E-filing: Effective 1/1/18 the State Court is doing away with the public service contacts that each attorney sets up and maintains for themselves.

What you need to know

• When this change is made, A single public service contact will be set up for every attorney based on the email address currently found in the roll of attorneys. (Is yours current? Check here.)
• You will not be able to replace or detach this public service contact if it is attached to a case by someone else.
• The public service contact(s) that you have set up for yourself currently won't go away. They will just become "private", meaning only you or someone in your firm can attach them to cases. This means you can still use those contacts to direct service to a different email address or take advantage of the administrative copies. 
• The advantage of this change is that you will always be able to find a service contact for any attorney registered to e-file in the State.
• The disadvantage is that others may attach the public service contact that the State set up for you to a case. Since you can't directly edit that contact or set up administrative copies on it, you may have less control over how you receive service.

What happens to the contacts currently on the Public Service List?

All contacts currently on the Public Service List will be made private, but will not be changed in any other way:

• They will not be deleted from your e-filing accounts. You still control these contacts in every way except that you can't make them public.
• They will still be attached to any cases where they were previously attached to.
• They will still be available for you or anyone in your firm to attach to any cases in the future.

Strategies for managing your service as we see it:

Regardless of which approach you take, it is very important that you, or the person filing on your behalf be diligent about attaching your preferred service contact to every case as soon as possible to avoid others attaching your public service contact. 

Strategy 1: Use the private service contact that you control as your preferred service contact

Set up a private service contact, using any email address you choose and using the administrative copies feature to make sure your assistants receive copies.

Advantages: 

• You control the primary address used for this service contact.
• You can set up an administrative copy list.

Disadvantages:

• If someone attaches the State's public service contact to a case first, you’ll get the documents they file at the address from the roll of attorneys, so you must still monitor that address carefully.
• You can’t detach the public service contact from a case if someone else has added it, so even if you have attached your private contact, you may get a duplicate copy of service through the public contact.

How to do it:

• For new cases, make sure you always specify which service contact you want to be attached to the case when it is accepted.
• For existing cases, Doxpop has a tool that allows you to attach your preferred private service contact to every open (pending) case where you are the attorney of record. That prevents people from adding the wrong contact to a case that has been dormant for a while. Learn more here.

Strategy 2: Use the State's public service contact as your preferred service contact

Let the contact set up by the State be your only contact and then use filters/rules in your email reader to make sure copies get distributed to your assistants as needed.

Advantages: 

• Eliminates duplicates in the Public Service Contact list.
• Works well alongside similar tools for handling orders.

Disadvantages:

• Requires a search of the public list to attach to each case.
• Unable to set the service contact to automatically attach to a new case once accepted. 
• Requires a full-featured email reader such as Gmail (free) or Outlook (part of MSOffice suite.)
• Requires learning how to use filters & rules. Don't worry we can help! Check out our resources here and contact Doxpop Customer Support for assistance. 

How to do it:

• Set up filters or rules in your email to distribute service to the right people in your office.
• You must still remember to make sure you attach the service contact to your cases. If you let others do it for you, you will have no way to detach yourself when you file a withdrawal.

Whatever you choose, Doxpop is always here to help walk you through these changes. If you have any questions contact support@doxpop.com or call us at 1-866-369-7671. 

The importance of pro bono work - Interview with Chuck Dunlap, Executive Director of Indiana State Bar Association, and Ray Ontko, President of Doxpop.

This year, Doxpop is providing a $7500 challenge match to encourage our community to donate to the Whitewater Valley Pro Bono Association. Take a moment to listen to Phil Quinn's interview with Chuck Dunlap and Ray Ontko below, and then go to the pro bono association's website to make a donation.

Listen on soundcloud:

https://soundcloud.com/phil-quinn-4/2017-whitewater2-valley-pro-bono-commission-annual-luncheon

Did the e-filing downtime on Monday caused you to miss a deadline? Here's what to do:

Beginning at roughly 2PM on Monday, December 4, the State's side of the Indiana e-filing system was down for an extended period, thus preventing users from e-filing. At 3PM, we received confirmation of the outage from the Office of Judicial Administration. At 5:30 PM, the system became available again.

If you are reading this before midnight on 12/4 and have a deadline today, the simplest course is to just go ahead and submit your filing now to avoid the need to file a motion for an extension.

If it is now too late, and this situation caused you to miss a deadline, take a look at Trial Rule 86(N)(1), which essentially provides for a one-day extension when an lengthy e-filing system outage prevents filers from meeting a deadline.

We expect that the Trial Courts will all be aware of the scope and timing of this statewide outage via direct communication from Trial Court Technology. However, if the court you are working with requires a statement from Doxpop to attach as an exhibit to the motion described in TR 86(N)(1)(d), please let us know and we'll be happy to supply documentation in support of your motion. (Simply attaching a screen print of this blog post may be sufficient.)

On the appellate side, take a look at Rule 68(M)(1)(d), which appears to be nearly identical to the Trial Court rule on this topic.

Managing service contacts and preparing for new rules.

Last week, Doxpop added new tools for management of service contacts in batches to our e-filing account administration screen.

The first tool allows you to attach the service contact you specify to every open (pending) case where you or the attorney you work for is an attorney of record. This tool is important for two reasons:

1. Currently, when each county begins e-filing, none of your old (pre-e-filing) cases for that county will have your service contact attached. It is a hassle to attach those contacts manually, so our tools will allow you to automatically attach the service contact you specify to every case where you (or the attorney you work for) is the attorney of record for an open (pending) case. This lets you hit the ground running in every county.
2. At the first of the year, Trial Court Technology has notified us that they intend to do away with public contacts managed by private firms. The only public contacts will be one for each attorney created based on the information found in the roll of attorneys. This change means that if you want to control how e-service occurs for your cases, you will need to make sure you attached your preferred private contact (that you control) before another person attaches the public contact that you don't control. 

