Once all the required filings are prepared for submission, including the mandatory Supreme Judicial Court - Single Justice Case Cover Sheet, be sure all of the supporting documents are in searchable PDF form. These PDF files should be created according to the PDF instructions below and segregated into individual PDF documents.
Case initiating documents should be uploaded and filed in the following order:
- Supreme Judicial Court - Single Justice Case Cover Sheet
- Motion to Waive Filing Fee and Affidavit of Counsel or Self-Represented Plaintiff’s/Petitioner’s Affidavit of Indigency (if applicable)
- Petition/Application/Complaint
- Supplemental filings (e.g., Exhibits, Attachments, Record Appendix, Affidavits, Memorandum of Law, etc.)
A party filing a petition, complaint, or application, seeking to have the entire case or any pleadings or attachments impounded, must file a motion to impound in accordance with S.J.C. Rule 1:15.
(Note: If any of the above documents are IMPOUNDED please see the link below for instructions: Filing an impounded document into an existing case.)
When uploading documents, be sure to use the "Add Another Filing" button to upload the PDF files into a single envelope. When you file, you will pay the $315 case filing fee through the e-filing system unless you have filed the required documents for a waiver of the case filing fee. [See How to Waive the Case Filing Fee]
Steps for E-Filing a new SJC-Single Justice Case:
- Login to eFileMA.com and select "Start a New Case."
- Complete Case Information.
- Under court location, select "Supreme Judicial Court - Single Justice (SJ Docket)".
- Fill in the required case information (Click “Save Changes” Button).
- Complete Party Information.
- Fill in Plaintiff information (Click “Save Changes” Button).
- Fill in Defendant information (Click “Save Changes” Button).
- For each additional party, click “Add Another Party” (Click “Save Changes” Button).
- Proceed to Filings
- File your Supreme Judicial Court - Single Justice Case Cover Sheet
- Choose Filing Type: e-file or e-file and serve
- Filing code: Miscellaneous document
- Fill in required filings fields
- Under "Lead Document," upload completed Supreme Judicial Court - Single Justice Case Cover Sheet. (Click “Save Changes” Button)
- Next, select the "Add Another Filing" button.
- File Motion to Waive Filing Fee and Affidavit of Counsel or Self-Represented Plaintiff’s/Petitioner’s Affidavit of Indigency (if applicable)
- If you are an Attorney filing a Motion to Waive the Filing Fee supported by an Affidavit of Counsel
- Under "Filing Code," select “Motion to Waive Filing Fee”.
- Under "Lead Document," upload a motion to waive the filing fee. (Upon uploading the PDF, the motion will appear below "Lead Document.") (Click “Save Changes” Button)
- Select the “Add Another Filing” button.
- Under “Filing Code,” selecting the filing code "Affidavit of Counsel"
- Upload the supporting PDF affidavit of counsel. (Click “Save Changes” Button)
- If you are a Self-Represented Plaintiff/Petitioner filing an Affidavit of Indigency
- Under “Filing Code,” select “Affid Indigency c. 261, s. 27 A-G” filing code.
- Under "Lead Document," upload a completed Affidavit of Indigency. (After uploading the PDF, the Affidavit of Indigency will appear below "Lead Document." (Click “Save Changes” Button)
- Next, select the "Add Another Filing" button.
- File Petition/Application/Complaint
- Choose Filing Type: e-file or e-file and serve
- Under "Filing Code," select correct filing code for the Petition, Application or Complaint
- Under "Lead Document," upload a PDF petition, application, or complaint (Click “Save Changes” Button)
- After uploading the "Lead Document", select the "Add Another Filing" button to add any additional supporting documents. (Click “Save Changes” Button)
Steps to Pay Case Filing Fee
Once the documents are all submitted, follow the prompts in the Fees section.
- Select Payment Account
- If you filed either Motion to Waive Filing Fee and Affidavit of Counsel or Self-Represented Plaintiff’s/Petitioner’s Affidavit of Indigency according to 4(b) above, select waiver account If you have not already created a waiver account, read how to create a waiver account.
- Select Party Responsible for Fees
- Select Filing Attorney
- Click “Save Changes” Button
Please note that when submitting filings to the court through eFileMA.com, a notification from eFileMA.com will automatically generate and be sent to you, acknowledging the submission. That notification does not mean that the SJC-Single Justice Clerk's Office has accepted your submission. Instead, following the Clerk's Office's review of your submission, you will receive a separate notification from eFileMA.com stating that your filing has been either accepted or rejected (in the latter case, the notification will state the reason for rejection). After acceptance by the Clerk’s Office, you will receive notice of acceptance with an assigned docket number (e.g., SJ-2021-123). Once the case has been entered, you may then file and serve any additional documents by following the instructions for filing into an existing case.