Efiling Portal – are you filing your exhibits correctly? Maybe… Maybe not!?!

The following article is from the Florida Bar’s website:

Pop quiz: If you’re electronically filing, say, a motion through the Florida courts’ e-filing portal, must an exhibit be separately attached to a motion document or can it be included as part of the filed document?

Murray Silverstein Not enough lawyers know the correct answer, according to Clearwater’s Murray Silverstein, a member of the Florida Courts Technology Commission. (The right answer is the exhibit must be a separate attachment to the file.)

http://www.floridabar.org/DIVCOM/JN/jnnews01.nsf/Articles/BC17A3852C4B158085257D9A004AD0C4

The e-Filing Portal’s own website says:

Q: What is the best way to file exhibits?
A: The best way to file exhibits is to create them as separate documents. Name them the same, but append the words: “Part 1 of 4,” “Part 2 of 4,” and the like, so the Clerk can tell the documents go together. Currently, several counties require the exhibits to be part of the main document; i.e., all in one document.

I couldn’t find anything specific on Miami-Dade Clerk’s website… but I did find the following information from Broward Clerk:

What do I do with attachments, supporting documentation and proposed orders?Under Court rules, all filings associated with one pleading or paper are one document. Attachments must be included as one document and not uploaded separately. Each document, upon acceptance, will be time stamped and added to the case progress docket.

Click to access eFilingTutorial.pdf

All supporting documentation, exhibits must be included in the file you upload as the lead document.This same document even includes instructions on merging multiple PDFs including “supporting attachments and exhibits” into one PDF for filing.