The general rules of practice are the baseline procedural requirements every court participant has to meet: how a document is formatted and signed, how it reaches the other side, how deadlines are counted, how motions are made, and how people behave in the courtroom. Get them right and your case moves. Get them wrong and filings get rejected, deadlines pass, and judgments get entered against you before the merits are ever heard.
Who Has to Follow Them
These rules bind everyone who participates in a case: attorneys, court staff, witnesses, and self-represented parties. If you represent yourself, courts will cut you some slack on legal sophistication, but not on procedure. You still have to follow every requirement on format, deadlines, and conduct. “I didn’t know” will not save a missed filing.
The general rules are the primary authority for daily courthouse operations. Individual courts publish their own local rules covering details like page limits and typefaces, but a local rule cannot contradict the broader federal or state framework it operates under. When they conflict, the broader rule wins.
How to Format a Filing
Every document filed with a court needs a caption at the top of the first page listing the court’s name, the case title with the party names, the assigned case number, and a label identifying the type of filing.1Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 10 – Form of Pleadings Claims and defenses should be broken into numbered paragraphs, each limited to a single set of facts where possible. A written document attached as an exhibit becomes part of the filing itself.
The formatting specifics that trip people up — font size, typeface, line spacing, margins — are not in the main procedural rules. They come from each court’s local rules. A typical local rule calls for 12-point type in a readable font like Times New Roman, double-spaced lines, and one-inch margins, but exact specifications vary. Pull up the local rules for your specific court before you prepare anything. The wrong paper size or an undersized margin can get your filing bounced by the clerk before a judge ever sees it.
Signatures and Sanctions
Every pleading, motion, or other paper must be signed by at least one attorney of record or, if you are unrepresented, by you personally. The signature block includes the signer’s address, email, and phone number. By signing, you certify four things: the filing is not for harassment or delay, the legal arguments are supported by existing law or a reasonable argument for changing it, the factual claims have evidentiary support, and any denials of the other side’s facts are justified by the evidence or a lack of information.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11 – Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers
If an opposing party thinks a filing violates these standards, they cannot run straight to the judge. The rules include a 21-day safe harbor. The other side has to serve you with a sanctions motion first, and if you withdraw or correct the problem within those 21 days, that motion cannot be filed with the court.2Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 11 – Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers The point is correction, not punishment. If the 21 days run and the filing stands, the court can impose sanctions, including making you pay the other side’s attorney fees.
Serving the Other Side
Filing with the court is only half the job. Copies have to reach every other party. After the initial complaint, papers can be served by handing them to the person or their attorney, mailing them to the last known address, or sending them electronically with the recipient’s consent.3Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5 – Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers If a party has an attorney, you serve the attorney, not the party directly.
The initial summons and complaint that opens a lawsuit requires formal service under stricter rules, but defendants can simplify things by waiving formal service. The plaintiff sends the complaint with a waiver form, and the defendant has at least 30 days to return it. A defendant who signs the waiver gets 60 days from the date the request was sent to answer, instead of the usual 21 days after formal service. A defendant who refuses to waive without good cause has to pay the costs of formal service, including the plaintiff’s attorney fees for any motion needed to collect those costs.4Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 4 – Summons Believing the lawsuit is meritless is not good cause.
Redacting Personal Information
Court filings are public records, and personal information buried in them is accessible to anyone. The rules require you to redact certain identifiers before filing any document, electronic or paper. You must limit the information to:
- Social Security and taxpayer ID numbers: last four digits only.
- Birth dates: year only.
- Minors’ names: initials only.
- Financial account numbers: last four digits only.
The burden of catching these identifiers falls on you or your attorney. The clerk’s office does not review your documents for redaction compliance. File an unredacted document without sealing it and you waive the privacy protection for your own information. The court can order a redacted version filed for the public record, and repeated violations can draw sanctions. When the full version has to be in the record, you file it separately under seal.5Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 5.2 – Privacy Protection for Filings Made with the Court
Counting Deadlines
Deadline math is where cases get lost on technicalities. Under the current federal rules, when a deadline is stated in days, you count every calendar day, including Saturdays, Sundays, and holidays. The exception: if the last day falls on a weekend or legal holiday, the deadline extends to the end of the next business day.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time You always exclude the day of the event that starts the clock. If a judge issues an order on a Monday giving you 14 days to respond, you start counting on Tuesday and finish on the following Monday.
