How to e-file

Texas runs one statewide electronic filing system. Every district and county court that accepts e-filing accepts it through the same pipe, so learning it once works everywhere in the state.

This page covers what the rules require. It does not walk through one provider’s buttons, because those change and there are several providers. What does not change is the six things below.

First: you do not have to

Nobody can tell you that you must have an e-filing account. Paper at the clerk’s counter remains valid.

That said, most self-represented filers end up preferring it: it timestamps itself, it works at eleven at night, it gives you a receipt, and it removes the trip to the courthouse. The rest of this page assumes you have chosen it.

How the system is shaped

Rule 21(f)(3) requires e-filing to go through the electronic filing manager established by the Office of Court Administration and an electronic filing service provider certified by the Office of Court Administration.

Two pieces, and it is worth understanding why:

• The electronic filing manager is the state’s central system. Every filing in Texas passes through it, and it is what routes your document to the right clerk.
• An electronic filing service provider is the website you personally use to get there. Several are certified. The state runs one at eFileTexas.gov that is free to use; commercial providers charge extra for added features.

You pick a provider, make an account, and file through it. Your choice of provider does not change the rules, the deadlines, or what the clerk sees.

The six things that decide whether it works

1. The document must be a real PDF

Directly converted, not scanned is where people come unstuck. Exporting or “Save as PDF” from your word processor satisfies it. Printing the document, signing it, and photographing it with your phone does not — and the photo is not text-searchable either, which fails the first requirement at the same time.

If you must sign on paper, scan it properly on a real scanner and run optical character recognition over it if your tool offers that. If you are working only from a phone, a scanning app that produces an OCR’d PDF is much better than a photograph.

Not locked means no password and no permissions restrictions. Some PDF tools add these silently when you “protect” a document.

2. Sign it the way the rule allows

Rule 21(f)(7): an electronically filed document is considered signed if it includes /s/ and your name typed where the signature would go — unless the document is notarized or sworn — or an electronic or scanned image of your signature.

The exception matters. An affidavit is sworn, so /s/ will not do — it needs a real signature, made in front of a notary, then scanned. This catches people filing a motion for continuance, because Rule 251 requires an affidavit.

3. Your email address goes on the document

Rule 21(f)(2) requires the email address of an unrepresented party who e-files to be included on the document — not merely in the account profile.

This is load-bearing for a reason most people never hear. Rule 21(f)(10) requires the clerk to send orders and notices electronically, except that the clerk need not do so “when an unrepresented party has not provided an e-mail address.” No email on file can mean no electronic notice of an order signed in your case.

4. Redact sensitive data — and read this one twice

Read (3) again in the context of a custody case. Your children were minors when the suit was filed. Their names are sensitive data. So are their birth dates, and so are home addresses.

Rule 21c(b) then prohibits filing a document containing sensitive data unless it is redacted, unless inclusion is specifically required by a statute, court rule or administrative regulation. Wills and documents filed under seal are excepted.

That qualifier is why people get confused: some family-law forms are required to carry a child’s full name and date of birth. Where a rule or statute requires it, you include it — and you tell the clerk, which is step 5. Where nothing requires it, redact it. If you are attaching a school record, a medical bill or a screenshot, nothing requires the child’s full name to appear, and it should not.

How to redact, from Rule 21c(c): use the letter X in place of each omitted digit or character, or remove the data in a way that shows it has been removed.

Keep the unredacted original. Rule 21c(c) requires the filing party to retain an unredacted version during the case and any related appellate proceedings filed within six months of the date the judgment is signed.

And Rule 21c(f): documents containing sensitive data in violation of the rule must not be posted on the Internet — which is exactly why county clerks’ online search systems restrict access to family case images.

5. Tell the clerk if the document must contain sensitive data

Rule 21c(d): if a document has to include sensitive data, you notify the clerk by designating it as containing sensitive data when you e-file. Your provider will offer a checkbox or a flag for this.

If you are filing on paper instead, the rule requires the phrase on the upper left of the first page:

6. Serve everyone, and know when service is complete

Filing and serving are two separate obligations. Rule 21(a) requires a copy to be served on every other party at the same time you file.

In practice your provider shows you a service list and you tick the other party or their attorney. Do not skip it because you also emailed them separately.

Two consequences worth holding on to:

• Electronic service is complete on transmission to your electronic filing service provider (Rule 21a(b)(3)), and the filing manager sends you a confirmation. Keep it.
• The three extra days are for mail, not for e-service. Rule 21a(c) adds three days to a response period when service was by mail. Nothing in the rule adds them for electronic service, so do not assume you have them.

One thing e-service does not cover: Rule 21a(a) expressly excludes “the citation to be served upon the filing of a cause of action”. Starting a lawsuit still requires proper service of citation, which is a different procedure with different rules.

Rule 21(d) and 21a(e) both require you to certify service in writing on the filed document itself — the certificate of service. A certificate is prima facie evidence that service happened, though the other side may still prove they did not receive it.

What actually happens when you press submit

Your filing is packaged as a submission — the system calls it an envelope — containing one lead document and any attachments. Each gets a filing code describing what it is (“Motion”, “Answer”, “Notice”). Pick the closest one; the clerk can and does correct it.

The envelope goes to the filing manager, then to the clerk, who accepts or returns it. Accepted means it is in the file. Returned means it is not, with a reason.

The deadline is the submission, not the acceptance

Rule 21(f)(5): unless a specific time of day is required, a document is timely if e-filed any time before midnight in the court’s time zone on the deadline, and is deemed filed when transmitted to your electronic filing service provider — not when the clerk gets to it. Two exceptions: a document transmitted on a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday is deemed filed the next day that is not one of those; and a document requiring a motion and an order allowing it is deemed filed on the day that motion is granted.

So a filing submitted at 11:52pm and accepted two days later was filed on the night you sent it.

If the system fails

Rule 21(f)(6): if a document is untimely because of a technical failure or a system outage, you may seek relief from the court — and if the missed deadline was one imposed by the rules, you must be given a reasonable extension.

Screenshot the error. Note the exact time. That is your evidence, and nobody will collect it for you.

If your filing is returned

Fix the stated problem and resubmit. Most rejections are mundane: wrong filing code, wrong cause number, missing signature block, no certificate of service, a locked or scanned PDF.

But know what a rejection is not:

Both say identify and set a deadline, not refuse. If you are up against a limitations date or a court-ordered deadline and a filing is being bounced on formatting, that distinction is worth raising — politely, and in writing.

Most of the time this will not arise, and clerks are not the enemy. Knowing it is for the day it matters.

What it costs

Three separate things, which is why the total surprises people:

• The court’s filing fee, set by statute and by the county. Unchanged by e-filing.
• A state electronic filing fee.
• A provider fee and a card processing fee. The state’s own provider is free to use; you still pay card processing.

Amounts change, so ask your district clerk rather than trusting a number on any website.

Before you press submit

• Cause number and court copied character-for-character from an existing document in the case
• PDF exported directly, text-searchable, not locked
• /s/ signature — or a scanned real signature if it is sworn or notarized
• Your name, address, phone and email under the signature
• Certificate of service naming who, how and when
• Sensitive data redacted with X — including children’s names and birth dates where nothing requires them
• Flagged as containing sensitive data if it has to include some
• Unredacted original saved somewhere you will still have it after judgment
• Other party selected on the service list
• Proposed order attached, if you are asking for one
• Come back and confirm it was accepted