What you can do in the Electronic Court without a lawyer

The Electronic Court is the Judiciary’s platform for filing petitions, motions and documents without going to a courthouse. It has two account types. The personal one is for the general public: a person creates it to file without legal representation, and it is the only one from which ticket-review and wedding requests can be made. The institutional one is created by organizations and agencies involved in judicial processes; it has two account administrators who add the rest, and each user can act as a facilitator — assisting the filer, without being a party — or as a person authorized in law, when the entity appears as petitioner because a special statute empowers it.

Anyone can create a personal account with an active email address, basic information, a username and a password, and needs an internet-connected device. If you lack equipment or access, the Judiciary says to go to the nearest courthouse to use the devices available there. That said, the platform does not accept just any matter: you can only file motions in matters authorized for self-represented litigants where you are a party. You can, however, access any non-confidential electronic case file, even if you are not a party.

• An electronic device with an internet connection. If you have none, you can use those available at the nearest courthouse.Verified against the official source
• An active email address.Verified against the official source
• A user account: personal if you file without a lawyer, institutional if you are an organization or agency involved in judicial processes.Verified against the official source
• To file motions: being a party in a case among the matters authorized for self-represented litigants.Verified against the official source

• For review of an administrative fine or traffic ticket: the ticket, and the $6.00 fee for each one, paid on the platform itself. Personal account only.
• For a wedding held at the courthouse: the $20.00 fee, also paid on the platform. Personal account only.

1. 1

   Step 1: Check whether your matter is on the list

   The platform accepts six kinds of public request: protection orders; orders under the Mental Health Act (Act No. 408-2000); provisional remedies for disputes under Act No. 140-1974; appeals under the Students’ Bill of Rights; review of administrative fines or traffic tickets; and holding a wedding at the courthouse. If your matter is not there, it goes through the regular route.

2. 2

   Step 2: Create the account that applies to you

   If you are filing on your own, it is the personal account: email, basic information, username and password. If you are an organization or agency involved in judicial processes, it is the institutional one, administered by two designated people and which registers each user with their name, phone and official email. In the institutional account the username is permanent and cannot be edited.

3. 3

   Step 3: File whenever, but count on the shifts

   The platform receives petitions and motions seven days a week, 24 hours a day. Handling goes by type and urgency: protection orders and mental health remedies are handled the same day, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 10:00 pm and weekends and holidays from 1:00 pm to 10:00 pm. All other requests, Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 5:00 pm.

4. 4

   Step 4: Pay on the platform if your filing has a fee

   The two filings with a published fee are ticket or fine review, at $6.00 each, and the request to hold a wedding at the courthouse, at $20.00. Both are paid on the platform itself and both require a personal account: they cannot be done from an institutional one.

5. 5

   Step 5: Consult case files from Mis Casos

   From the Electronic Court you can access any non-confidential electronic case file, including those filed through SUMAC. You can also search by number for a case someone else started in which you are a respondent or interested party, to file documents when needed. What you cannot do is file motions outside the authorized matters.

Online, at the Judiciary’s Electronic Court. If you lack equipment or internet, at the nearest courthouse, which makes devices available to the public.

• Trying to file on the platform a matter that is not among the six authorized ones.
• Looking in Mis Casos for a file that started on paper.
• Giving a lawyer your password instead of having them assume representation with their own credentials.
• Trying to contest a ticket or request a wedding from an institutional account: both are personal-account only.
• Confusing filing with being attended: it receives 24/7, it handles in shifts.
• Not filing for lack of a computer, when the nearest courthouse lends devices.

These are the government pages this guide is based on.

• Poder Judicial de Puerto Rico

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr

• Electronic Court — interactive form

  Poder Judicial

  tribunalelectronico.poderjudicial.pr

• About the Electronic Court

  Poder Judicial

  poderjudicial.pr