Clerk’s Office Corner

By The Honorable Dorothy Brown’s Clerk’s Office Corner

The Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County is dedicated to upgrading services to meet the needs of its customers. Two of the most significant improvements made that may be of special interest to attorneys are the “Global Filing” and “Self Service No Fee Filing Boxes” programs. 

The Global Filing program, established in October 2005, allows you to file any civil type case within any of the following civil family divisions: the Civil Division (Daley Center Room 602), the Law Division (Daley Center Room 801), the Chancery Division (Daley Center Room 802), the Probate Division (Daley Center Room 1202) and the Domestic Relations Division (Daley Center Room 802). You may also file civil type cases in the Civil Departments of the Suburban District Courthouses, which are located in Skokie, Bridgeview, Maywood, Rolling Meadows and Markham.

In addition, all Criminal Division and Traffic Division minor fines are now accepted at any of the Criminal or Traffic locations: 26^th St. and California, Daley Center 1006 and Suburban District Courthouses. Criminal and Traffic filings will only be accepted in their respective districts.

Please note that each customer is limited to only seven filings per day at the cashier window when filing outside of the primary division. Separate checks are required for each filing for each area of law. Forms are available within the specific division or can be obtained online at www.cookcountyclerkofcourt.org

Self Service No-Fee Filing is another program created to facilitate quicker service within the Clerk’s Office. This service allows an individual to self-file a document that does not require a payment. The Self Service No-Fee Filing boxes are located in all areas of the Clerk’s Office except in the Criminal Department of the Daley Center, the Domestic Violence Courthouse and the Juvenile Justice Division. A filing must be an original document to be accepted for No-Fee Filing. It must also be for an existing case and display a case number.

For more information on any Clerk’s Office service, please visit our website at www. cookcountyclerkofcourt.org. Remember to visit this column in the next issue of the Tort Reporter for more developments in the Office of the Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County.