Top 3 & 1/2 tips for Serene Sheriff's Service.

Simple Steps Secure Serene Sheriff Service

1) Our first tip for Sheriff's Service is to always pay the Sheriff's Service fee at the time you e-file. This is the preference for all Clerks' and Sheriff’s Offices, providing easy and consistent proof of payment. If the fee isn't paid during a filing, this can cause an issue where the clerk can't easily make a record of the payment on the case. Most clerks will accept paying later with a check, but they won't be very happy about it.

Another approach to repairing the situation if you forgot to pay the fee while filing is that if you have more documents to file on the case, you can add the Sheriff's service fee with *any*subsequent filing, even if it's not the papers you want served. Then, if you're using Doxpop, you can do a service-only filing to have us mail the papers for you. (Call us for help if this sounds confusing!)

2) The second important tip in Sheriff's Service is to make sure you send three copies of the filestamped document to the Sheriff along with your proof of payment. If you are using Doxpop, we can make this happen for your automatically as soon as the documents are accepted through our "Delivery by Doxpop" service. For a small fee, we will watch for the filing to be accepted and then mail the filestamped copies for you.

If you aren't using Doxpop's delivery service to manage this for you, you'll need to wait until you receive notice of acceptance, then print the three copies manually along with a cover sheet and mail them to the Sheriff. When you send the documents yourself, make sure you also send proof that the Sheriff's service fee is paid. Your NEF (Notice of Electronic Filing) should list all of the fees.

3) A third important tip is that the Sheriff's service fee need only be paid once per case, by either party, and that covers service for any number of deliveries to any number of people in any Indiana county. Filers often make the mistake of paying for service a second time when it isn't necessary. (The Sheriff appreciates your donation!) 

The only situation that requires a second Sheriff's service fee is a post-judgment filing (a proceeding supplemental).

3 &1/2) Lastly, tracking the completion of Sheriff's Service can also be the source of some difficulty. It is important to keep checking the case summary (minutes) for an Affidavit of Service, because the Clerk will enter this when the Sheriff provides a return of service. This will appear as a minute entry, and if you use Doxpop, it is easy to set an alert on the case so you receive immediate notification when service is perfected.

Make Sure You Are Getting All the Important Emails Related to E-Filing and Court Cases.

Tame your E-mail notices and ensure that everyone in your office is getting the notifications they need!

 First, Your Spam Filter:

The first step will be to ensure that your spam filter knows which domains to allow. We have an up to date list of domains below that should be on your "Safe Sender" list:

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

If you don't have an IT department to do this for you, here are a couple of short videos describing how to do this on the most common email systems:

• Outlook: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wk4qgQhvVv4
• Google Mail: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XYBTN9z1PW8
• If you use a different email system, give us a call and we'll help you find instructions!

When Your Spam Filter Isn't The Problem, But You're Still Not Receiving Notices:

Another common issue is that either the sending system has the wrong address or has stopped sending entirely. This can get confusing because notices use email addresses stored in three different locations. Knowing which system you're having problems with is the first step, and the solution for each is slightly different:

Notice of Electronic Filing and Notification of Acceptance or Rejection come from the user section of the E-Filing Manager (EFM.) If you stop receiving these notifications, there may be two reasons:

1. The email address is wrong. To correct this, have your E-Filing administrator go to the "Users" section of E-Filing Administration and check your address there.

2. You are on the "suppression list", meaning your email server previously rejected a message, and so the EFM has given up on trying to even send emails. To solve this problem, call Doxpop if we are your E-Filing service provider. We can solve the problem quickly. If Doxpop isn't your service provider, you should call whoever provides your service.

Notice of Electronic Service comes from the e-service section of the E-Filing Manager (EFM.) If you stop receiving these notifications, there may be two reasons:

1. The email address is wrong. To correct this:

1. For Public Service Contacts, check the attorney's address in the Roll of Attorneys. (https://secure.in.gov/Apps/courts/portal/)

2. For Private Service Contacts, have your E-Filing administrator go to the "Service Contacts" section of E-Filing Administration and check the address(es) on the Service Contact that isn't working.