If the clerk’s office is physically inaccessible on the last day for filing, because of a weather closure or other emergency, the deadline extends to the first day the office reopens. For electronic filing, the “last day” ends at midnight in the court’s time zone. For paper filing, it ends when the clerk’s office closes.6Office of the Law Revision Counsel. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 6 – Computing and Extending Time
Missing a deadline can be devastating. A defendant who fails to respond to a complaint on time can face a default and then a default judgment. A plaintiff who misses a filing deadline can see the claim dismissed. Courts sometimes allow late filings for good cause, but miscounting the days rarely clears that bar.
Filing a Motion
Any time you want the court to do something, from dismissing a claim to extending a deadline, you ask by filing a motion. A motion has to be in writing (unless you make the request during a hearing), state the reasons you are asking for the order, and specify exactly what relief you want.7Legal Information Institute. Federal Rules of Civil Procedure Rule 7 – Pleadings Allowed, Form of Motions and Other Papers Vague requests get denied. If you want a 30-day extension, say so. If you want certain evidence excluded, identify which evidence and on what grounds.
Motions follow the same formatting and captioning rules as other filings and have to be served on every other party. Most courts give the opposing side a set number of days to file a written response before the court rules. Local rules control how far in advance you must file and serve a motion before a hearing, so check them before you schedule anything.
Electronic Filing and Fees
Most federal courts and a growing number of state courts require electronic filing. Federal courts use CM/ECF, which accepts only PDFs.8United States Courts. FAQs – Case Management / Electronic Case Files (CM/ECF) Filing requires a login, and the system reminds attorneys at login to comply with the redaction rules before proceeding.
Once you upload the document and complete any fee payment, the system generates an electronic timestamp that serves as your official filing date. You can file at 11:55 p.m. and still meet a deadline that expires that day, provided the timestamp falls before midnight in the court’s time zone. An automated confirmation usually goes to the email address on your account. State courts often run their own platforms with similar requirements, but file size limits and accepted formats can differ.
Filing Fees and Waivers
Filing a new civil case in federal court costs $405, which includes a $55 administrative fee. State court filing fees for new civil cases generally range from roughly $200 to $450 depending on the court and case type. If you cannot afford the fee, you can apply to proceed in forma pauperis by submitting an affidavit detailing your financial situation and your inability to pay. If the court grants the application, the fees are waived.9Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 28 USC 1915 – Proceedings In Forma Pauperis For prisoners filing civil actions, the court waives the upfront payment but collects the full fee over time from the prisoner’s commissary account at 20 percent of monthly income.
Behavior in Court
Courts expect professional behavior and appearance from everyone in the room. Business-appropriate clothing, no hats or casual wear, no electronic devices unless the judge has allowed them. Silence while the court is in session. Address the judge as “Your Honor.” Keep communication with opposing counsel polite even when the substance is heated. These expectations apply to attorneys, parties, and spectators alike.
Violating courtroom decorum can draw a contempt finding. Federal courts have broad power to punish contempt by fine, imprisonment, or both for misbehavior in the court’s presence, misconduct by court officers, or disobedience of a court order.10Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 18 USC 401 – Power of Court The statute does not fix dollar amounts, so judges have wide discretion. A minor disruption might get a warning; serious or repeated misbehavior can lead to removal, a substantial fine, or jail time.
Virtual Hearings
Video hearings have become a permanent feature of court operations, and the same formality applies. Dress the way you would for an in-person appearance. Find a quiet, private location with a neutral background, and keep anything inappropriate or revealing personal information out of the camera’s view. Mute your microphone when you are not speaking to avoid background noise and feedback, and wait until the judge or your attorney addresses you before unmuting. Recording or photographing a virtual hearing without the court’s express permission is prohibited, exactly as it would be in a physical courtroom. If your connection drops, rejoin through the original meeting link or call-back number as quickly as possible rather than waiting for someone to contact you.