“Supporting documents” include bank account statements, broker’s statements, cancelled checks, the Financial Account Information (Form 27) form referred to in SCR-PD 5.1, receipts, and other financial statements.

Every new case needs an eService list so that the court and any party to the case who is registered with the eFile vendor may receive pleadings and court orders by eService. To create an eService list, use the case number assigned to the case. This number should have been stamped by the Probate Clerk’s Office in the caption of the case (the caption is the heading at the top of a filing).

All petitions for fees/compensation filed with the court must comply with the requirements of Administrative Orders 04-06 (for attorneys) and 04-07 (for lay fiduciaries).

Yes. When the Verification and Certificate of Notice (VCNO) is filed by an unsupervised personal representative, the proofs of publication must accompany it. The Office of the Register of Wills does not accept proofs of publication separately from the VCNO.

Yes. When the inventory is filed by a supervised personal representative, the proofs of publication must accompany it. The Office of the Register of Wills does not accept proofs of publication separately from the inventory.

Yes. Highlight the impression of the seal or the raised seal with a pencil so that the impression of the seal can be captured electronically. This should be done whether the document is being eFiled or filed in paper form.

Yes. Select as the document type Fee Petition-Petition for Compensation or Fees ($0.00). Upload as a single lead document the fee petition and all accompanying documents (such as the proposed order, the Statement of Services, and the certification required by Administrative Order 13-15, PEF Procedure 8).

Only if the cases are consolidated by court order. Otherwise, any document applying to several cases must be filed separately in each case.

Because of the case management system, if cases are not officially consolidated with other cases by court order, any document applying in several cases must be filed in each case.

Yes. You may serve discovery documents electronically on counsel through the system. Pursuant to Rule Promulgation Order 07-04, effective September 4, 2007, Certificates Regarding Discovery need not be filed when discovery is served. Instead, a Certificate Regarding Discovery that has occurred in the case must be filed as an attachment with any of the following three filings: (1) a motion regarding discovery; (2) an opposition to a dispositive motion based on the need for discovery; and (3) a motion to extend Scheduling Order dates. SCR Civil 5(d).

Yes. You may serve discovery documents electronically through the system. Pursuant to Rule Promulgation Order 07-04, Certificates Regarding Discovery need not be filed when discovery is served. Instead, a Certificate Regarding Discovery that has occurred in the case must be filed as an attachment if any of the following three pleadings are filed:

(1) a motion regarding discovery;
(2) an opposition to a dispositive motion based on the need for discovery; or
(3) a motion to extend Scheduling Order dates. SCR-Civil Rule 5(d). 

Do not submit courtesy copies to chambers unless the judge specifically asks you to do so. Any paper courtesy copy must be labeled in bold at the top of the first page “Courtesy Copy Only. Original filed on (Month)/(Day)/(Year).” Remember that delivery of a courtesy copy to a judge’s chambers does not constitute filing with the court.

No.

You do not need to send chambers envelopes or mailing labels for individuals who are being eServed. You do need to send envelopes and mailing labels to the judge’s chambers if there is a pro se party or parties in the case. Mailing labels or service envelopes should be provided to the chambers of the case judge with the submission identified by case name and number.

Effective Nov. 12, 2024, parties will no longer be able to add contacts such as judges to the public list for service contacts for eFiling and eServing documents. The Clerk of the Court Office for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia will maintain the public list to ensure it contains accurate service contacts. You will still be able to select contacts from the public list and add contacts to your firm contact list.

Effective Nov. 12, 2024, parties will no longer be able to add contacts to the public list for service contacts for eFiling and eServing documents. The Clerk of the Court Office for the Superior Court of the District of Columbia will maintain the public list to ensure it contains accurate service contacts. You will still be able to select contacts from the public list and add contacts to your firm contact list.

Your signature may appear either as “/s/” or as a typographical or imaged signature on the signature line, followed by your typed name, address, telephone number, email address and, if applicable, Bar number. An “/s/” or typographical signature shall be treated as a personal signature for all purposes under the Superior Court rules, including SCR-Civil Rule 11.

If an exhibit can be viewed comprehensively in an electronic format, it will be scanned into the court’s case management system and then returned to the presenting party to maintain while the case is pending and until any appeals or appeal time periods are exhausted.

If the exhibit cannot be scanned, such as x-ray film or blueprints, it will be maintained by the court while the case is pending and until any appeals or appeal time periods are exhausted.

Present a completed Application to Proceed without Prepayment of Costs, Fees, or Security (In Forma Pauperis) and the pleading you wish to eFile to the Legal Branch of the Office of the Register of Wills located at Court Building A, 515 5th Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001. If they are acceptable for filing, you will be referred to the office of Judge-In-Chambers, 4th Floor, Moultrie Courthouse, at 500 Indiana Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20001, for a decision on the merits.

