#1: The Court determines what information you can choose from

Ever wonder why your exact document title isn’t coming up in the drop-down menu? Or why you can’t add a party for that filing type?

In California and across other eFiling states, each individual court determines how much information is available for each eFiling case type, and what options filers have to choose from. So filers often must select the best option even if it’s not the exact match for their filing.

But in a world where the court must decide how many variations they are willing to work with, the limitations are inevitable and usually understood by the court clerks who are reviewing your documents.

#2: Signatures aren’t required — in the same way

In legal practice, signatures serve two essential functions: (1) Creating a verifiable link between the document and the filing party; and (2) Providing verification that the contents have been reviewed and meet certain standards.

When eFiling, using a login and password that is unique to you, there is a direct and verifiable link between you and the documents received by court.

For this reason, among others, documents can be eFiled with the signature line blank, or with “/s/ (name of signee).” Original signed documents must always be retained should the judge request to see them.

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