The civil courts department of the Pasco County Clerk & Comptroller’s Office now offers online access to summonses and similar civil court documents.
The service went live on Aug. 3, after a successful pilot program was completed, according to a news release from the clerk’s office.
“E-issuance involves a Civil Courts deputy clerk affixing an authorized electronic signature to documents submitted through the Florida Courts eFiling Portal. By eliminating paper and no longer requiring in-person visits by petitioners and process servers, the process becomes speedier and more efficient,” the news release says.
“It’s a significant step forward, one we’re certain our customers and partners will welcome,” said Clerk & Comptroller Nikki Alvarez-Sowles, in the news release.
“As with most significant progress, it didn’t happen overnight. Our Civil Courts Operations and Information Technology teams have gone to great effort over the past year to make sure the process is efficient and effective for our office and customers,” Alvarez-Sowles said.
Civil Courts Director Dr. Jerome Jordan also weighed in, on the new development.
“The value of this project to our office, customers and citizens is tremendous. The ability for clerk’s staff to electronically issue documents, such as proposed summonses and writs e-filed with our office, will eliminate many manual, time-consuming processes,” Jordan said.
Highlights of the program include:
- Reducing the time necessary to process documents.
- Shrinking the turnaround time to make documents available to the filer.
- Notifying filers at their eFile-registered email address a document has been added to a case and is available for viewing and downloading.
- Eliminating postage and other costs as e-filers log in to the clerk’s website to retrieve their issued documents to effect service.
The pilot testers for the project were: Maggard Law Firm P.A.; Mander Law Group; McClain Alfonso P.A.; Marcadis Singer P.A.; Margaret A. McGarrity; Office of Audrey Jefferies; Office of Dale L. Bernstein; Office of Rechel & Associates P.A.; Office of Russell G. Marlowe P.A.; and Sharp Process & Investigative Services P.A.
Published August 26, 2020
