Frequently Asked Questions – eFiling in the 17th Judicial Circuit Where do I eFile? Florida bar registered attorneys may register to eFile with Broward County via the Florida Courts eFiling Portal https://www.myflcourtaccess.com/RegistrationNotice.htm How do I register a firm account? Law firm managers should contact the FACC (Florida Association of Court Clerks) at [email protected] to set up an administrator account. After the account is set up, the law firm administrator can assign or remove registered users to the firm. How does eFiling work? A filer electronically files documents to the Florida Courts eFiling Portal at www.myflcourtaccess.com. The filing is electronically delivered to the Clerk’s inbox. Upon successful transmission of your efiling, you will receive the first of two emails. A filing is considered received by the Clerk upon transmission from the portal to the Clerk’s inbox. The Clerk then reviews the filing and either accepts it or rejects it. If accepted by the Clerk, the filing will be docketed and appear in the Clerk’s case maintenance system and will also be stored in the Court’s case management system. Your second email will be notification of the Clerk’s acceptance or rejection. You will receive notice of the Clerk’s action by electronic mail. A link for filers to the electronic version of the filing as accepted by the Clerk will be provided in this process. If you have not received notification of rejection or acceptance within one (1) business day of transmission or have any other questions related to the processing of your filing by the Clerk please send an email to [email protected]. Please include the ‘reference number’ in the subject line. 1 Who eFiles and what cases are eFiled? eFiling is permissive for new cases and existing cases in all Probate, Guardianship and Mental Health Cases including involuntary commitment cases. Do I have to follow up file? No, based upon prior eFiling, Broward is exempt from follow-up filing. However, the following must be filed in their original form: a. b. c. d. e. f. g. h. Wills in estate cases Wills placed on deposit with the Broward County Clerk of Court Pre-need guardian declarations Bonds Death certificates Returns of service Any other document ordered by the Court Any other document required by Florida law to be filed with the Clerk of the Circuit Court in its original form. What about the smart forms? The use of Probate and Guardianship Smart Forms are required for certain filing types and the forms are hosted on the 17th Circuit Probate and Guardianship web page. If you are filing a pleading that has an associated smart form, the Clerk will not accept any other document. If you have questions or comments about the required forms please send them to [email protected]. Can I schedule hearings using eFiling? Currently, you may schedule Ex Parte hearings via the eFiling system. You may eFile your ex parte request form to the Clerk’s Office. The forms are available here: http://www.17th.flcourts.org/probate_and_guardianship.html .You will also need to eFile the pleadings that you wish to schedule a hearing on if they are not already filed in the court file. Motion calendar hearings may be scheduled online via the 17 th Judicial Circuit Online Scheduling system. http://www.17th.flcourts.org/ccjdpool/attorneyLogon.jsp What hardware or software do I need to eFile? The only requirement is an internet connection and a browser. Results may vary depending on the browser used. 2 How do I get trained for eFiling? The manual is available from the ‘filer documentation’ link on the bottom of the eFiling Portal web pages. It is also available on the 17th Judicial Circuit Probate eFiling webpage. Will I be able to access the documents that I file? Once accepted, the filer will be able to access the documents filed. You may download such documents to your computer when provided with the link to the accepted electronic version of the filing after acceptance by the Clerk. Why do I have to use a specific case number format for eFiling? You will not be able to file your document if the correct format is not used on the Portal. The new format is as follows: The first three characters are the division designation with dashes between the second and third characters (at this time only MH-C and PR-C); the second two characters are the year designation; and the last 7 characters are the numerical sequence of the case. You will receive an error message until the correct format is entered. The portal is case sensitive and requires capital letters for the Case Number. Invalid Case Number Valid Case Number MHC 07-00123 MH-C-07-0000123 PRC 04-1234 PR-C-04-0001234 The Probate Smart forms require the above format, except with no dashes i.e. PRC040001234. The forms are hardcoded to only allow 12 characters. What do I do with attachments, supporting documentation and proposed orders? Under Court rules, all filings associated with one pleading or paper are one document. Attachments must be included as one document and not uploaded separately. Each document, upon acceptance, will be time stamped and added to the case progress docket. You may have to scan separate documents into one PDF file before you upload them to the portal. As an example, complete Petitions for Administration would contain the petition, proposed order appointing PR and proposed letters of administration, scanned will, scanned death certificate and oath of personal representative. Please remember that the original will and death certificate must still be submitted in paper to the clerk. 3 Why do I have to redact personal identifying information? Pursuant to Administrative Order IV-06-A-31 redaction of personal identifying information is required in all documents filed in the Probate Division that will be included in the publicly available file. What about the Notice of Confidential Information? If you need to file the Notice of Confidential Information required by Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.420, it must be filed separately. Do I have to follow up my eFiling with a paper filing? Follow-up paper filing is no longer required. The electronic submission is all that is necessary to complete your filing unless statute or rule require the original document (original will, death certificate, etc.). Please refer to the 17 th Judicial Circuit Administrative Order Establishing Electronic Filing Procedures for more information on what documents must still be filed in paper format. Can a single filing apply to more than one case? No. Each document electronically filed must be submitted as individual transactions. If cases are not officially consolidated by court order with other cases, any document applying in several cases must be filed in each case. If a case is consolidated with others by court order, then a document can be filed in the lead case. The pleading must indicate that it is a consolidated case Can I file multiple pleadings in the same case? Yes, you may upload several lead documents for the same case number during the efiling process, not to exceed 25 MB. Each lead document filed is considered a separate transaction and, if accepted, an entry is made on the progress docket of the case. If the filing is rejected you will be notified via electronic mail. How do I sign my documents? You may either scan the originally signed document and efile it or place a ‘/s/’ in the signature portion of the document and upload it directly. In either case, you must maintain the originally signed documents in your files for a prescribed period of time. Please refer to the 17th Judicial Circuit Administrative Order Establishing Electronic Filing Procedures for more information What if I haven’t received an acceptance or rejection within 24 hours? If you have not received notification of rejection or acceptance within one (1) business day of transmission, or have any other questions related to the processing of your filing by the Clerk please send an email to [email protected]. Please include the ‘trace number’ in the subject line. 4 What fees are associated with eFiling? Pursuant to Florida Supreme Court order, fees cannot be charged for eFiling; only statutorily mandated filing fees can be charged. You will be able to pay filing fees, background investigation and accounting inventory fees, with a credit card or electronic withdrawal from a bank account. The Portal will charge a credit card processing fee for the transaction value as cost recovery, as noted on the financial transaction page in the Portal. How can I learn more about eFiling in Broward County. Visit the Judiciary’s site at http://www.17th.flcourts.org/Probate_eFiling/probate_efiling.html or the Clerk’s site at http://www.browardclerk.org for more information. Information on eFiling rules, filing and document types and other specifics will be placed on the site. 5