The second two tools allow you to detach a service contact from all cases where it appears, or replace a service contact with a new one. This is useful in situations where an attorney is closing up shop or moving to a new firm.

We'll post more guidance soon about the change in public/private service contacts that will occur on January 1. In the meantime, take a look at these new tools, and in particular, start using the first tool to make your work easier as each new county comes online.

Our support staff has put together a brief (under 3 minute) video to demonstrate how these tools work:

And here is where you will find the new tools:

Please don't hesitate to give us a call at 866-369-7671 or email support@doxpop.com if you have questions about how to use these new tools. 

If you want to make sure you never miss an important blog post, please subscribe using the "Follow By Email" tool found near the top on the right side of this blog.

Need help with an urgent matter over the long Thanksgiving weekend? Here's how to reach us.

At Thanksgiving, one of the blessings we are most thankful for is our employees, who cheerfully spend their working days solving problems for other people. They are a joy to work with.

One way we express our gratitude is to make sure our support team enjoys some uninterrupted time with family & friends during holidays.

However, we understand that sometimes you have to deal with an emergency situation during holidays, and four days is a long time to go without support, so here's how to get help between 5PM on 11/22 and 8AM on 11/27:

We will not be monitoring phone lines, so you must use email. One of our managers will be checking email at 10AM, 2PM and 6PM every day. If you've got a real emergency, please send an email to support@doxpop.com that contains a brief description of the problem and phone number we can call to reach you.

Please be respectful when using this option. It's for real emergencies that can't wait until Monday morning.

We hope you have a great holiday and also get to spend some quality time with the people you enjoy. (Or some quiet time with a book if you're an introvert.)

The Latest (and best!) clarification on paying for Sheriff's service fees.

On November 2nd, I posted some information on Sheriff's service fees that wasn't right. I'm sorry!

Clerk Debra Walker from Henry County And Laura Martin, President of the Clerk's Association helpfully called to explain the preferred process to me. Here is how the Clerks' Association and the Sheriffs' Association want you to handle paying fees for civil service:

No matter where service is to occur or how many defendants or counties are involved, you always pay the Sheriff's civil service fee to the clerk of the county you are filing the case in.  No exceptions.


A few details:

• If you are filing in a county that e-files, the preferred method for paying the clerk is through the e-filing system.
• If you are filing in a county that doesn't use e-filing yet, then write your check to the Clerk (not the Sheriff.)
• If you forgot to add the Sheriff's service fee when e-filing, the case won't be rejected, and there is no way to pay it later via e-filing. If that happens to you, just write a check to the Clerk of the county you filed that case in.

In some counties, the Sheriff will require proof that the payment occurred. Here's how you provide that:

• If you paid via e-filing: Attach the first emailed "Notice of Electronic Filing" that you receive showing the fee breakdown and the "Notice of Acceptance" to the front of the packet of documents you deliver to the Sheriff for service. The first email shows the fee and the second one confirms the case number and acceptance.
• If you already paid via check at the clerk's office: Attach the receipt from the clerk's office.
• If you haven't paid yet, and service is to occur in the same county that the case is filed in: Make the check out to the clerk and send it along with the documents to the Sheriff. The Sheriff will hand off the check to the clerk, but can process the papers right away because the payment was noted.
• If you haven't paid yet and service is in a different county from the one you filed the case in, you will have to pay the clerk in the county of filing first, and then attach the receipt for that payment. (Yes, this results in a delay- that's why you really ought to pay at the time of filing, and do it via e-filing.)

Ripley County Courts move to Odyssey. Access to court records via Doxpop unaffected.

Over the weekend of November 4th/5th, the Ripley County Courts converted to the Odyssey case tracking system, thus moving their data storage and administration to Indianapolis. 

This move does not significantly affect Doxpop users because Doxpop buys access from the State Court Administration to a real-time feed of court data from the Odyssey system. Our customers' access to court information will not be interrupted during this transition.

A few of the services we provide will look odd during the transition because there will be a short period when both the old data and the new data are available. In particular:

• If you use the personal calendar feature to keep track of hearings connected to your Bar ID, you will see two colors for each County on your calendar. Every event will be available, but the older cases will have a different color from the newer cases. When we complete the merge process, these will go back to being a single color.
• When you look at our "County Details Page" for Ripley County Courts you will find two entries for each court until the merge is complete.
• When you are doing searches, you will find two entries for active cases. This is because while we are loading the information from Odyssey, we will also be maintaining the old data until the operation is complete to ensure you don't miss anything. When you see two case entries, please look at both to ensure you have the most current information.
• If you use any of our "watch" services to keep an eye on cases or people of interest, we will be moving those watches over so they point to the cases and people that are a part of the Odyssey data feed. We run a process to convert these twice each day, but it is possible for notification of events to slip through the cracks between conversion runs so you may want to periodically do a manual check between now and the first week of December, after that, we'll be back to normal.

Finally, one deficiency in the Odyssey system from our perspective is that financial information is not exported in their data feed, so that detail will not be available after the transition. We regularly ask that Court Technology add this to the Odyssey data feed. If this information is important to you, please encourage the clerks you work with to tell the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration of your needs so we can get the information back online.

As always, we are available to answer any questions in person, so don't hesitate to call support at 866-369-7671 if you have any questions.

Clarification on Sheriff Civil Service Fees

The text of this post has been removed because it was wrong. You'll find the corrected version here:

http://blog.doxpop.com/2017/11/the-latest-and-best-clarification-on.html

E-Filing: "Comments to Clerk" are gone! What happened to it?

Doxpop recently removed the "comments to clerk" area from the "Add Document" dialogue box in e-filing.

We learned that most clerks don't look at this area during the typical review process and believe that any feature that is not completely reliable and useful shouldn't be cluttering your work-space.

A more reliable approach to passing along comments for a particular document is to begin by sending the Clerk's office chocolate or other treats regularly and then call when you need help with a specific filing. Calls should be limited to one or less per each treat previously delivered, and it really helps to have your envelope number ready when you call so they can go straight to the filing in question.

