Circuit court eFiling - Opt-in troubleshooting for attorneys

Purpose: The following is a troubleshooting guide for issues encountered while opting in on a case. If these troubleshooting measures do not address the issue(s) you are experiencing, contact eFile Support at efilesupport@wicourts.gov or 1-800-462-8843.

Applicable Users: Attorneys

Issue #1: There are no parties to select

When opting in as an attorney, you are prompted to select the name of the party (or parties) you represent. If no parties exist in the Party dropdown list and a "No results found" message displays, a few different factors could be at play.

• Your account type is Bar Admissions Applicant.

You may be logged in with your Wisconsin bar admissions applicant eCourts account. If you have a bar number, you must convert your bar applicant account to a Wisconsin attorney eCourts account before opting in. See the article Converting bar admissions applicant eCourts account to an attorney eCourts account for guidance on this.

• There are no valid parties on the case.

The clerk of courts office in the county your case is filed in controls the addition of parties to cases. Contact the clerk or register in probate to inquire about their policy on adding parties to a case.

Note: This happens most often in probate cases where the only party on the case at the time is the decedent party. Since it is not technically correct for an attorney to represent the decedent, the system does not populate their name in the Party dropdown list.

• You are not associated with the agency representing the party.

If the party is supposed to be represented by an attorney from a certain agency (Attorney General, for example), the clerk can enter that agency onto the party’s record, which will restrict all attorneys not from that agency from opting in. This also may be the reason why you see some parties listed, but not every party that you expect. You can contact the clerk of courts to verify whether you are entered in an agency in their system; if you are not entered, the clerks can add you to the appropriate one.

Issue #2: My party's name is not selectable and is labeled with “(eNoticed pro se user)”

This issue arises when you are retained by a client who was formerly self-represented on a case. A party may not be pro se on a case and also have representation from an attorney. If you are hired by a party, but they are still opted in to the case, when you attempt to opt in the party screen looks like this:

To resolve this, contact your client and ask them to opt out as an electronic party. See the article Opting out of a case as a self-represented (pro se) party for guidance.

Issue #3: My party's name is grayed out and followed by “(opt in pending with the clerk of circuit court)”

When the message “opt in pending with the clerk of circuit court” appears after your party's name, an opt in is currently pending for you with the court. You are unable to submit a second opt-in request. If you submitted a notice of appearance/retainer, the clerk must manually process your opt in. If you did not submit a notice, the opt in may still be electronically processing, or the opt in was submitted without payment.

If the opt in is still processing, check the My cases page after a few minutes and your case should appear. If the opt in was submitted without payment, it can be paid for one hour after submission. Wait for an hour, then select the Filings in need of payment link on the Ready to file page or find the Opt in – missing payment entry in the Status column on the My cases page and select the Make payment link.

Issue #4: The system isn’t prompting me for a notice of retainer or a filing fee

When opting in, the system may prompt you to upload a Notice of Retainer (or Appearance) and/or pay a $35 electronic filing fee. Depending on the case, the system may not prompt you to upload a notice or pay the fee.

• I wasn’t prompted to upload a notice of retainer.

The purpose of the notice of retainer is to indicate to the court who you represent. The court may already know who you are representing, and can add you as the attorney of record for the appropriate party before you opt in. If you are already listed as the attorney of record for the party you are opting in for, the system will not prompt you to upload a notice of retainer.

• I wasn’t prompted to pay the $35 filing fee.

There are a couple of general rules regarding the $35 filing fee that could be why you aren't prompted to pay. First, the system only charges the fee once per party per case. If the party or another attorney has already paid the $35 filing fee, it is not charged when you opt in for that party. Second, the system only charges the fee once per attorney per case. This means that if you opt in and pay the filing fee for one party, you are not charged if you opt in to represent another party on that case.