Thurston County Superior Court, Washington Filing Rules

An applicant seeking prior court justification and approval to provide bonds as an individual surety must provide verifiable qualification evidence, a current list of the agent’s bonds, and, when acting for a corporate surety, a certified power of attorney and an Insurance Commissioner letter.

Parties to dependency actions must file a pretrial report no later than 14 days before the assigned trial week.

When applicable, a party to a civil case should file and serve on the other parties a completed statement of arbitrability at least 10 calendar days before the trial setting date.

After filing the relevant documents, parties may present a telephonic ex parte request by calling the court’s ex parte line during the specified call-in time; the number and hours are on the court’s website.

Proposed jury instructions must be typed and double-spaced, with each instruction on its own letter-size sheet.

The moving party must timely strike or continue a hearing that will not proceed as scheduled; the rule applies to civil, criminal, juvenile, and family court cases.

When filing a motion for reconsideration, the moving party must provide judge’s copies of the motion, brief, affidavit, proposed order, and notice of issue to court administration.

Contested family law cases not governed by LSPR 94.05(b) must complete alternative dispute resolution as scheduled, unless the court waives it for good cause, before the case is set for pretrial conference and trial setting.

Statutory filing fees for electronically filed documents must be collected and paid using methods approved by the clerk at the time of filing.

When the Board finds no cause to proceed, the complaint is not kept in the guardian ad litem’s or DGAL’s file, may be kept separately with confidentiality safeguards, and must be destroyed after three years while a specified notation remains; if the complainant discloses the complaint to a third party, the guardian ad litem or DGAL may see the complaint and decision and file a response in the confidential file.

Electronic filing of documents and bench copies through the clerk’s eFile Service or a provider using it is permitted when the documents comply with applicable rules and standards and the transmission method is approved by the clerk.

A complaint is limited to ten pages unless the Superior Court Administrator or designee gives prior permission; exhibits and attachments are not limited in length.

Supporting briefs, affidavits, and declarations must be filed and served when the reconsideration motion is filed.