Seriously, Clerk's office employees are always helpful, no delicious bribes are required.... But please don't overdo the calls, have the envelope number ready, and be sure to let them know they are appreciated!

Search full text of Recorded Documents!

Doxpop has been working to scan through the land records offered by our 42 County Recorder Partners to add tools that allow searching of document text, along with any text entered about that document, including full document types and notes or memo field entries.

This means that in addition to the search fields currently offered by our advanced search, you can add information that appears on the document itself. However, this new field is not limited only to the text of documents, you may also use it to search for additional document information that has been indexed on the document, such as a second party when the search results for a single party return too many records. Use this field on its own with a collection of relevant words, or in conjunction with our many advanced search fields.

There are several ways we expect this to be helpful for you. Have you ever struggled to search for:

• specific document types not listed in the dropdown?
• multiple names on one document?
• multiple legal descriptions on one document?
• personal representative or estate records?

Now you can use this additional field to capture additional information and narrow your results.

A snippet of the matching text is included with the search results, along with the document record.

Search for exact document types to narrow your search quickly.

Please note that OCR scanning technology is limited. We can only scan and search documents that are legible to the computer and scanned reasonably well, which means that most historical documents won't return good results this way. But keep in mind that this new field is still using all available data for every document, so it can still add value in this way.

If you have a specific use for this field, please comment here or share it with us! We'd love to know how our customers are using this field and how to make it better!

Welcome to the Wells County Recorder!

Please join us in welcoming Carolyn Bertsch and the Well's County Recorder's Office to Doxpop's online access system!

Wells County is our 42nd Recorder to come online

The Wells County Recorder's Office has transitioned to a new, local software package that allows us to add them to the Doxpop Public Access System. Having now completed that technical conversion, they are ready to increase their public access offerings by making these land records available 24/7.

Scanned images are available to view and purchase, along with a searchable index for all documents filed since January 2006. Additional index records available beyond that date will have images soon. The Recorder's Office is hoping to scan and digitize many more historical documents, so be on the lookout for more data to be added!

Anyone wishing to look up recorded documents on-line may visit http://www.doxpop.com to use the service. A low-volume search plan is available for free, with higher-volume subscriptions available to commercial users for a fee.

Proposed rule change would affect e-filing of probate cases.

The Indiana Judicial Branch website has just posted a number of proposed rule amendments on this page. 

Among them is a change to TR 86 that clarifies how wills are to be handled when e-filing, including the question of how long they must be retained.

The proposed change generally matches the process already used by many local courts, and from our point of view looks just fine.

Among many changes to Administrative Rule 9 are a couple of "clean-up" changes to the Notice of Exclusion from Public Access removing references to green paper. We'll make sure to post links to the new versions of those documents on this blog when they are approved.

The Court is soliciting feedback on the amendments until October 1.

Lawrence County Courts move to Odyssey. Access to court records via Doxpop unaffected.

Over the weekend of August 26th/27th, the Lawrence County Courts converted to the Odyssey case tracking system, thus moving their data storage and administration to Indianapolis. 

This move does not significantly affect Doxpop users because Doxpop buys access from the State Court Administration to a real-time feed of court data from the Odyssey system. Our customers' access to court information will not be interrupted during this transition.

A few of the services we provide will look odd during the transition because there will be a short period when both the old data and the new data are available. In particular:

• If you use the personal calendar feature to keep track of hearings connected to your Bar ID, you will see two colors for each County on your calendar. Every event will be available, but the older cases will have a different color from the newer cases. When we complete the merge process, these will go back to being a single color.
• When you look at our "County Details Page" for Lawrence County Courts you will find two entries for each court until the merge is complete.
• When you are doing searches, you will find two entries for some cases. This is because while we are loading the information from Odyssey, we will also be maintaining the old data until the operation is complete to ensure you don't miss anything. When you see two case entries, please look at both to ensure you have the most current information.
• If you use any of our "watch" services to keep an eye on cases or people of interest, we will be moving those watches over so they point to the cases and people that are a part of the Odyssey data feed. We run a process to convert these twice each day, but it is possible for notification of events to slip through the cracks between conversion runs so you may want to periodically do a manual check between now and the first week of August, after that, we'll be back to normal.

Finally, one deficiency in the Odyssey system is that financial information is not exported in their data feed, so that detail will not be available after the transition. We regularly ask that the Court Administration add this to the data feed, but so far, we are told that it is not allowed because the clerks using the Odyssey system have requested that they not make that information available to us. If this information is important to you, please encourage the clerks you work with to tell the State Court Administration of your needs so we can get the information back online.

As always, we are available to answer any questions in person, so don't hesitate to call support at 866-369-7671 if you have any questions.

Lawrence County, IN Recorder's Office now online!

Doxpop is delighted to announce the addition of the Lawrence County Recorder to our online public access services!

A big welcome to the newest member of our team, #41 Lawrence County!

The Lawrence County Recorder's Office has chosen our online services to supplement their public access offerings. In addition to the access provided in their office, records will now be available online 24/7 through Doxpop.

Document images and an index searchable by name, date, legal description, and many other details are available back to December 1994. The Recorder's staff is working to provide indices beyond that date to link up the additional older scanned document images. The copy fees collected through Doxpop are remitted back to the Recorder's Office to provide the funds to preserve and perpetuate their records, as well as to fund additional digitization efforts.

Anyone wishing to look up recorded documents on-line may visit www.doxpop.com to use the service. A low-volume search plan is available for free, with higher-volume subscriptions available to commercial users for a fee.

Recorded Document pages over 11" x 17" no longer charged differently

July 1st, 2017 saw many changes in fees for Indiana Recorder's Offices, including an increase in fees for large-format Recorded Document pages, such as Plats. This fee was increased from $2 to $5 per page. Doxpop had previously been collecting $2 per page for our Recorders, and so our fees also increased to reflect this.

