How to E-File Court Documents in California: A Step-by-Step Guide

If you have been handed a stack of documents and told to "get these e-filed," this guide walks you through what actually happens, in order. It is written for someone doing this for the first time — a new paralegal, a legal assistant, or a self-represented litigant — filing through an electronic filing service provider.

What an EFSP is, and why you need one

In California courts that accept electronic filing, you generally do not upload documents to the court directly. You file through an electronic filing service provider (EFSP) — a service that takes your documents and filing information, transmits them to the court's electronic filing system, and returns the court's response to you. Legal Hub Group's e-filing service is an EFSP. The EFSP is your interface; the court's clerk still reviews what you send, exactly as if you had handed it across the counter.

Before you start: what to have ready

Your documents, finalized and signed. PDF is the standard; a good EFSP will also accept Word files or photographed pages and convert them to PDF for you, but a clean, text-readable PDF you prepared yourself is always the safest starting point.
The case number, if you are filing into an existing case. Copy it exactly from an earlier filed document.
Party information — full names of each party as they appear on the caption, and each party's role (plaintiff, defendant, petitioner, respondent).
Attorney information, if a party is represented — the attorney's name and State Bar number.
A payment method for court fees, if the filing carries a fee or you are not filing under an approved fee waiver.

Step 1: Choose the court

Select the court where the case is (or will be) pending. Everything downstream — the available case types, the list of filing codes, even the fees — is specific to the court you pick, so getting this right first matters.

Step 2: New case, or filing into an existing one?

The path forks here. If you are starting a new case, you will build the case from scratch: case category, case type, and the parties. If you are filing into an existing case, you will search for the case first — typically by case number, or by party name — and attach your filing to the court's own record of it. Filing into the correct existing case, rather than re-typing case information by hand, is what keeps your document from landing in the wrong file.

Step 3: Pick the filing code

Every document you file is submitted under a filing code — the court's own label for what the document is (a complaint, an answer, a motion, a proof of service, and so on). The list you see depends on the court and on the case category and type you selected. Choose the code that actually matches your document. A mismatched filing code is one of the common reasons filings bounce; we cover that in detail in Why Was My E-Filing Rejected?

Step 4: Add parties and attorneys

For a new case, enter each party's name and role exactly as they appear on your documents. If a fictional plaintiff named Dana Marsh is suing Redwood Freight LLC, the record you create here should read Dana Marsh and Redwood Freight LLC — matching the caption, not an abbreviation of it. If a party is represented, the filing is associated with the attorney, identified by State Bar number.

Step 5: Upload the documents

Attach each document under its filing code. Two things to check on every upload:

Legibility. The clerk has to be able to read it. If you scanned or photographed pages, open the result and confirm every page is upright, complete, and readable before you attach it.
The security designation. Each document carries a designation such as Public or a confidential option, depending on what the court's system offers for that court. Public is the normal default. Only mark a document confidential when a rule or order actually makes it confidential — and never file a document that must be confidential under a public designation.

Step 6: Review the fees and submit

Before you submit, you will see an itemized fee quote — court fees for the filing codes you selected, plus any service and processing fees. Review it, confirm the payment method, and submit. The envelope is now transmitted to the court and enters the clerk's review queue.

Step 7: The clerk reviews it

Submission is not filing. A clerk reviews what you sent and either accepts it — at which point it is filed and you receive conformed, file-stamped copies back through the EFSP — or rejects it with a reason. Review times vary by court and by workload; your filing's status is trackable the whole way through.

If it comes back rejected

A rejected filing is not on file with the court. Read the clerk's reason, fix exactly what it names, and resubmit. Our companion guide, Why Was My E-Filing Rejected?, walks through the common rejection reasons and the fix for each one.

Ready to file?

Legal Hub Group's e-filing platform walks you through every step above — court, case, filing codes, parties, documents, and fees — with transparent per-filing pricing. Create a free account and your first filing can go out today.

This is general information, not legal advice.