Circuit court eFiling - eFiling a new guardianship or civil commitment case as an attorney

Purpose: If you are an attorney with Corporation Counsel and are the Petitioning Agency on a GN, JG, ME, or JM case, access is provided to all attorneys from your Corporation Counsel office to view or file additional documents on that case. This article walks through how to file a new guardianship or civil commitment case as an attorney.

Applicable Users: Attorneys

1. Visit the eFiling website at https://efiling.wicourts.gov/ and log in. For more information, see the article Logging into Wisconsin circuit court eFiling.
2. Select [new filing] from the main navigation or the File a new case link from the bottom-left menu.
   
3. Select the County you are filing in and select the applicable Class code for the type of guardianship case you are filing. 
4. If applicable, select the appropriate agency from the Which agency is this filing for? dropdown menu. Then, select [Continue].
   Note: The Which agency is this filing for? field only displays for attorneys associated with a county agency.
5. Select [Add party] to add parties to the case.
   
   Note: To quickly determine which party types are required for a case type, select [Continue] prior to adding any parties to the case. This will trigger an error message showing the party requirements for the case type/class code selected.
6. Complete the New party window. Start by choosing the Party type, beginning with the filing party. Select [Add attorney] to associate the attorney with the filing party.
   
7. Select [Save, and Add next party] to add additional parties to the case.
   
8. When all parties have been added, review them for accuracy, and select [Continue].
   
9. Select [Upload documents] to browse for and upload a filing document along with other associated documents to the case. Review the bulleted list to ensure your documents are properly formatted.
   
10. From the Document type dropdown menu, select the correct document type, and enter a descriptive title in the Document title text entry field. Then, select [Continue].
    
    Note: An accurate and descriptive title is beneficial for identifying documents. The title entered here is visible in the View documents list on the My cases screen, and is visible to the courts.
    If after selecting [Continue], the following red error message displays: “A filing document is required” you may not have selected the correct type of document to initiate the type of case you are filing. The system looks at the Document type field to determine if the right document type is uploaded.
11. On the Review page, review the filing for accuracy. Select a document link to open and view any of your uploaded documents. Select [Continue] when you are ready to proceed.
    
    Note: The Notes to clerk text entry field functions like a virtual sticky note on your filing. Anything you type in this box will display to the clerk while they process your filing, but are deleted once your filing is accepted. These notes are not permanently saved to the case.
12. On the Ready to file page, select the checkbox next to filing(s) you wish to submit, or select the checkbox next to a county name to submit all filings in that county. Choose a Payment type (if applicable), and select [File] or [File and Pay].
    
    Note: If not filing on behalf of a county agency, the $35 eFiling fee will be assessed and the [File and Pay] button will display. Upon selection of [File and Pay], a payment method must be selected: US Bank or Court Debit Account.
    When making payment: 1) If paying with a credit/debit card or eCheck via US Bank, a transaction fee will be applied to the total; 2) If paying with a court debit account, it is your responsibility to ensure proper funds are available in the account at the time of filing. To learn how to set up a CDA, see the article Creating and managing a court debit account.
13. Upon submission, the case is transmitted to the courts. If no fees were assessed, no further action is needed.
    
    Note: If fees were assessed and US Bank selected as the payment method, select [Make payment with US Bank] to proceed to the US Bank ePayment website. Do not close the web browser or navigate away from the US Bank ePayment website page at this point until payment is complete. The website link will be active for approximately 10-15 minutes after the case has been filed.
    US Bank is the vendor that processes circuit court credit card and electronic check transactions. A US Bank checking or savings account is not required to pay for filings on the US Bank ePayment website.
    If the browser is closed prior to the completion of payment, this information is lost and payment cannot be completed. If this happens, please wait 1 hour before trying again.
14. Once any payments are received, the new case is processed by the circuit court. An email confirmation will be sent to the filer and the file-stamped documents will be visible on the My cases page of the eFiling website.
15. The eFiling system generates an Electronic Filing Notice that must be printed and served traditionally along with other case initiating documents.
    Note: Though the new guardianship case may initially be filed as a JG case type, the Register in Probate’s office may still choose to process the case as a GN case type. If there are questions on a new case filing, contact the county.