The increase prompted a number of calls, and upon asking several of our partner Recorders it seemed that there wasn't a unified approach to the new fee. Both Doxpop and our partners wished for a better, more unified interpretation of that rule, so we contacted the Indiana Recorder's Association to seek guidance.

The Recorder's Association has recommended that recorders collect $1 per page for all copies delivered online. Doxpop has updated our system to reflect this recommendation, and there is no longer an upcharge for large-format Recorded Document pages.

Please keep an eye out for fee updates in the future as Recorders work through how to respond to the changes in law, but for now, we have set the base fee for all documents obtained through Doxpop to $1 per page regardless of size.

Remember that in addition to the Recorder's fee, Doxpop may charge a fee as well. If you are on the 6-search plan (with no subscription fee), the total charge for documents is $2 per page. If you are are on the 20-search or 60-search plans, the total charge is $1.35. On the 200-search and above plans, there is no additional fee, so you just pay the $1 that we pass along to the Recorder.

This change takes effect immediately. Feel free to contact us if you have any questions!

Confirmation section added to e-filing.

In response to a requirement from the State, we have added a set of checkboxes to the e-filing system that users will be required to check off to indicate that they are aware of (and following) the rules before submitting an e-filing.

We understand that this will slightly slow the filing process, and are thinking about ways we might streamline this area. However, for now we simply have to conform to requirements.

The new checkboxes are added to the fees area, and look like this:

Let us know if you run into any problems with this area or have suggestions to make it easier!

Change to rules on serving summons in person or to agent.

This rule change is not directly connected to e-filing, but because the business processes around initial service per rule 4 are generally in flux due to e-filing, this may be a good time to incorporate the change in your procedures.

Here's a link to the court's order: http://in.gov/judiciary/files/order-rules-2017-0731-trial.pdf

In brief, the change is that when you serve a person by leaving a copy at the person's residence, or serve through an agent of the person, you must also follow up by mailing a copy of the summons and complaint to the last known address. (Emphasis added based on Richard Mann's clarifying comment below. Thanks!)

This rule change takes effect at the beginning of 2018, but it's the sort of rule that is easy to comply with now so it's already part of your routine when it becomes required.

h/t to Richard Mann for pointing this out.

Whitewater Valley Pro Bono Race for Justice.

Wayne County Attorneys- We are passing along this note from our friends at the Whitewater Valley Pro Bono Commission. Please consider supporting them at this fun event:

Good afternoon Supporters!

We are having our annual "Race for Justice" on Saturday, August 5, 2017 at Glen Miller Park. Start time is at 8:00am on the east side of the pond. This is a family friendly event with a meandering route through the shaded route of Glen Miller. It can be a 5K walk or a 5k run. Supporting our event lets us continue helping the area's needy with free legal services.

Click here for details and registration information.

Streamlining the E-Filing system.

• If you are a solo practitioner, you may have wondered why we make you choose yourself from a list of only one possible attorney for every filing...

• Or if you only have one payment method available, you may have wondered why we give you a menu with one choice instead of just filling it in for you...

Wouldn't it be easier if in every situation where there's only one option, we just filled in that option for you? We think so, and that's what we've done. Starting right now, when you go through the e-filing screens, in any place where there's only one possible answer, we've just filled that in for you.

This will affect you most if you're a solo practice with one attorney, one service contact and one payment method. However, even larger firms will find that their work is streamlined. For instance, when you are filing a new case, and adding the last required party, the role of that party will be pre-selected for you.

These are minor improvements, but since you use this system for your work every day, we believe you'll appreciate the attention to little details that add up over time.

Did we miss anything? Let us know if you come across any other situation where we can eliminate repetitive work. That's what computers are for!

Welcome to the Boone County Recorder's Office!

We're excited to announce the addition of Nikki Baldwin and her staff at the Boone County Recorder's Office to the Doxpop Family!

Boone County will be our 40th Recorder's Office to join, which we think is pretty spectacular.

The Boone County Recorder's Office has been transitioning to a new, local software package that allows us to add them to the Doxpop Public Access System. Having now completed that technical conversion, they are ready to increase their public access offerings by making these land records available 24/7.

Images and a searchable index is available for all documents filed since January 1996, with additional Deed records back to January 1993. The Recorder's Office is hoping to scan and digitize many more historical documents, so be on the lookout for more data to be added!

Anyone wishing to look up recorded documents on-line may visit http://www.doxpop.com to use the service. A low-volume search plan is available for free, with higher-volume subscriptions available to commercial users for a fee.

New feature: Automatically assign your service contact to a new case.

Doxpop just added a new feature to our system for folks e-filing new cases. You can select a service contact from your firm to be attached to the case as soon as it is accepted by the clerk.

This happens on the first step of the new filing process, where you select the filing attorney:

If you do not want to attach a contact, uncheck the box. If you do want to attach a contact, leave the box checked and choose the filing attorney. A drop-down menu will appear that allows you to choose one of the service contacts in your firm:

When the case is accepted and case number is assigned, we will automatically attach this contact to the case for you. 

The first few times that you use this feature, you will have to select a contact, but as time goes on, our system will learn from you, and instead of having to select a contact, the menu will default to your most common choice.

Give us a call (866-369-7671) or email (support@doxpop.com) if you have any questions!

Dearborn and Ohio County Courts move to Odyssey. Access to their court records through Doxpop uninterrupted.

Over the weekend of July 15th/16th, the Dearborn and Ohio County Courts converted to the Odyssey case tracking system, thus moving their data storage and administration to Indianapolis. 

This move does not significantly affect Doxpop users because Doxpop buys access from the State Court Administration to a real-time feed of court data from the Odyssey system. Our customers' access to court information will not be interrupted during this transition.