2. You are on the "suppression list", meaning your email server previously rejected a message, and so the EFM has given up on trying to even send emails. (See the section above for how to resolve this.)

Notices of Orders or Judgments come from the Odyssey system. If you stop receiving these notifications, call your local clerk's office, and ask them to check the email address for the attorney in their "Attorney Master" record. If it needs to be corrected, they can take care of that, and changing it in your county will resolve the issue for all counties.

What if Other People Aren't Receiving Your Notices?

Sometimes you'll receive an email Notice that says "E-Service Undeliverable". This always means that the opposing counsel has a problem with their email. However, the burden is on you to make sure service occurs anyway. Here's how to handle this:

1. Contact the person the E-Service couldn't be delivered to, so they know they need to diagnose their email problem. (Send them a copy of this article!)

2. While you've got them on the phone, work out another way to deliver the filing to them. Often you can just email the documents directly. 

If you use Doxpop, you can also just give our support staff a call and they'll help you resolve any of these problems.

Even better, you can just use our in-app notification archive to avoid having to depend on email for any notice related to E-Filing. We don't think email is reliable, so we've created an alternative (and backup) system for our users that allows you to see and review notifications through our web site instead of depending on email. (Click here to learn more: https://blog.doxpop.com/2026/04/have-you-ever-missed-important-E-Filing.html)

Have You Ever Missed an Important E-Filing Email? We've Got a Simple Solution.

Important: A few folks have been alarmed because they see a large number of "unread notifications" when viewing the dashboard for the first time. That is because we have tracked all of your past notifications in this area as a backup for the emailed notifications. You can safely mark them all as "read" or "archived" using the tools at the top of the list.

Email notifications for filing status or service not getting through are the most common problem our support team sees, so we strongly suggest that all of our E-Filers check out the E-Filing dashboard. What the dashboard does is provide a complete and reliable list of every event that you should have received an email for, so on those days when email is slow or unreliable, it won't slow you down.

We've recently added a new section for "Unread Filing Notice Notifications" that quickly links to all new notifications you receive from the E-Filing Manager.

If you're not yet making use of the E-Filing Dashboard, you can find this by clicking on the "e-filing" tab, located here:

This page will show your personal dashboard on the left side of the screen, along with a number of helpful links and access to begin searching or filing through Doxpop.

The new link is at the top of the Dashboard section and will display the number of unread "Notice of Electronic Filing" notifications so that you can keep track of these more easily. Clicking on the link in the dashboard will take you to the Filing Notices section of your E-Filing notifications in the notifications tab.

In addition to updating this dashboard display, Doxpop has also updated our handling of unread/archived messages. After hearing from some users that archiving unread notifications makes their inboxes difficult to track, we will now consider archived messages as read when displaying your unread notifications. This change is designed to help the dashboard remain a quick and reliable way to track the E-Filing notifications that matter to you.

This change to our calculation of your unread notifications could also result in a major, sudden drop in the numbers listed in your personal dashboard. If you notice a change to your unread notifications it is likely to be related to this update, but we always welcome a call if you have any concerns. Our support team can be reached at support@doxpop.com or by calling 866-369-7671 if you have any questions or would like to learn more.

Special Judge Cases and E-Filing.

We are frequently asked if the electronic service provided by the e-filing system can (or should) be used to serve special judges with documents as required by Trial Rule 5(A).

The short answer is No. You must continue to serve documents for special judges conventionally.

The longer answer is that the Court has decided that judges will not be included in the public service contact list, and so there is no correct way to use the e-filing system to provide service.

We have heard reports that some law firms have tried to get around this limitation by creating a private service contact in their firm account with the judge's email address and use that contact to transmit all e-filed documents electronically. This is considered improper, so please don't do it.

Guidance for E-Service on an Initial Appellate Filing

On September 1, a change to the appellate rules will require that appeals be initiated via e-filing. Here is some guidance on how to handle electronic service when filing an appeal:

When you use the Doxpop system for initiating trial court cases, we limit you to attaching one service contact during that process. However when initiating an appellate case, you may attach any number of service contacts in order to comply with the appellate rules.

The list of the people/organizations you must serve when initiating an appeal has not changed, and can be found in the Appellate Rule 24. What has changed with E-Filing is that you can now serve some of these people or organizations electronically by attaching them to the case when you file the notice of appeal.

