Fri Dec 06 2019
Fourth Department to Delay Expansion of Mandatory E-Filing in Criminal and Family Court Appeals

​The Appellate Division, Fourth Department previously announced that  e-filing would become mandatory in criminal appeals and in appeals from Family Court in all matters in which a notice of appeal is filed on or after January 1, 2020.  Voluntary/consensual e-filing in these matters has been allowed since October 1, 2019.

However, in order to ease the burdens of transition to mandatory e-filing and to develop new rules applicable to e-filing in these case categories, the Court is postponing the effective date of mandatory e-filing in these case categories for six months.  Accordingly, e-filing will become mandatory in criminal appeals and in appeals from Family Court in all matters in which a notice of appeal is filed on or after July 1, 2020.  New rules applicable to e-filing in these matters will be announced in the spring of 2020.  E-filing will continue to be voluntary/consensual in these case categories in all matters in which a notice of appeal has been filed on or after October 1, 2019.

E-filing is currently mandatory in the Fourth Department in all appeals from the Commercial Division of Supreme Court, all appeals in matters originating in, or transferred to, Surrogate’s Court, all matters that were e-filed in Supreme Court, and all non-Family Court civil matters files in Supreme Court.  It is anticipated that the Court will expand mandatory e-filing to all remaining categories of matters within its jurisdiction, including original and transferred proceedings and appeals from the Court of Claims, sometime in 2020.

For updates and rules regarding e-filing in the Fourth Department, please visit https://ad4.nycourts.gov/efile.