A few of the services we provide will look odd during the transition because there will be a short period when both the old data and the new data are available. In particular:

• If you use the personal calendar feature to keep track of hearings connected to your Bar ID, you will see two colors for each County on your calendar. Every event will be available, but the older cases will have a different color from the newer cases. When we complete the merge process, these will go back to being a single color.
• When you look at our "County Details Page" for Dearborn or Ohio Counties you will find two entries for each court until the merge is complete.
• When you are doing searches, you will find two entries for some cases. This is because while we are loading the information from Odyssey, we will also be maintaining the old data until the operation is complete to ensure you don't miss anything. When you see two case entries, please look at both to ensure you have the most current information.
• If you use any of our "watch" services to keep an eye on cases or people of interest, we will be moving those watches over so they point to the cases and people that are a part of the Odyssey data feed. We run a process to convert these twice each day, but it is possible for notification of events to slip through the cracks between conversion runs so you may want to periodically do a manual check between now and the first week of August, after that, we'll be back to normal.

Finally, one deficiency in the Odyssey system is that financial information is not exported in their data feed, so that detail will not be available after the transition. We regularly ask that the Court Administration add this to the data feed, but so far, we are told that it is not allowed because the clerks using the Odyssey system have requested that they not make that information available to us. If this information is important to you, please encourage the clerks you work with to tell the State Court Administration of your needs so we can get the information back online.

As always, we are available to answer any questions in person, so don't hesitate to call support at 866-369-7671 if you have any questions.

Two Important Notes on Tax Warrants.

Two things have changed about our Tax Warrant system this weekend.

First, and applicable to everyone, we have changed the way basic (wildcard enabled, non-super) searching works. Here are the details:

Tax Warrants are a challenge because on some Warrants, a person's name will be entered using the format "LastName, FirstName" but sometimes, the name will be entered "FirstName LastName" (with no comma and in the other order.)

Previously, we tried to do some of the work for you by identifying the second situation and make your searches in LastName, FirstName format also return the FirstName LastName warrants. The problem is that because there are so many creative company names, we couldn't do a complete job of separating personal names from company names. We decided we were better off not providing an incomplete solution, and instead we are just making sure you are aware that you should check for both versions.

What this means for you

• If you want us to do some of the work for you, the "super search" is the right approach. Enter the complete names or words you are looking for when you use this type of search. It checks for the names/words you enter in any order and checks for nicknames and synonyms. This is probably the best search method for non-professionals.
• If you are a more sophisticated user, and are used to the odd ways the Department of Revenue indexes taxpayer names, you're probably better off using the regular search. This search method allows you to use wildcards and always searches for the terms in exactly the place you specify. There will be no surprises, but you have to do a little more work. This is the search method most title searchers will want to use, and it is the same type of search long-time Doxpop users are used to.

Second, and not affecting every user, we have added some warrants that were previously missing:

The background is that we buy a regular data feed from the State Court, and it is a mirror of everything they put on their "InCite" system for tax warrants. However, after releasing our database that combines InCite data with other sources, we found that the InCite data we were supplied with was incomplete.  At first, we thought it was just a few warrants. After obtaining corrected information from the State and doing careful analysis, we now know it affected 0.1% of the warrants. That's not a huge percentage, but it means that some of our users got incomplete results from our system. 

Here's what we're doing about it

• First, the missing warrants have all been added to our system, so the database is complete now.
• Second, we log every search that happens on our system. We are re-running every search done on our system against a small database populated with the missing warrants to see who got incomplete results. During the coming two weeks, we will be emailing anyone who got an incomplete result to notify you of the details. If you don't hear from us this week or next you will know your searches were unaffected.

As always, please contact us with questions at 866-369-7671 or support@doxpop.com. We love to hear from you!

Allen County Sheriff requires Notice of Acceptance to be included for civil process.

We have just learned that the Allen County Sheriff is requiring that the emailed Notice of Acceptance be attached to papers to be served through Sheriff's Civil Process. This is the email with a subject line that begins "Filing Accepted..."

We previously advised (in this blog post) that you should attach only the "Notice of Electronic Filing" that shows the fees selected during your initial filing to paperwork for Sheriff's offices.

As far as we know, the Allen County Sheriff is the only one currently asking for the Notice of Acceptance. However, because it is simple to provide both and easier to remember a consistent rule, we are now suggesting that you provide both the "Notice of Electronic Filing" and "Filing Accepted" emails to the Sheriff in all counties.

When (and how) to use a waiver account for filing fees.

The e-filing system allows you to pay filing fees either through a credit card or a waiver account. You probably already have a credit card on file, but may not have a waiver account set up yet.

Here's why you might want to set up a waiver account:

1. You represent a government agency that is exempt from filing fees. One example we've come across is an attorney that represents several school districts and regularly has to file small claims cases for textbook fees. 
2. Your client is indigent and you believe that the court will grant a fee waiver to your client. The local rules on this may vary, so check with your court, but in general, most courts advise that for an initial filing that includes a motion to waive filing fees, you should use a waiver account. If the motion is denied, you will simply have to pay the fees at that time. (This approach stems from the practical acknowledgment that in government accounting systems, it's much easier to collect money later than go through the refund process for fees collected in error.)
3. You are filing a case type that usually requires a fee, but due to your client's circumstance, no fee is required. For example, most expungement (XP) cases require a filing fee, but if your client is petitioning for the removal of a juvenile arrest record that did not result in a conviction under IC 35-38-9-1, the court may not charge a filing fee. The e-filing system will assess fees based on the more common use of this case type, and to avoid being charged, you should file using a waiver account.

Before doing any of the filings described above, you should prepare by setting up a waiver account. That's very easy:

1. Click on the "e-filing" tab and then select "E-Filing Account Administration" from the actions listed on the left side of the page.
2. Click on the "New Payment Account" button in the upper right of your account information:
   
3. Give the account any name you choose, then select "Waiver" from the Account Type drop-down menu and save.
   
4. The Waiver account will now appear in the drop-down list of available payment methods whenever you file:
   

Two hiccups in the rollout of July 1 changes

This morning, we learned of two issues with changes that took effect on July 1:

Two fees displayed:

Due to a limitation in the clerk's portion of the system, in some counties both the old and new amounts will be shown for the sheriff's service fee for a few days. This will go away as soon as all filings submitted before 7/1 are processed, so probably within a week.

