Filing Procedures

"Filing" means to give documents for a case to the court. You can bring or mail the documents to the court, file by email, or file documents electronically (e-file).

Make a copy of all documents you file for the other party, and a copy for your records.

A document starting a case – usually called a complaint or petition – must be filed with the court that has the authority to handle it. This is called jurisdiction.

The superior court has six divisions, and each of those divisions has jurisdiction over specific types of cases.

Civil Division

General civil cases, including breach of contract, personal injury, medical malpractice, wrongful death
Eviction, foreclosure and land disputes
Small claims
Sexual assault and stalking
Appeals from the Probate Division

Criminal Division

Felony and misdemeanor cases
Criminal record expungements and sealings
Treatment courts, including adult drug, juvenile drug, mental health, and driving under the influence cases.
Some civil cases, such as civil suspensions of driver's licenses, contested fish and wildlife fines, and appeals of decisions involving traffic and municipal ordinance violations.

Environmental Division

Appeals from municipal panels, Act 250 decisions, and the Agency of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board
Municipal enforcement actions
Agency of Natural Resources and Natural Resources Board enforcement actions

Family Division

Divorce, separation, and civil union dissolution
Parentage
Child support and child custody
Modification and enforcement of child support, child custody and visitation orders
Relief from abuse
Juvenile delinquency and child abuse or neglect
Caring for people mental illnesses and developmental disabilities.

Judicial Bureau

Traffic violations
Municipal ordinance violations
Fishing, hunting, and trapping violations
Alcohol and tobacco violations
Burning and waste disposal, environmental and lead hazard abatement violations
Cruelty to animal violations
Non-criminal marijuana violations

Probate Division

Adoptions
Guardianships
Emancipation
Correction and establishment of birth, death, and marriage records,
Probate of estates, trusts, and wills

Supreme Court

The Vermont Supreme Court reviews cases from state courts and agencies.

After the initial petition or complaint has been filed with the court, all other documents are filed in the clerk's office of the court handling the case.

You can file paper documents in person at the court, or mail them to the court.

Filing fee

If you're filing something that requires a filing fee, you must pay the fee or your case may be delayed or dismissed. If you can't afford the fee, you can ask the court to consider waiving it. See the Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs web page for more information and forms.

If you're not asking to have the filing fee waived these are ways you can pay the filing fee:

If you are filing by mail or in person, you can pay using a check or money order made out to Vermont Superior Court.
If you are filing in person you can pay with cash. Do not send cash if you are filing by mail.
If you are filing in person you can pay by credit card. There is a 2.39% convenience fee to pay by credit card in person or over the phone.

If you are filing in person, take the documents to the clerk's office. You can also put documents in the court’s drop box. There is a drop box located at the entrance of each courthouse.

If you are filing by mail, address your envelope to the proper division of the court. The Court Locations web page provides addresses for all state courts. You may want to follow up with a phone call to the court to make sure they received your filing.

You can file documents by email. To do this, email the court where your case is being handled and attach the documents you want to file. The preferred format for documents filed by email is PDF.

You may want to follow up with a phone call to the court after a few days to make sure they received your filing. Some courts receive a large volume of email and it may be some time before they are able to act on your message. If your filing is urgent, you may want to consider other filing options.

You can find email addresses for all courts on the Court Email Addresses web page or the Court Locations web page.

Filing fee

If you are filing something that requires a filing fee, you must pay the fee or your case may be delayed or dismissed. If you can't afford the fee, you can ask the court to consider waiving it. See the Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs web page for more information and forms.

If you aren't asking to have the filing fee waived you can pay the filing fee by credit card over the phone. There is a 2.39% convenience fee to pay by credit card over the phone. In the body of your email filing, include your phone number and say you want to make your payment over the phone. The court will contact you to take your payment.

Subject line

If you are filing documents in an existing case, include the case number and court where filing is made in the subject line. For example:

Subject: 23-SC-9999, Essex Civil Division

If you do not know your case number or where your filing was made, contact the Information Center: 802-652-1900.

Signature

The documents you file must include a signature.

You can use an electronic version or scanned copy of your signature.

