Filing (law)

In law, filing is the formal act of delivering a document to a court clerk and having that clerk accept it for inclusion in the official record. If a document is handed over but not yet accepted, it is considered lodged or received rather than filed, and courts will not consider motions unless a required memorandum or brief has been properly filed by the deadline. A filing fee, part of court costs, is typically paid.

Filing systems are either mandatory or permissive. Under a mandatory system, all legally significant documents exchanged between parties must be concurrently filed with the court. The United States federal courts use a mandatory system, with minor exceptions for routine discovery. In contrast, a permissive system requires nothing to be filed until direct judicial management becomes necessary, such as just before trial. Historically, from the reign of Edward IV in the late 1400s until the late 1990s, English trial courts operated permissively: they recorded only the initial writ, parties served pleadings on each other, and only later would one party ask the court to set the case for trial, lodging two copies of the pleadings. One copy was for the judge’s use; the other was filed after trial alongside the judgment. In the United States, New York’s lower courts still largely use a permissive system, modified in 1992.

Traditionally, filing required visiting a clerk, paying a fee, and submitting documents in duplicate or triplicate. The clerk checks formatting, verifies the filer is not a vexatious litigant, and confirms the case number. The clerk stamps both copies with the court name and date, keeping one for the file and returning one to the filer. In some jurisdictions, the returned copy is stamped “conformed copy” rather than “filed.” For triplicate submissions, the third copy goes to the assigned judge’s chambers. If the document is the first pleading, a new case number is assigned. Electronic filing now allows lawyers to upload PDFs to court websites (like CM/ECF) or private services, often requiring a paper courtesy copy for the judge by the next business day.

Filing fees are controversial, as some believe they impede access to justice. While American litigants complain about fees (e.g., $435 to file in Los Angeles), comparative law experts consider the U.S. system plaintiff-friendly. Many systems have fees proportional to the amount sough