If you are a mandatory eFiler—someone who is an attorney (whether serving as counsel, fiduciary, or otherwise), a member of the Fiduciary Panel, Examiner Panel, and Visitor Panel, or a participant in the Non-Lawyer Guardianship Pilot Project—you must eFile. Other persons can choose to eFile or to be eServed.

No. The eFiling system can't process this type of transaction. Submit payment in paper either by mail or in person at the Probate Clerk’s Office of the Office of the Register of Wills located at Court Building A, 515 5th Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001.

No. To update an address in the court’s case management system, eFile a Praecipe-Change of Address within 14 days of the change so that the court is able to mail court orders, delinquency notices, and notices of court proceedings to the correct address. Your address of record is maintained on the court’s case management system, not with the court’s eFile vendor.

No. To re-open an estate, an unsupervised personal representative may file a Request for Extension of Personal Representative's Appointment or a petition to re-open. A supervised personal representative must file a petition to re-open.

Please click on https://www.dccourts.gov/sites/default/files/rules-superior-court/Probate%20Rule%20125.%20Court%20Costs.pdf and https://efiledcsuperiorcourt.gov/faq-page/ for information on eFiling fees.

See FEES AND PAYMENT OPTIONS on https://efiledcsuperiorcourt.gov/faq-page for eFiling fees.

You must file a motion to seal. Otherwise, the document will be available for any member of the public to review. The motion to seal should be eFiled (if you are a mandatory eFiler or have registered for eFiling) and the unredacted document to be sealed must be filed in paper form either by mail or in person at the Probate Clerk’s Office of the Office of the Register of Wills located at Court Building A, 515 5th Street, NW, 3rd Floor, Washington, DC 20001.

The Superior Court’s case management system requires a certain docket number sequence. In the Probate Division, the case number format is the four-digit year followed by a space, then the case type abbreviation followed by a space, and then a 6-digit docket number. For example, the first large decedents’ estate case filed in 2014 would be 2014 ADM 000001. A filing will be rejected automatically if the correct format is not used.The Probate Division case types and their abbreviations are as follows:
• ADM (Large Decedents’ Estates)
• SEB (Small Decedents’ Estates)

eFilings are accepted or rejected by the Office of the Register of Wills. If your eFiling is rejected, the Probate Division will identify the reason(s) why your eFiling was not accepted for filing. Please make any necessary changes before re-submitting your document to increase the likelihood that the document will be accepted for filing. No eFiling or court fee will be charged.

No.

The Office of the Register of Wills will maintain in the case file wills, codicils, bonds, sealed documents and documents requested to be placed under seal. All other documents filed in paper will be returned to the filer—starting on October 25, 2013—after the filing is docketed and imaged into the court’s case management system.

The filer must maintain the original document while the case is pending and until any appeals or appeal time periods are exhausted and must be prepared to show the original document to the parties or the court upon demand.

At the time of filing the original will or codicil, you may also file in paper the Certificate of Filing Will, any Affidavits of Witness, and any Renunciations.

The Probate Division adopted a privacy rule, SCR-PD 5.1, which requires the filer to redact or remove from the public record the following information: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, and financial account numbers.

The Superior Court adopted a privacy rule, SCR 5(f)(1), which applies to most divisions, requiring that the filer redact or remove from the public record the following information: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial account numbers and names of minors. If you need to include such information in a particular filing, a motion should be filed seeking permission to file the unredacted filing under seal and, upon approval by the court, a redacted copy can then be submitted, in paper, under seal.

The Superior Court adopted a privacy rule, SCR 5(f)(1), which applies to most divisions, requiring that the filer redact or remove from the public record the following information: Social Security numbers, dates of birth, financial account numbers and names of minors. If you need to include such information in a particular filing, a motion should be filed seeking permission to file the unredacted filing under seal and, upon approval by the court, a redacted copy can then be submitted, in paper, under seal.

The court rules require that a proposed order and service list be included with a motion or petition requesting action by the court. The court may need to edit the proposed order and service list, so the filer is required to email a non-write-protected version of the proposed order* and service list in Word format (i.e., a version that can be modified and/or edited) to ProbateDivisionEfiling [at] dcsc.gov (ProbateDivisionEfiling[at]dcsc[dot]gov).

The proposed orders are for the judge to use as a draft. Therefore, they cannot be write-protected (that is, they must be able to be edited by the judge and the judge’s staff). In order to ensure that the proposed orders you submit are usable, the Court requires that, in addition to including such documents along with the filing, (which version may be write-protected), you also email a copy of the non-write-protected (this is a version that can be modified and/or edited) proposed order to the case judge's separate eFiling service address.

Under court rules, all filings are one document. In the computer world, however, documents tend to be uploaded separately, which unfortunately creates too many docket entries and is confusing. Therefore, you will find two fields on CFX to which to upload documents. The first field is for the "lead" document. This is to be used for the motion or lead opposition document. The second field is for the points and authorities, exhibits, certificate of service and proposed order. You may combine the documents into one and file it as such in the first field if it is under 25 pages.