SOUTHFIELD – The Michigan Supreme Court and Court of Appeals last week implemented an electronic filing and electronic service system called TrueFiling developed by ImageSoft.
For the next several weeks, the use of TrueFiling is limited to a test group of filers at both courts, but following a successful test run, it is slated to be available to all filers on January 5, 2015. Electronic filing in the Supreme Court and the Court of Appeals is currently voluntary, but the courts may decide to make it mandatory at some point in the future. Other than paying the statutory filing fees when applicable, there is no additional cost to the filer to use TrueFiling. (There are no transaction charges or credit card processing fees charged to filers.)
TrueFiling, which will eventually replace the Court of Appeals? current eFiling system, is a Web-based eFiling product that allows attorneys to electronically file documents to the courts from anywhere an Internet connection is available ? 24 hours a day, seven days a week. It also enables real-time communication with the courts via the TrueFiling web portal and greatly streamlines and accelerates the courts? internal processes with automated workflow. Since TrueFiling drastically reduces paper handling, it improves overall efficiency for both the courts and the filers.
For the courts, eFiling means even more efficient use of resources. For attorneys, it may mean less time spent travelling to and from the courts to file paper documents, as well as cost savings by eliminating the need to copy, process and deliver thousands of paper documents each year. TrueFiling also offers a bundling feature that enables filers to combine several filings for a single case into one transaction and creates a system-generated proof of service.
