Supreme Court and Court of North Carolina

ATTORNEY'S INSTRUCTIONS FOR ELECTRONIC FILING OF DOCUMENTS IN THE SUPREME COURT AND COURT OF APPEALS OF NORTH CAROLINA

Electronic Filing allows attorneys to submit their documents to be filed, such as petitions, briefs, motions, and responses, through an electronic medium, rather than a paper medium. Electronic filing also allows a deadline of 11:59 p.m. on the due date, but it must be filed by 11:59 p.m. on the due date. This reduces costs to all parties involved, including the taxpayers and the attorneys. We hope this instructional web page is helpful to you. Please feel free to contact either the Supreme Court or the Court of Appeals Clerk's Office with any questions or suggestions.

Important Notes: In the Court of Appeals you may not file documents in TPR 3-1 cases, Records on Appeal, 9(b)(5) Supplements, or Memorandums of Additional Authority. Also, the Court of Appeals only allows electronically filed documents from licensed attorneys.

Equipment required:

Personal Computer or Mac
Internet Access
Adobe Acrobat-Version 8.0 or above (Full Version). For more information about Adobe Acrobat, go to their website at www.adobe.com/products/acrobat. Other pdf writer software include WordPerfect 10 and above, Primo PDF, PDF Creator, and PDF995. Currently, Microsoft Word does not have the capability to create a PDF file. You will need to buy some third party software. Additionally, most scanners will allow you to scan a paper copy and convert the paper to a PDF file.
Scanner with automatic feeder only if appendix needs to be added to the document.

Internet address: www.ncappellatecourts.org (You may wish to bookmark this address.)

Overview of Submitting Electronically:

Log on to Internet address and click on Register in order to register to submit your document. You will receive an email notification from the Clerk's Office when your registration/account has been enabled to e-file. Once you register and are accepted, you are free to submit numerous documents at any time you would like to both the Court of Appeals and the Supreme Court. Note: Remember your password and exactly how you submitted your name. The system is case and punctuation sensitive.
Next you must Prepare your Document to be sent electronically. This requires converting the document to a PDF file using your Adobe Acrobat PDF Standard or other software, or scanning and also scanning in appendix pages to attach to the PDF file.
When your document is ready for submission, you can go back to the e-filing Internet address (www.ncappellatecourts.org) and fill out the form on the web by clicking on Submit and entering your registered user name and password. Fill out the required information and then Upload your file.

Steps 1-3 must be completed for each individual document to be e-filed. Details for accomplishing these steps are below.

If you need Help, please call or email the support line at 919-831-5708 or efiling@sc.state.nc.us.

REGISTER

ATTORNEY'S REQUEST FOR SUBMISSION

In order to verify that you really are who you say you are, you must register, get a password, and be approved to e-file documents with us.
On the Internet, go to the address www.ncappellatecourts.org. Our web page for the Electronic Filing and Document Library will be displayed on the screen. From this site you can Register, Submit, Browse Briefs that have been e-filed, and do Keyword searches.
At the left side, under User, click on Register. The User Registration screen will appear at the right. Choose whether you want to:
Request a new account or Login to update your existing account.
If you have never registered, click on Request a new account.
Fill in the blanks on the screen. The password suggested on screen in the very last blank may be used; however, we recommend that you enter one that is more easily remembered. Note: You must remember your own password, because the Clerk's Office will not have access to it. Also remember the exact way you filled out your name. In fact, printing this registration screen before you Submit it is the recommended method of keeping your account information on hand for future reference. Note that the system is case sensitive and punctuation sensitive.
Click on Submit Request.
We will verify your NC Bar status. After that, you will be notified by e-mail that your request for registration is approved. If you need your request expedited or have problems with your confirmation, please call us at 919-831-5708. You will usually be approved within the same day as submission, unless your request was received after business hours (8:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time) on a weekend or holiday.

PREPARE THE DOCUMENT

Now that I'm approved, how do I submit my document?

ATTORNEY'S SUBMISSION

After receiving email that your application has been approved, you may then login and begin submitting documents to be e-filed. The completed document must first be processed through Adobe Acrobat v. 6.0 or above (or through some third-party pdf-generating software) to convert it to a PDF (Portable Document Format) file. Only .pdf files are accepted for e-filing.

Filling out the Form on the Web:

When the you are ready to transmit the document, please return to the web address to complete the final step:
http://www.ncappellatecourts.org (Use Either Internet Explorer or Firefox. Do NOT use Google Chrome or Apple Safari.)
Under the Library heading, click on Submit.
Enter the User Name and Password. The E-Court Docket Submission screen appears.
Select the appropriate court - Supreme Court or Court of Appeals.
Indicate whether a document is to be filed on an existing case by entering the case number (the "COA" in the Court of Appeals case number is not required here) or whether the filing is for a new docket for which there is no case number yet.
Click on "Let's Go" and fill in the required information to be submitted with your document. Note: If this is an existing case, the data won't have to be re-entered again.

Uploading the File:

At the end of the data-fill section is a File Upload section where you must "Select the file you wish to upload." Click on the Browse button to go to the directory/folder where you have saved your document on your PC and double click on the file you want to submit for docketing (250 page maximum). The filename will appear in the blank to the left of the Browse button. To print a copy of the data you have submitted, click File and Print in the main menu.
Click on the Upload button to submit your file plus all the accompanying data you have entered.
If you receive a window about security, select the option to continue. Since court documents are public information, the unsecured transmission is acceptable.
Your document will be considered filed by the Clerk's Office when it is received. Within the next day or so you will receive an e-mail message giving the exact time and date the document is docketed in our database.

HELP

For additional help with Electronic Filing, feel free to call anyone at the North Carolina Supreme Court Clerk's Office at 919-831-5700 or the Court of Appeals Clerk's Office at 919-831-3600 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., Monday through Friday. But remember, you may electronically file at any time of day or night, every day! However, the "clocked-in" deadline for documents is 11:59 p.m. EST on the due date.

If you have comments or suggestions as to how we may improve this process, please e-mail them to efiling@sc.state.nc.us, and someone will respond to you and also run your ideas by the staff.