The West Virginia Judiciary’s Unified Electronic Filing System has expanded to the Eastern Panhandle.
Justice Brent Benjamin announced the expansion of E-filing to the Eastern Panhandle at the Circuit Courtroom in the Jefferson County Courthouse Monday.
Jefferson County is now the second county in the state to allow E-filing opportunities, following Marion County, which filed its first electronic document in August 2013.
E-filing allows circuit courts to have electronic backups of both confidential and public cases. It also saves time and money for the lawyer since he or she would no longer have to travel to the courthouse in person to file documents to the circuit clerk.
A committee is currently studying the cost of statewide expansion for E-filing and what a reasonable filing fee and user fee should be. This statewide system will be paid for by the user, not by taxpayers, and the Supreme Court is paying for the upgrade in technology for all circuit clerk offices. Public documents will eventually be accessible from any computer anywhere.
Once expanded to the entire state, those who want to file a case in a circuit court will be able to file documents electronically themselves.