Assembly
Before anything is transmitted, the filer (or their EFSP) assembles the envelope: the document itself, the case it belongs to, the parties, and the filing type. For a new case, the filer also chooses a case type (for example, “breach of contract”). This designation determines what happens next and which court department the case is routed to. For an existing case, the filer references the case number instead.Transmission
The EFSP transmits the envelope to the court’s EFM. This is a machine-to-machine call; the filer does not interact with the court’s systems directly. At this point the filing has a transmission timestamp, but it is not yet part of the official record. Many jurisdictions distinguish between the time a filing was submitted and the time it was accepted; some treat the submission time as the effective filing date (useful for beating a deadline), while others use the acceptance time. If the filing carries a court fee, this is also when payment is charged; submission and payment are treated as a single transaction, so a failed charge means the filing is not transmitted. See Filing fees for more information about fees. Until the court reviews the envelope, it can typically be canceled and the fees refunded.Review
A court clerk reviews the envelope. This step checks things a machine can verify only partially:- Is this the correct document for this case and filing type?
- Are the parties named correctly, and is the caption right?
- Does the filing meet local formatting rules (page limits, redaction requirements, and so on)?
- Have the correct fees been included?
1
Accepted
The filing is approved and becomes part of the official case record. It is
assigned a filed date and time and, for a new case, a case number.
2
Rejected
The filing is refused outright. The filer receives a reason and must submit
a new envelope if they still want to file.
3
Correction requested
Some courts allow a middle ground: the clerk flags a specific, minor issue
(like a missing signature block) and lets the filer fix and resubmit without
starting over.
Docketing
Once accepted, the filing is docketed: it is formally entered into the court’s case management system and becomes part of the case’s official chronological record. For a new case, this is also when a case number is typically assigned. From this point on, the filing is a permanent part of the case, visible to the court, the parties, and (depending on the jurisdiction’s public access rules) potentially the public.Notification
Interested parties are notified that a filing occurred. Depending on the jurisdiction and case type, this can happen automatically as part of efiling (electronic service) or may require the filer to separately serve other parties. For more information on service, see Service of process.Checking status
Because review is not instant, efiling systems generally support checking on a filing after submission rather than only relying on being told the moment something changes. In practice, most integrations use a combination of both: an asynchronous notification when a court finishes review, plus the ability to explicitly check current status, since notifications can be delayed or missed. The status of a filing over its lifetime typically looks like:submitting → submitted → under review → accepted (or rejected)
There may be additional intermediate states depending on the court, e.g.,
receipted (acknowledged but not yet reviewed), deferred, or correction
(sent back for a fix).