When you are filing, you should always select the new (higher) amount for the sheriff's service fee.

Fees displayed incorrectly: 

[This problem has been corrected, you can safely ignore the information below, but we have kept the information because it sometimes helps to know that a problem existed even after it is gone.]

For some counties, the sheriff's service fee is displayed as $29 rather than $28 in the area where you select sheriff's service. Fortunately, you can safely ignore this, because when the final fees are calculated, the correct $28 fee is assessed and displayed just before you hit the "submit" button.

This is a problem with tables that will need to be corrected by the folks at the State, so we have made them aware of the problem and expect that they will fix it later today. Unfortunately, we can't fix this on our end, so we'll have to wait for their response.

Important changes to court fees and processes starting on July 1.

On July 1, several important changes to court filing processes and fees will occur that you will need to be aware of:

In e-filing counties:

Sheriff's Civil Process Fees must be paid through the e-filing system. Previously, some counties required that you pay the sheriff directly. What this means to you is that when you are filing a document that you want the Sheriff to serve (usually the summons) you will click on "Sheriff's Service" in the "Optional Services" area. To make it easy for the Sheriff to know that you have paid the fee, we suggest that when you give the papers to be served to the Sheriff you also provide a copy of the "Notice of Electronic Filing" that shows the fee you paid. Click here for a post that describes in detail how to do this. [Update: on 7/11, we learned that you should also include the Notice of Acceptance. Details here.]

You will no longer have to pay the fee for service via certified mail to additional defendants or garnishee defendants. This is because you are responsible for completing service via certified mail now, and should not have to pay the clerk for a service no longer provided. Note that in counties that are not e-filing, the clerk still provides this service, and the fees for additional defendants remain in place.

In all counties:

Sheriff's service fees are increasing to $28. This fee may be collected once for pre-judgment and once for post-judgment. The single payment of the fee in both situations covers all attempts to serve.

Most case filing fees will increase moderately due to the collective effect of eight changes in individual court cost fees beginning on July 1:

• As noted above, in e-filing counties, the extra defendant fees will no longer be collected. In all other counties, a $10 fee will be added for any additional defendants named in the initial filing and any garnishee defendants after the first three.
• The automated record-keeping fee has increased from $19 to $20. (It was previously scheduled to decrease to $5 in 2017, so this is actually a $15 increase over the previous plan.)
• The DNA sample processing fee has increased from $2 to $3.
• Highway worksite zone fees are variable and can be either $0.50 cents or $25.50 depending on the nature of the offense.
• Courts that adopt a local rule imposing late payment fees may add a $25 fee to fines and fees for any criminal case not paid on the due date.
• The $50 mortgage foreclosure counseling and education fee on MF cases goes away.
• Counties that have adopted an approved plan may charge a $20 Alternative Dispute Resolution fee for separation, paternity, and marriage dissolution cases
• A judge may add alcohol and drug services program fees and/or alcohol and drug countermeasure fees in any amount to any infraction/ordinance case.

Since these fees affect different filing types, the effect on total fees varies, but here's our attempt at a simple summary:

• Most Civil cases (including MF) will have a total initial filing fee of $157. In some counties, the family law cases will have the $20 ADR fee added to this.
• Probate cases increase slightly to $177.
• Small Claims cases will have a total initial filing fee of $87 in e-filing counties, but the initial fee is $97 and may be increased due to additional defendants in other counties. [This section was corrected on July 6th.]

• Juvenile cases will have court costs of $176 at a minimum but may increase depending on circumstances.

• Infraction cases will have court costs of $135 at a minimum but may increase depending on circumstances.
• Criminal cases will have court costs of $185 at a minimum but may increase depending on circumstances.

• Child Restraint and Seatbelt violations are not affected by the changes in court costs, but they are subject to the $25 late fees in courts that adopt a local rule.

• Deferral Program fees remain at $192.50 for traffic offenses and $192 for non-traffic.
• Diversion Program fees increase to $274.50 for traffic offenses and $274 for non-traffic.

Did we miss anything important? Please use the comment area below to let us know!

New Predictable Recording Fees, Effective July 1st

Filing fees for Recording Documents in Indiana are changing. Beginning July 1st, 2017, Recorders Offices across Indiana will begin using a new fee schedule meant to make your filing fees simpler and more predictable.

Keep in mind that these fees will apply based on when the documents are received in the Recorder's Office. Another small change to the fee schedule raises the fee for oversized copies (largely for plats) to $5.00 per page.

Mortgages	$55.00
including Subordinate Mortgages and re-recorded mortgages
Deeds and all other instruments	$25.00
including re-recorded documents Other recording fees to be aware of:
The flat filing fee allows up to one oversize page per document.
Each additional page over 8.5" x 14"	$5.00
For Mechanic's Liens, your filing fee includes one mail out.
Each additional mail out	$2.00
For multiple transaction documents (a/k/a blanket documents), your filing fee includes one cross reference.
Each additional cross reference	$7.00
Copy Fees:
Copies 11" x 17" or smaller, per page	$1.00
Copies larger than 11" x 17", per page	$5.00
Certification of Document	$5.00
UCC Filings have not changed, but those fees are:
UCC Filing, Continuation, Amendment, or Assignment
1 or 2 pages	$9.00
3 or more pages	$13.00
UCC-11 Information Request
single debtor name	$10.00
each additional name	$5.00

Also be aware that Marion County has an additional fund collected through the Recorder's Office for housing, and that will create a longer transition period in that county. The fees for Marion County beginning July 1st, and the anticipated final fees can be found here:

http://www.indy.gov/eGov/County/Recorder/Documents/FeeChangeNotice.pdf

For additional information about these changes and other details of Senate Bill 505, the page for that and links to the full text are here:

https://iga.in.gov/legislative/2017/bills/senate/505

New "e-filing" Tab replaces the menu under "my doxpop" tab. Don't get lost!

