From Diana Garcia, paralegal for Amata Law Office Suites
It appears that the Clerk of the Circuit Court was not as ready as they would’ve liked to be for the mandatory e-filing deadline that was to go into effect on January 1, 2018.
Cook County Circuit Court Clerk, Dorothy Brown, and Chief Judge, Tim Evans, filed a joint request to push back the start date a full year to January 1, 2019, stating that their vendor could not fully meet the deadline. The Illinois Supreme Court provided a six-month extension for Cook County to prepare yet again for mandatory electronic filing and has also ordered the following:
April 1, 2018
- The County Division must fully integrate its case management system with eFileIL.
- All civil case types that are not currently e-filed must be able to be filed on eFileIL.
May 1, 2018
- All case types that are currently e-filed using the county clerk’s portal must be able to be filed on eFilelL (includes cases in Chancery, Child Support, Civil, Domestic Relations, Elder Law and Miscellaneous Remedies, Law, and Probate divisions).
- E-filing through eFilelL must be available to all filers across the state, without restrictions.
July 1, 2018
- E-filing of all civil case types becomes mandatory in Cook County.
There are still a few other counties where e-filing is not yet mandatory. The following are the last remaining stragglers: DeKalb, Madison, McHenry, Winnebago (early 2018) and DuPage (July 1, 2019).