SARASOTA COUNTY – Today, the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority announced the celebration of the E-Filing Portal’s 10^th Anniversary. Since its first filing in January 2011, the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal has changed the landscape of how courts operate in Florida, serving as a gateway for those involved in the justice system to electronically file and access official court documents. Over the past ten years, usage of the E-Filing Portal has grown tremendously in Florida – from a handful of users and 6,000 documents filed in 2011 to nearly 350,000 users and more than 25 million documents filed annually. Since 2013 when e-filing data using the portal was captured in Sarasota County, the number of annual e-filings through the portal grew from 61,217 to 291,638. Today, the E-Filing Portal connects more than 220,000 self-represented litigants, 82,000 attorneys, 1,400 judges and other local groups to Florida’s court system.

The Honorable Karen E. Rushing, Sarasota Clerk of the Circuit Court and County Comptroller serves as the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority Chair. “The E-Filing Portal has revolutionized the filing of court documents for those who participate in the justice system,” said Rushing. “We are very proud of the tremendous accomplishments and growth of the Portal but are also looking ahead to the future of the system. The E-Filing Authority is continually exploring ways to enhance the E-Filing Portal to provide more dynamic features for its users.”

“The great success of the E-Filing Portal is a testament to the hard work of and partnership between the Florida Supreme Court and Florida’s Clerks of Court,” said The Honorable John A. Tomasino, Clerk of the Florida Supreme Court. “We look forward to our continued participation in the E-Filing Authority to further build upon our accomplishments and constantly evolve the Portal in ways that improve how residents connect to Florida’s Court System.”

“The E-Filing Portal has provided great value to the court system and to the people who interact with it,” said The Honorable Ken Burke, CPA, Pinellas County Clerk of Court and Comptroller. “Most notably, the E-Filing Portal was built with virtually no taxpayer funding and is available to anyone to use. Over the past ten years, it has grown to see nearly 350,000 registered users.”

The E-Filing Portal is an online court filing system owned and managed by the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority. The Florida Supreme Court and Florida’s Clerks of Court were both instrumental in the development of the E-Filing Portal.

In 2009, the Florida Legislature mandated the Florida Supreme Court to set standards for Clerks of Court to implement a statewide process for electronically filing court documents. Florida’s Clerks began developing a statewide system based on the pre-existing e-recording system, to meet the mandate for accepting court records. The Florida Courts E-Filing Portal was set up as a mechanism to transport a court document from the filer to the Clerk’s Office. It provides users with a convenient way to file electronically, replacing the need for courier services or physically travelling to the Clerks’ Office to file case documents, saving millions of dollars in postage costs.

Want to learn more about the 10-Year Anniversary of Florida Courts E-Filing Portal? Check out the two videos below:

Animated Explainer Video

10-Year Anniversary Video

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