On Thursday, June 22nd we will be moving Doxpop's E-filing features to their own tab. We believe you will get used to this change quickly, but it may be disorienting for the first few hours, so here is what to expect.

The most important thing to remember is that you will no longer find the e-filing features under the "my doxpop" tab:

Within the e-filing tab, you'll find the menu options that were previously under the "my doxpop" tab available through large buttons along the left side:

In the top right corner, you will find the options for locating cases to file on. All of these searches will put you directly into the e-filing screen when you locate the case.

The top search tool is for situations where you have the exact case number, and is the method you must use to locate confidential cases or appeals. This tool uses few of Doxpop's advanced search features, so we don't charge you a search to locate a case using this method, but it is less user-friendly than other approaches. As you type the case number, the system will try to determine the location automatically. This works in most situations but in counties such as Tippecanoe where two case tracking systems are in use, you may need to specify "Quest" or "Odyssey":

Moving down the right side, the second search tool is for situations where you are searching for cases by party or attorney name. This search will not return confidential cases or appeals cases, but is an easy way to quickly locate cases where you just have a name. This search uses Doxpop's advanced search features, and thus "uses" one of your allotted searches. You must begin this search by specifying the court location:

Finally, the third search tool allows you to list all cases attached to a service contact in your firm. This method of locating cases does not use one of your searches:

As always, if you have questions or would like assistance with your firm administration and service contacts, please don't hesitate to give us a call!

Make sure that important email doesn't go in the spam can!

Updated 8/6/21

In the context of e-filing, it has become especially important that your email from the court makes it through unfettered and in a timely fashion. Here are some tips on how to make that happen:

First, make sure you control the filtering. Some Internet Service Providers "helpfully" remove those messages that they deem to be spam before it even gets to your email client. You should view this practice with caution, because it means you aren't in direct control.

Second, recognize that there are several types of email to make sure you don't classify as spam:

• Notice of Acceptance: Emails acknowledging receipt or acceptance of e-filing. These always come back to the filer only (not necessarily the attorney).
• Notice of Service: These go to an attorney's public service contact, which may mean that administrative copies are being sent to an assistant as well as the attorney.
• Notices of Orders & Judgments: These aren't really part of e-filing, but are equally important. This is how most counties now deliver documents signed by the judge to you. These always go to a single email address.
• Doxpop Notifications: If you are a Doxpop subscriber, you may also have configured our service to send you notifications of changes in specific cases or more broadly, notification of any change to your hearing schedule.

Third, configure your email client to never flag emails as spam if they come from any of the known court domains or addresses This is called "whitelisting."

In Outlook, you can do this manually by going to [Junk] -> [Junk Email Options] -> [Safe Senders] -> [Add…]

In Google Mail, you can do this manually by [Gear Icon] -> [Settings] -> [Filters and Blocked Addresses] -> [Create New Filter]

Below are the senders you should whitelist. We'll update this as new services or counties are added:

Here's the list of domains that you should always accept email from:

• doxpop.com
• efilingmail.tylertech.cloud
• tylerhost.net
• tylertech.com
• courts.in.gov

 And some specific addresses:

• enotifications@courts.in.gov
• notify@switzerlandcountycourthouse.org
• notify@warrickcounty.gov
• notify@randolph.in.gov

If you use Google Mail or Outlook, we’ve already created filters for you that do all of this, and you can just download & import them. Here are the instructions:

Google Mail:

• Download the filter here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1d5n4sdsYyq4x7fL9cbhKmp7-JRRMLuTn
• Go to [Gear Icon]->[Settings]->[Filters and Blocked Addresses].
• Near the bottom of the page, just right of center, click on "Import Filters".
• Click on "Choose File".
• Browse to where you saved "Doxpop_Gmail_Court_Whitelist" and double-click the file.
• Click on "Open File"
• Scroll down to the bottom and click on "Create Filters"

Outlook:

• Download the filter here: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1BJgL0F-d5dy05_Rhuxwo0zRl-LpxURDF
• Go to [Junk]->[Junk Email Options...]->[Safe Senders].
• Click on [Import from File…]
• Browse to where you saved "Doxpop_Outlook_Court_Whitelist" and double-click on it.
• Click on [OK]

E-Filing adoptions and how to pay the special fees.

There has been some confusion about how the various fees are paid when an adoption case is filed.

When you e-file a petition for adoption, the e-filing system will automatically assess the case filing fee. (Usually $156)

In addition, you will need to deliver to the clerk's office two checks made out to the Indiana State Department of Health:

• A $20 check for the adoption history fee. (Sometimes called a medical history fee.)
• A $50 check for the putative father registry fee.

The clerk's office in the county where you are filing will attach the checks to the portion of the paperwork that goes to the Health Department and submit the packet for processing.

The confusion is due to the fact that prior to e-filing, some clerks collected these fees along with the filing fees and then disbursed the money to the State agencies themselves. For consistency, it was decided to have the filer supply these fees with separate checks in all counties where e-filing has been implemented.

Filename length for e-filing extended to 100 characters.

Good news!-

The folks operating the Indiana State E-filing Manager just increased the maximum length for filenames from 50 characters to 100 characters. That will make life easier for folks who use long filenames that include case numbers or party names to organize their PDF documents.

The 100 character limit includes the ".pdf" portion, so effectively you have 96 characters to work with.

Note that the "file" and the "description" are two different fields. More than 1000 characters are allowed in the description. The picture below shows the difference.

This change takes effect immediately.

Kosciusko begins e-filing, here's what you need to know about them.

Kosciusko County started e-filing last Friday (5/8/17), and Clerk Ann Torpy reports that so far everything is running smoothly. E-filing is voluntary for the next couple of months and will become mandatory on July 3rd. (We'll celebrate with fireworks the next day!)

