Introduction
The Orange County Superior Court has contracted with Odyssey eFileCA to provide for the electronic filing of documents in their FAMILY courts. This will allow users to easily open court cases and e-file documents for a new case or existing case anytime and from anywhere. Any electronically filed document the Court receives at midnight (or after)—or any document filed on a non-court day—the court deems it filed on the first court day AFTER they receive it.
On December 4, 2017, the Family Law Division will begin to accept e-filed documents on a permissive (optional) basis. During this permissive phase, filers may submit document to the court one of three ways:
- At the clerk’s office
- Via mail
- Electronically submit them via e-filing
Effective January 1, 2018, pursuant to section 1010.6 of the Code of Civil Procedure, rule 2.2539b)(2) of the California Rules of Court, and Orange County Local Rule 700.7, all papers filed by attorneys in family law proceedings, other than documents listed as an exception on the Court’s Family Law e-filing website, must be filed electronically, unless the Court rules otherwise. For self-represented parties, the court has not mandated e-filing. However, they encourage those filers to e-file.
Benefits
E-Filing eliminates the need for the court to enter data and scan documents after they accept them for filing. This enables the court to save additional time in processing a filing, and it gets the filed documents out to court staff far more quickly and effectively than paper documents filed at the window. Additional benefits to lawyers and litigants include:
- Attorneys save the cost of time, paper, file folders, labels, and document delivery services.
- E-filed documents are electronically available to the filing party almost immediately after the Court accepts them.
- Filers may submit documents to the court 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and 365 days a year.
- E-filed documents are text searchable when downloaded.