Yes. It is mandatory for all cases commenced in the civil jurisdiction of the Magistrates Court, except applications under the Restraining Orders Act 1997, to be filed using the Electronic Case Management System (ECMS).

eLodgment is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. There are no extra filing fees charged for using eLodgment.

eLodgment automates the production and lodgment of originating and non-originating court documents.

Some documents require the user to enter information which creates (renders) a court document which is then lodged in the court's electronic system, the ECMS. Other documents require the user to complete a manual form, which is uploaded into eLodgment and lodged electronically.

Within eLodgment, a party is able to view information on their existing matters such as hearings, orders and lodged documents.

The Court has published information on their website, under the heading Fees, Forms & Factsheets area.

The eCourts Portal of Western Australia is only supported on Chrome. If you are using a browser other than Chrome, you may experience issues with the site.

Yes. Currently the maximum size a document is 200MB, or 250 pages per attachment (for an affidavit).

.doc

.docx

.pdf

The site has security protection and encrypts data that passes over the Internet.

Your account may be need to reactivated following periods of inactivity. A user is generally able to re-activate their account through a link provided when trying to log in.

For enquiries concerning Court processes, contact the relevant Court Registry directly. The Court cannot provide Legal Advice.

For issues concerning registering or logging into an eCourts Portal Account; or regarding error messages, please contact the Courts Technology Group Helpdesk on (08) 9425 2645 from 8:15am to 5pm Monday to Friday (except Public Holidays) or you can send an email.

Some initiating documents are located in the Assisted Lodgment section in the eCourts Portal, not in eLodgment. Extraordinary Licences, Restraining Orders and Residential Tenancy applications can be commenced by selecting the relevant heading in the Assisted Lodgment panel.

If you cannot find your document in eLodgment or Assisted Lodgment, contact the Magistrates Court registry for assistance.

Yes, eLodgment will provide you with an opportunity to review a draft. Draft documents have the word ‘draft’ embedded into the document as a watermark.

As part of the eLodgment process, the user will receive an on screen confirmation that the document has been successfully filed.

Unlodged documents are generally available for up to 12 months. The expiry date of the document will be displayed next to a saved lodgment.

A registered user has access to the following:

• civil documents lodged by them;
• view a civil matter where the user is a party or a legal representative acting for a party;
• view past and future hearings;
• documents lodged on a matter by parties;
• court orders, including adjournment notices;
• general correspondence.

A registered user cannot access the following:

• civil matters where the user is not a party or a legal representative acting for a party (recorded on the matter);
• view a restraining order matter.

eLodgment contains the capacity for court filing fees to be paid online. There are two ways the court filing fees can be paid.

The first is to pay the relevant fees using a credit card as part of the lodgement process for each document batch. The court accepts Mastercard or Visa card. The court does not add any credit card fee to the amount of the filing fee. The user pays the same amount when lodging online with a credit card as they do when lodging over the counter and paying via cash.

The second is to establish a direct debit link between the eLodgment system and the registered user's bank account. At the point of lodgement of a document batch, the user will be asked to authorise deduction of the relevant filing fees from the user's bank account using the direct debit.

The system will calculate the Court fee based on the type of application and distance travelled for serving documents (if the Court is required to serve your documents). The system will show the fees payable on a summary screen at the end of the process. Refer to the Magistrates Court Fees schedule, for further information.

An application under Regulation 9B of The Magistrates Court (Fees) Regulations 2005 can be made by lodging Form 1B- Change of Fee – Financial Hardship or Form 1C – Change of Fee – Interests of Justice.

The lodgement of this form will create a new matter type of FEE. If your application is approved by the Court, that FEE matter will become your reference and will be required to be entered when lodging your initiating claim.

Yes, eLodgment has a comprehensive help application which covers all standard eLodgment processes.

An eLodgment user guide is also available.

If your difficulty concerns the eLodgment system in general, or the court's processes, then you should contact the court directly.

If the difficulty concerns the technical operation of eLodgment, then you should contact the Courts Technology Group Helpdesk on (08) 9425 2645 from 8:15am to 5pm Monday to Friday (except Public Holidays) or you can send an email.