How to File a Notice of Readiness for Trial: Forms, Fees, and Service

To file a Note of Issue in New York, you complete the Note of Issue and the accompanying Certificate of Readiness under 22 NYCRR 202.21, confirm that discovery is finished, pay the trial calendar fee, file the forms with the court (electronically through NYSCEF in mandatory e-filing counties, or with the county clerk elsewhere), and serve every other party with proof of service. The filing moves your case from discovery onto the trial calendar and starts a short clock for anyone who thinks the case isn’t actually ready.

Finish Discovery Before You File

The Certificate of Readiness is a sworn document. By signing it you affirm, line by line, that pretrial work is done: all discovery you know to be necessary has been completed, no outstanding discovery requests remain, document exchanges and interrogatory responses are in, and depositions of every identified witness have been taken.¹ In a personal injury case, that includes any physical examination the defense asked for.

If a judge issued a preliminary conference order or compliance order with deadlines, the certificate also requires you to confirm that you’ve met them.¹ An inaccurate certificate is the single most common reason filings get thrown out, so work through the checklist carefully before you sign.

When a Pretrial Step Is Stuck Through No Fault of Yours

Sometimes a step hasn’t been completed for reasons outside your control. A non-party witness refuses to sit for a deposition, a co-defendant stalls on document production, and you can’t honestly check every box. In that situation you can move the court for permission to file the Note of Issue anyway, supported by an affidavit explaining the circumstances. The court can grant that permission subject to whatever conditions it chooses to impose.¹

What the Two Forms Require

The filing is governed by 22 NYCRR 202.21 and consists of two standardized documents available through the New York State Unified Court System website or your county clerk’s office.

The Note of Issue identifies the case for calendaring. You include the county clerk’s index number, the names, office addresses, and phone numbers of every attorney who has appeared, and contact information for any self-represented party. You list any insurance carrier acting on behalf of a party. You categorize the case (motor vehicle negligence, medical malpractice, other tort, contract, contested matrimonial, and so on) so the court can route it to the right calendar, and you indicate whether you want a jury trial, for all issues or specific ones, or a bench trial.¹

The Certificate of Readiness is the sworn piece. You affirm that discovery is complete and that no outstanding requests remain. Check every field. Errors can trigger rejection, and material inaccuracies can get the filing vacated later.

Fees, Filing Method, and Service

In Supreme Court and County Court the trial calendar fee is $125. In courts where a Request for Judicial Intervention is required earlier, you’ll have already paid $95 for that step and the remaining fee at the Note of Issue stage is $30. A jury demand carries a separate $65 fee on top.²

How you file depends on where the case is. In counties with mandatory electronic filing, you submit through the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system (NYSCEF), and all documents in a NYSCEF case must be filed electronically unless a specific exemption applies.³ In counties that haven’t adopted mandatory e-filing, you deliver the papers to the clerk in person.

Serve a copy on every party entitled to notice and keep proof of that service. The rule is explicit: no case is deemed ready for trial unless the Note of Issue and Certificate of Readiness are filed with proof of service on all parties.¹ Proof can be an affidavit of service or a NYSCEF transmission confirmation. Skip the fee or botch the service and the case can be struck from the calendar.

If the Other Side Thinks You Filed Too Soon

Expect scrutiny. Any party served with a Note of Issue has 20 days to move to vacate it, with an affidavit specifying what remains incomplete.¹ The court will vacate the filing if a material fact in the certificate is wrong or the certificate otherwise fails to comply with the rule.⁴ After 20 days, a challenger has to show good cause, which is a harder standard. The court can also vacate on its own at any time if the certificate contains material inaccuracies.

From the filer’s perspective, this is why the pre-filing checklist matters so much. A certificate that overstates readiness is an invitation for a motion that resets your case and your calendar date.

Getting on the Calendar and Asking to Move Up

The clerk enters your case onto the trial calendar as of the date the Note of Issue is filed.⁵ From there your case joins a queue, and the wait varies widely by county, from several months to well over a year in congested courts.

If you have grounds to move ahead of other cases, you can apply for a trial preference under CPLR 3403. Grounds include a party who is 70 or older, a plaintiff alleging the defendant’s conduct caused their terminal illness, actions for medical, dental, or podiatric malpractice, cases brought by or against the state or a political subdivision on the government’s application, and a broader interests-of-justice basis. A granted preference moves the case ahead of all non-preferred cases pending as of that date. In personal injury and wrongful death cases, the application must include the summons, complaint, answer, bill of particulars, and medical reports.⁶

Why You Can’t Just Sit on It

Delay has teeth. Two statutes in particular can end a case for inaction.

Under CPLR 3216, if you’ve unreasonably neglected to prosecute or failed to file a Note of Issue, another party or the court can serve a written demand by certified mail requiring you to file one within 90 days, along with a warning that noncompliance will support a motion to dismiss. The demand can’t be served until at least one year after the parties joined issue, or six months after the preliminary conference order, whichever is later. File within the 90 days and you’re safe. Miss it and the court can dismiss unless you show a justifiable excuse and a meritorious cause of action.⁷ The dismissal isn’t on the merits unless the order says so, but if the statute of limitations has run, the lawsuit is effectively dead.

After you’re on the calendar, CPLR 3404 takes over. A case marked off or struck from the trial calendar, or unanswered at a calendar call, that isn’t restored within one year is deemed abandoned and dismissed automatically. The clerk enters the dismissal without a court order.⁸ Track every calendar call and every adjournment, and restore the case promptly if it gets marked off.

A Quick Word on Reopening Discovery After You File

Once the Note of Issue is in, discovery is effectively closed. Courts will reopen it only on motion with an affidavit showing unusual or unanticipated circumstances that developed after filing and that threaten substantial prejudice.⁴ Forgetting a deposition or neglecting a document request during the discovery period will not qualify. If you have any doubt that you’re done, finish the work before you file.

1
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.21 – Note of Issue and Certificate of Readiness
2
New York State Senate. New York CPLR 8020 – County Clerks as Clerks of Court
3
New York State Unified Court System. Supreme Court Civil Branch, New York County – Protocol on Courthouse and County Clerk Procedures for Electronically Filed Cases
4
New York State Unified Court System. Section 202.21 Note of Issue and Certificate of Readiness
5
New York State Senate. New York CPLR 3402 – Note of Issue
6
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.24 – Special Preferences
7
New York State Senate. New York CPLR R3216 – Want of Prosecution
8
New York State Senate. New York CPLR 3404 – Dismissal of Abandoned Cases