Williams County Court of Common Pleas, General Division Filing Rules

The clerk must notify the DRC of the petition’s disposition and, if the petition is granted, order the DRC to issue the CQE to the petitioner.

Documents submitted to the clerk must include the case number and case caption.

When a party completes the parenting program in the county where the case is filed, the class cost is paid from the court cost deposit.

A filing fee may be required when submitting a motion or letter.

The Court must send a copy of the Notice of Intent to Relocate to the other parent.

A copy of a filed written motion or letter must be sent to every other party or to the attorney representing each other party.

An electronically filed submission is deemed filed when accepted and receives an electronic timestamp showing the submission date and time.

A filing containing trade secrets or attorney-client or work-product communications may be publicly filed in redacted form, but a complete unredacted version must then be submitted to the court for in camera review.

Papers filed as pleadings, motions, applications, judgments, and orders must be on 8½-by-11-inch white paper, typewritten or neatly and legibly printed, securely fastened together, and page numbered when they contain more than one sheet.

Applications to continue a scheduled event must be in writing and directed to the assigned judge or magistrate.

The Clerk will not accept fax or email filings when e-filing is available through the case management system.

Self-represented litigants in Defiance County may contact the listed court designee by telephone to arrange attendance at a free pro se clinic.

If you want to tell the judge about your case or if you want to ask the judge to take certain action in your case, you should not call or write the judge directly. Instead, you should mail a written motion or letter to the clerk of the judge’s court or drop off that document in person at the clerk’s office.

After a visiting judge is appointed, counsel must provide the visiting judge with a copy of all pleadings, motions, and other papers filed for the record.

The GAL must provide the court a one-page written summary at least five days before the GAL pre-trial conference.