Superior Court of DeKalb County Filing Rules

Except for motions consented to by all parties, every pre-trial civil motion must include or be accompanied by citations of supporting authorities and, when relying on unstipulated facts, supporting affidavits or citations to evidentiary materials of record.

Every attorney, including Assistant District Attorneys and Assistant Public Defenders, must file an Entry of Appearance.

Every attorney, including prosecutors and public defenders, must file an Entry of Appearance identifying the attorney’s role in the case.

A complaint-filing package must include the complaint, verification, summons, financial affidavit, child-support worksheets and schedules, and proper service form.

An attorney must file an Entry of Appearance with the clerk within 48 hours after being retained.

An attorney must provide the court with an Entry of Appearance within 48 hours after being retained.

An uncontested divorce may not be finalized until 31 days have passed after the proof of service is filed.

An attorney or party who e-files a motion or response must notify the opposing parties and assigned judge or designee by email contemporaneously and no later than 24 hours after e-filing.

Scheduling requests and submission of courtesy copies of motions and proposed orders may be emailed to Criminal Litigation Manager Griselle Rivera.

EFileGA service and court emails must be directed to both the Judicial Assistant and Criminal Litigation Manager, and counsel must never email the judge directly.

The Clerk's Office must serve the domestic-cases standing order on the plaintiff in person or by mail when the case is filed.

Electronic service of pleadings is legally sufficient.

Specified filings must be provided to the court within 24 hours after filing by hard copy, electronic service, email, or a permitted combination of those methods.

Motions and other pleadings emailed for the Court's review should be submitted in PDF format.

Proposed orders must be emailed to the court in Word format and copied to all counsel of record; a PDF may also be included when original consent signatures are present.

The emailed courtesy copy of a civil or domestic proposed order must be in Word format.

In an individual assignment system, the clerk must promptly provide the assigned judge or designee with a copy of the motion and related materials supplied by the attorney or party.

A filing intended to ensure the Court's attention should be accompanied by an emailed courtesy copy to Ms. Rivera.

Electronic filing is mandatory for criminal cases in DeKalb County Superior Court.

Every motion for a new trial must be emailed to the court.

Civil and domestic proposed orders must be electronically filed with the Clerk of Superior Court, with a Word-format courtesy copy emailed to the staff attorney.

A party that fails to appear at a Pretrial Calendar without leave may be placed directly on the Trial Calendar, and a continuance will not be granted absent good cause.

A discovery extension must be requested in writing at least five days before the discovery deadline, with detailed fact-based reasons and a proposed order setting date-certain new deadlines.

Unless advance permission is obtained, a motion may not exceed 20 pages, excluding the specified supporting materials.

The parties must confer before the motions hearing to determine whether outstanding motions can be narrowed or resolved by agreement.

A party may request a court discovery conference unilaterally before filing a motion to compel only after completing the required conference with the opposing party under U.S.C.R. 6.4(B).

All parties must attend mediation before the court schedules any hearing.

Each motion must address a single issue, be filed separately, identify the specific statement or evidence, and provide a suppression theory.

The filer must pay the service fee when filing the case and leave the service copy and payment with the clerk for forwarding to the Sheriff’s Office.