals from the Disability Board, and petitions or applications from the Department of Justice for information and/or documentation pertaining to a criminal or civil investigation, filed with the Prothonotary in any county shall be filed electronically using LexisNexis File & Serve eFiling system.. View Administrative Directive 2012-3 >>

E-Filing Expanded to Civil Appeals.
Effective July 1, 2011, all Civil Appeals from Boards, Agencies, Commissions and Courts, including Certioraris, filed with the Prothonotary in any county shall be filed electronically using the LexisNexis File & Serve. View Administrative Directive 2011-4 >>

Notice ADR Lexis eFilings—Arbitrators, mediators, and neutral assessors should remember to select the check-box on the Review & Submit tab stating that they are sending these documents as 'Court-Appointed Counsel/ADR' when they e-file. This waives the LexisNexis File & Serve™ fees. Please choose the correct ADR document type so that you are not charged the court's statutory fees. You may contact Customer support 1.888.529.7587. View Screen Shot >>

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Delaware Courts have lead nation in use of electronic filing with LexisNexis® File & Serve.

Delaware courts have added to their legacy of leadership in the use of electronic filing with the announcement that the Superior Court of Delaware has expanded the required use of e-filing for legal documents in several key areas of litigation. These expansions, together with use of e-filing for all civil, criminal and family cases in the Delaware Supreme Court establish Delaware courts as a leader in the use of e-filing technology.

On November 29, 2007 Administrative Directive 2007-4 issued by Superior Court's President Judge, expanded e-filing to all new civil complaints, mechanic's liens, and mortgage cases filed with the Prothonotary in any county, whether subject to Alternative Dispute Resolution or not, were to be filed and/or served electronically using the LexisNexis File & Serve e-filing system. This requirement did not include civil appeals, involuntary commitments or civil miscellaneous proceedings.

The directive expanded the use of e-filing in Superior Court to all major categories of civil cases. Delaware Superior Court was the first in the state to adopt e-filing in 1991, and this change means that more than 1.8 million Court documents annually will be electronic. This is expected to save an estimated 9 million pieces of paper annually, enough to stack as high as a 300-story building every year.

Electronic filing is nothing new for the Superior Court of Delaware. Delaware was the first state in the nation to implement an electronic docketing and filing system for civil cases in the United States. That system was called the Complex Litigation Automated Docket or CLAD, and went into effect in 1991.

The system provided the court, counsel and litigants with filing that was quick and efficient as well as optimized the related document storage and lowered related costs. More then 200,000 electronic CLAD transactions were filed to CLAD which provided immediate access to the filings prior to our current Web environment.

On January 9, 2003, President Judge Henry duPont Ridgely signed Administrative Directive 2003-1 (stay ended January 27, 2003) and Administrative Directive 2003-2 (rescinded by Administrative Directive 2003-8) which directed the transition and migration to a new electronic filing (eFiling) system pursuant to the court's Civil Rule 79.1. The court's service provider for this browser-based electronic filing system is LexisNexis™File & Serve.

On January 27, 2003, the existing CLAD cases were converted to LexisNexis™File & Serve e-filing system. E-filers must register with LexisNexis™File & Serve. Complete details on registration and filing fees, requirements, and other issues are available from LexisNexis™. LexisNexis™ will provide training to all filers and users. Contact them to arrange this by calling attorney customer support at 1.888.529.7587. Public access to the documents is available on computer terminals in the Prothonotary's Office.

In July 2003, the Judicial Division of the American Bar Association released a proposed draft for Court Use of Electronic Filing Processes (Proposed Standard 1.65).

On August 12, 2003, President Judge Ridgely signed Administrative Directive 2003-7 (Designation of Certain Non-arbitration Cases for e-filing) and Administrative Directive 2003-8 (e-file Administrative Procedures) which expands the use of e-filing in Delaware.

On October 6, 2003, the Superior Court began accepting new non-arbitration complaint cases electronically in New Castle, Kent and Sussex Counties. With the expansion of electronic filing to Superior Court non-arbitration cases, Delaware will continue to be at the national forefront of judicial and legal case management.

On April 1, 2007, President Judge James T. Vaughn Jr. signed Administrative Directive 2007-2 (Designation of ADR Cases for -filing Pursuant to Superior Court Civil Rule 79.1) which expanded e-filing to all new civil actions filed with the Prothonotary that are subject to the court's Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) pursuant to Civil Rule 16 shall be filed and/or served electronically using the LexisNexis File & Serve eFiling system. Eventually the -filing will apply to all Superior Court civil filings. Eventually the system will apply to all Superior Court civil filings. Administrative Directive 2007-4 expands the use of e-filing to all Civil Complaints including Mechanic's Liens and Mortgages. (This designation does not include Civil Appeals, Involuntary Commitments, or Civil Miscellaneous proceedings.)

E-filing administrative procedures were further defined in December 2007 in Administrative Directive 2007-6.

Effective January 1, 2008, the Court expanded e-filing directing that all new Civil Complaints, Mechanic's Liens, and Mortgage cases filed with the Prothonotary in any county, whether subject to Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) or not, shall be filed and/or served electronically using the LexisNexis® File & Serve e-Filing system.