When filing a Notice of Appeal, here are some of the people or organizations you may need to serve, and methods of attaching them when it is possible:

• For represented parties, you will be able to find their counsel using the public service directory and attach them for e-service.
• You will need to be sure that if required, the parties themselves are notified conventionally, as they will not have public service contacts.
• The Judge, Clerk and Court Reporter on the original trial court case do not have public service contacts, so these three people will need to be served conventionally. (This also holds true for judges and hearing officers in connection with cases coming from administrative courts.)
• If the case is criminal, you will always be able to serve the prosecuting attorney via e-service, using the public service contact for the attorney that most recently entered an appearance on behalf of the State. (This may not always be the current prosecuting attorney.)
• If the case is criminal, you will also be required to serve the Attorney General. To accomplish this, you can attach the public service contact of the currently serving Attorney General. eg: Curtis Hill.
• For expedited appeals involving children, you have a longer list found in Appellate Rule 14.1. You may find that some of those can be notified via e-service. For instance, county commissioners may have currently retained counsel that will appear on the public service contact list. Some attorneys also serve as a CASA or guardian ad litem, and thus may have public service contacts. However, most of the service in this type of appeal will have to be done conventionally.

When you put together your certificate of service, for anyone whose service contact was attached at the time of filing the notice of appeal, note that they were served via "IEFS" with the date of filing.

On rare occasions, an email problem may prevent e-service from occurring, so remember keep an eye out for any service failure notices, which will arrive via email.

Here's a peek at what this section of the filing screen for a Notice of Appeal looks like:

In addition to learning about how service works, you may want to view our Guidance for assembling your Notice of Appeal for e-filing and information about the rule changes that require e-filing of appeals.

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.)

E-Filing: Paying the Sheriff for Civil Process. It varies by county!

Update, 7/1/17: On July 1, 2017, new legislation took effect, and the problem described below went away. Sheriff's service is now paid for through the e-filing system in all counties. You can find complete details on the changes that occurred on July 1st here.

On July 1 2016, Trial Rule 86 was changed, and among other things, now specifies that e-filers are responsible for delivering documents directly to sheriffs for service.

Doxpop recently learned that county clerks handle payment of sheriff's service fees for these documents differently depending on the county.

Some clerks have decided to have filers pay the sheriff directly by attaching payment to the document when you deliver it to the sheriff.

Some clerks have decided to have filers to pay sheriff's service fees electronically along with the case filing fee, and then deliver the document separately.

In all cases, please supply the Sheriff's civil process division with three copies of the document to be served. In situations where you pay the Sheriff directly, personal checks are generally not accepted, but business checks, certified checks, money orders or cash are accepted.

We understand that it is frustrating to have different policies in different counties, but please be patient with the clerks and use the method they specify. Like you, they are having to scramble to make e-filing work within the framework of long-standing business processes, and this particular issue is challenging because it involves several county offices and statutes that don't match existing procedures. In the long run, we expect a statewide policy will emerge. Until then, here's how to work smoothly with each county's systems:

Counties where you pay the sheriff directly:

• Allen
• Cass
• Clay
• Elkhart
• Franklin
• Hancock
• Hamilton
• Henry
• Huntington
• Jackson
• LaGrange
• Marion
• Monroe
• Shelby
• Tippecanoe
• Tipton
• Union
• Wabash
• Wells
• White

Counties where you pay the sheriff via the e-filing system:

• Carroll
• Clark
• Floyd
• Grant
• Greene
• Harrison
• Hendricks
• Jasper
• Johnson
• Knox
• Kosciusko
• Madison*
• Morgan
• Owen
• Posey
• Rush
• Steuben
• Vanderburgh
• Washington

Counties where you can do it either way:

• Jefferson

* Madison county is unusual. In Madison, no  sheriff's service fee is assessed for cases filed in a Madison County courts, but out-of county filers seeking service in Madison will need to pay the Sheriff directly.

If you are paying through the e-filing system, as you add documents to your envelope any document that Sheriff's service is available for will show an optional service area where you may add this fee:

Last update: 4/4/17