If you are new to e-filing or want a refresher on the rules and process, Doxpop will be doing a training session at Noon on May 17th in Warsaw that qualifies for 1.5 hours of CLE credit for attorneys. If you'd like to attend that session (no cost), contact Kosciusko Co. Bar Association President Robert Bishop to RSVP. (574-372-2421 or rbishop@kcgov.com)

As always, remember that if you already have a doxpop account, you can begin e-filing through our system at no additional cost, and without having to learn a new system. Just give us a call at 866-369-7671 to get started.

Here are a couple of details to help you get started e-filing in Kosciusko:

1) For Sheriff's Service of civil process, pay for the service through the e-filing system when you file the summons, then deliver 3 copies of the documents to the Sheriff's Department. If you are unfamiliar with this method of paying for service, please refer to our earlier blog post for Vanderburgh that explains how to pay for service through the e-filing system and provide proof of payment to the Sheriff. The process is essentially identical for Kosciusko.

2) Orders and Judgments will be sent to you using the county's e-notice system. Since they don't use the Odyssey system, the e-mail address they send these notices to is controlled locally. That means it's worth calling the clerk's office to make sure they have the correct email address for you. Their phone number is (574) 372-2331, and they are very friendly people to work with.

When you receive judgments & orders, they will come from notify@kcgov.com. Make sure your email client doesn't put anything from that address in the spam can!

The information above has been added to our general survey of counties found here (for Sheriff's service) and here (for judgment & orders.)

Doxpop lets you order minute entries both ways.

Last week, we responded to numerous suggestions to reverse the chronological order of minute entries in case details, so the most recent events would be easy to find at the top of the list.

Then we heard from a small but important group of people who really liked it the old way.

In the long run, we plan to make the order of minute entries something that each user can set in their personal preferences, but that's part of a project that won't happen until late summer, and in the meantime, we want to serve both groups of people as well as we can manage.

So the short-term solution is that minute entries will continue to be in reverse chronological order on the "Case Details" screen, but anyone who needs chronological ordering can get it using the "CCS" view. There are two ways to get to that view:

You can either go to it directly from your search results...

...Or you can switch to the CCS view from within case details:

CCS (minute entries) now displayed in reverse chronological order.

Last night we made a little tweak to the court record system that is simple, but will make your life easier by saving you a couple of seconds on each case you look at.

Minute entries for cases are now listed in reverse chronological order, so you will see the most recent entry at the top, and oldest at the bottom.

For attorneys, this means what's happening now is the first thing you see.

For researchers, this means the judgment information you seek should be near the top instead of requiring you to scroll to the bottom.

No solution is perfect for everyone, so many of you will still need to navigate quickly through the entries. When you do this, remember that all web browsers have nice shortcuts you can use to quickly move to the desired entry:

• The [Home] key (above the arrows on most keyboards) will position you at the top of the page.  On mini-keyboards, [fn]-[up-arrow] is used instead.

• The [End] key (above the arrows on most keyboards) will position you at the bottom of the page.  On mini-keyboards, [fn]-[down-arrow] is used.

• The [PgUp] and [PgDn] keys (above the arrows on most keyboards) will scroll up or down one screenful at a time.

• To quickly find entries containing a particular word, press [Ctrl]-[F] and then start typing the word. You will be positioned on the first occurrence and all occurrences will be highlighted.

"Super Search" comes to the Recorder/Register tabs.

For just a little over a month now, "Super Search" has been available to folks searching under the Court Record and Tax Warrant tabs. On Monday (4/24), we are adding Super Search to the tools available in the Recorded Document & Register of Deeds tab.

For people who are used to using the traditional search, it is important to know that you can turn the super search on or off using the check box. Your search setting is "sticky", meaning it stays on whichever type of search you selected until you change the setting. 

If you have several rush orders to do today and don't want to learn a new search tool, just leave the box un-checked and get on with your day. However, if you've got a few free minutes, give it a try. Super Search can make your job a lot easier once you get used to it.

For complete details about how super search behaves, take a look at this blog post from February 28.

Coming Soon: Keep an eye out for an announcement about "Full Text Search" soon. This new feature will allow you to find documents by searching for keywords found in the document- even if they aren't part of the index!

Change in e-filing subject lines: "Filing Submitted" becomes "Notice of electronic filing"

A few people have called us in confusion today, because the subject line for notification that a submitted filing was received has changed (again).

These emails now have a subject line beginning "Notice of electronic filing...", and in the upper right corner of the email, the big bold title says "Notice of Electronic Filing" as well.

Don't worry, it's the same thing as the emails that used to say "Filing Submitted".

This is the second time the subject line of these emails has changed, but we really like this change, because now the subject line matches up perfectly with the terminology used in trial rule 86(E), which says you should retain "each Notice of Electronic Filing".

We're sorry we didn't give you warning about this! The folks at the State forgot to tell us it was about to happen, so we were surprised as well. 😉

Vanderburgh service payments, and how to make sure the Sheriff knows you paid for service in any county.

How to pay the fee:
First, for those of you who have been frustrated when trying to pay Sheriff service fees in Vanderburgh, the problem has been solved. This was due to a minor configuration error in the State's system, and they just took care of it for us a couple of days ago. (Thanks!)

This means that when you file a summons in Vanderburgh County, at the bottom of the window where you upload your summons, you now have the option to add Sheriff's service:

How to prove to the Sheriff that you paid the fee.
This question has come up several times in Vanderburgh County, but this approach works for any county: When you submit an initial filing for a case, you will receive a "Notice of electronic filing" for each document. The first one of these you receive, (which is not necessarily the one for the summons) will show the fee details. Print that email, highlight the part that shows the Sheriff's fee, and attach it to the front of  three copies of the paperwork to be served, and send or hand-deliver it to the Sheriff's office.  [Update: on 7/11, we learned that you should also include the Notice of Acceptance. Details here.]

As always, please feel free to give us a call if you have any questions about this or any other aspect of e-filing. Call 866-369-7671 or email support@doxpop.com. We are here to help.