The signature can be your typed name with /s/ in front of it. For example: /s/ Jane Doe

Other kinds of signatures are also allowed. If you have questions about signature options, contact the Information Center: 802-652-1900.

People representing themselves can choose to file documents electronically. This is called e-filing. The Vermont Judiciary uses a system called Odyssey File & Serve (OFS).

If you choose to e-file, you must e-file for the entire case. You cannot switch back and forth between e-filing and paper filing.

Fees

There are additional costs if you choose to e-file:

$14 fee for the first time you file in a case using OFS. For example:
- You are starting a new case.
- You used to have an attorney representing you, but now you are representing yourself and want to use OFS.
- You are the defendant in a case and you are using OFS to file your answer.
2.89% processing fee if you pay by credit card.
$1.00 per case if you pay by eCheck.

Some case types do not have filing fees. These include Requests for Relief from Abuse, Requests for Abuse Prevention for a Vulnerable Adult, and Requests for Orders Against Stalking or Sexual Assault. There is no OFS fee in any of those cases.

You do not have to pay the OFS fee if you are asking to waive fees. If the court decides you do not qualify for a fee waiver, you will have to pay the fee then.

Register for an E-filing Account

Go to Odyssey File and Serve web page and click on “Register.” You will need a valid email address. After you complete the online form, you will get a confirmation email. Click the link in the email to complete the registration process.

OFS Help

The Electronic Filing web page includes links to Odyssey File & Serve User Guides and how-to videos.

"Flattening" Fillable PDF Files

If you are e-Filing a fillable PDF (which includes all court forms posted on this website), you must first save it as a "flat file." Otherwise, the filing will fail and you will need to refile. To "flatten" a completed fillable PDF form:

Right click on document and select Print. If the document opens in Adobe, Select File and select Print.
Select the PDF printer. (The Adobe PDF printer is installed automatically with Adobe Acrobat. Numerous free PDF printer drivers are available for download online.)
Select OK.
Specify location to save the printed, "flattened" version of the form.
Select Save.

See the E-filing web page for more information.

Court cases and documents filed in court cases have deadlines. Documents must be filed before the deadline, and different documents have different deadlines.

Deadlines are governed by court rules, such as the Vermont Rules of Civil Procedure and Vermont Rules for Family Proceedings.

Many deadlines are calculated from the day the party was served. Vermont Rule of Civil Procedure 6 defines how to calculate deadline dates:

Do not count the day the party was served. For example, if a party was served on June 17:
- June 17 is day 0
- June 18 is day 1
- June 19 is day 2, etc.
Do count the last day, unless it is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday. For example, if someone has 21 days to file a document and day 21 is a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, their last day to file the document would be the end of the next business day.
- If the time period is stated in days, count intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays.
- If the time period is stated in hours, count intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays. If the period would end on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday, the period continues to run until the same time on the next business day.

There are other requirements. Read the rule carefully.

If documents are filed in person, the filing party must be in the clerk's office before closing. Some courts do not accept filings shortly before closing. Contact court staff to ask about local procedures.

There is a filing fee to start most cases, and to file some documents in some existing cases. The Fees web page lists all filing fees.

There is no filing fee for these cases:

If you can't afford the filing fee, you can ask the court to consider waiving them. See the Application to Waive Filing Fees and Service Costs web page for more information and forms.

If you are not asking to have the filing fee waived, you must pay the fee when the documents are filed.

You can pay the filing fee by mail or in person using a check or money order made out to Vermont Superior Court.
If you are filing by email, you can pay the filing fee by credit card over the phone. In the body of the email, include your phone number and say you want to make your payment over the phone. The court will contact you to take your payment.

All documents filed with the court must be "served" on all parties in the case. "Serving" means delivering the forms or documents to the other parties.

There are different rules for serving documents to start a case and for serving documents once a case has started. There are also different rules for different case types. For example:

Some documents filed with the court must be notarized. You can tell if a notarization is required by looking at the signature section. If you see a place for "Signature of notary public" or something similar, the document must be notarized.

Court staff can notarize documents filed in person. Many banks and town clerk’s offices also offer notary services.

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