The Filing Lifecycle

Every filing in Cott E-Filing follows a defined path from creation to final recording in the court's case management system. This page walks through the complete journey across all roles.

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Lifecycle Overview

                          ┌─────────────────────┐
                          │       DRAFT          │  Filer saves, not yet submitted
                          └──────────┬───────────┘
                                     │ Filer submits
                                     ▼
                          ┌─────────────────────┐
                          │     SUBMITTED        │  Enters the clerk queue
                          └──────────┬───────────┘
                                     │ Clerk picks up
                                     ▼
                          ┌─────────────────────┐
                          │    UNDER REVIEW      │  Clerk reviewing documents
                          └──────┬───────┬───────┘
                                 │       │
              ┌──────────────────┤       ├──────────────────┐
              │                  │       │                  │
              ▼                  ▼       ▼                  ▼
     ┌────────────┐   ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────┐  ┌──────────┐
     │  ACCEPTED  │   │PARTIAL ACCEPT│  │ REJECTED │  │WITH JUDGE│
     └─────┬──────┘   └──────┬───────┘  └──────────┘  └────┬─────┘
           │                 │                              │
           │                 │              ┌───────────────┤
           │                 │              │               │
           ▼                 ▼              ▼               ▼
     ┌─────────────────────────────┐  ┌──────────────┐  ┌──────────┐
     │         RECORDED            │  │RETURNED TO   │  │ ACCEPTED │
     │  (docket entries created)   │  │   CLERK      │  │(by judge)│
     └──────────┬──────────────────┘  └──────────────┘  └────┬─────┘
                │                                             │
                ▼                                             ▼
     ┌─────────────────────┐                          ┌────────────┐
     │  SUBMITTED TO CMS   │                          │  RECORDED  │
     │  (final state)      │                          └────────────┘
     └─────────────────────┘

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Step-by-Step Walkthrough

1. Draft (Filer)

You begin a filing using the 5-step wizard: select a court, add parties, upload documents, review fees, and confirm. At any point before submission you can save your progress as a draft and return later from the Drafts page.

• No notifications are sent at this stage

• Drafts do not appear in the clerk queue

• You can delete drafts you no longer need

2. Submitted (Filer)

When you click Submit, the filing leaves draft status and enters the clerk queue at the assigned court. You receive a filing number (e.g., EF-EBR-2026-0042) and a confirmation.

• Email notification: Filing submitted confirmation sent to the filer

• In-app notification: FILING_SUBMITTED

• The filing appears on your dashboard with status Submitted

3. Under Review (Clerk)

A clerk picks up the filing from the queue (or it is auto-assigned via routing rules). The clerk opens the review page to examine each document.

• The filing card moves to the "Under Review" column on the Kanban board

• The assigned clerk's name appears on the filing

• Filers see the status change to Under Review on their dashboard

4. Clerk Decision

After reviewing the documents, the clerk makes one of four decisions:

Accepted

All documents pass review. The system:

• Stamps each PDF with court metadata (court name, date, recording number, clerk name)

• Creates a case record in the Verdict CMS (for new cases)

• Creates docket entries for each accepted document

• Sends an acceptance email to the filer

• Creates a FILING_ACCEPTED notification

Partial Accept

Some documents are accepted and some are rejected. Accepted documents are stamped and recorded. The filer receives details about which documents were rejected and why, so they can resubmit the rejected portions.

Rejected

The filing does not meet requirements. The clerk selects a rejection reason code and may add notes explaining what needs to be corrected. The system:

• Sends a rejection email with the reason code and clerk notes

• Creates a FILING_REJECTED notification

• Sets a cure deadline (if applicable) for the filer to correct and resubmit

Rejected filings are not deleted. You can view the rejection details on the case page and resubmit with corrections. The resubmitted filing links back to the original.

With Judge

The clerk routes the filing to a judge for review or signature. This is used for orders, motions requiring judicial action, or filings that need a judge's approval before acceptance.

5. Judge Decision (if routed)

When a filing is routed to a judge, the judge reviews it from their inbox and either:

• Accepts the filing, which moves it to the Recorded stage

• Returns to Clerk with notes, sending it back to the clerk queue for further handling

6. Recorded

Accepted filings (whether accepted by a clerk or a judge) are recorded in the Verdict CMS. This means:

• A CMS case record exists (created for new cases, updated for existing cases)

• Parties are synced to the CMS party registry

• Docket entries are created with the appropriate event codes

• Financial records are created for any fees

7. Submitted to CMS (Final)

The filing reaches its terminal state. The stamped documents, docket entries, and case records are fully committed to the Verdict CMS. The filing is complete.

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Status Transition Table

From	To	Triggered by	What happens
Draft	Submitted	Filer clicks Submit	Filing enters clerk queue. Confirmation email sent.
Submitted	Under Review	Clerk picks up or auto-assignment	Clerk assigned. Filing moves to review column.
Under Review	Accepted	Clerk accepts all documents	PDFs stamped. CMS records created. Acceptance email sent.
Under Review	Partial Accept	Clerk accepts some, rejects others	Accepted docs stamped and recorded. Rejection details sent.
Under Review	Rejected	Clerk rejects filing	Rejection email with reason code and notes. Cure deadline set.
Under Review	With Judge	Clerk routes to judge	Filing appears in judge's inbox.
With Judge	Accepted	Judge approves	Moves to Recorded.
With Judge	Returned to Clerk	Judge sends back	Returns to clerk queue with judge's notes.
Accepted	Recorded	System (automatic)	Docket entries and CMS records finalized.
Partial Accept	Recorded	System (automatic)	Accepted documents recorded in CMS.
Recorded	Submitted to CMS	System (automatic)	Terminal state. Filing lifecycle complete.

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Email Notifications

The system sends email notifications at key points in the lifecycle:

Event	Recipient	Content
Filing submitted	Filer	Confirmation with filing number and court details
Filing accepted	Filer	Acceptance notice with stamped document links
Filing rejected	Filer	Rejection reason, clerk notes, cure deadline, resubmit instructions
Fee waiver decision	Filer	Approval or denial of fee waiver request
E-service received	Served party	Notification that a document has been electronically served
Case activity	Relevant parties	Updates on case activity (docket entries, status changes)
System alert	Affected users	Maintenance windows, system changes

Email delivery requires a configured SendGrid API key. If email is not configured, notifications still appear in the in-app notification center.

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Resubmitting a Rejected Filing

When your filing is rejected, you are not starting from scratch. From the case detail page:

1. Review the rejection reason code and any clerk notes

2. Click Resubmit to create a new filing pre-filled with data from the rejected original

3. Make the necessary corrections (fix documents, update party info, etc.)

4. Submit the corrected filing

The new filing links back to the original via a parent filing reference, giving clerks full visibility into the correction history.