Florida E-Filing Portal for Small Claims

What the Portal Is

The Florida Courts E-Filing Portal at myflcourtaccess.com is the statewide system for filing court documents electronically. It covers all Florida counties and accepts small claims filings from self-represented (pro se) filers — you don't need an attorney to use it.

The portal is run by the Florida Courts E-Filing Authority, and it's the same system attorneys use, though the interface for self-represented filers is slightly simplified. Filing through the portal establishes your filing date just like walking into the clerk's office, and you get a case number once the clerk accepts your submission.

Setting Up Your Account

Register as a self-represented (Pro Se) filer. You'll need your name, address, phone number, and email. The email address is used for e-service throughout the case. Form 2.601 is not a general opt-out: an unrepresented party may request exemption only if they have no email account or no regular internet access, and must declare that under penalty of perjury.

Registration is free. The portal supports most modern browsers, though Internet Explorer can cause display issues. Use Chrome, Firefox, or Edge.

Filing Step by Step

Once logged in, the workflow follows this sequence:

1. Select the county where you're filing.
2. Choose the division — County Civil, then the Small Claims filing sub-category.
3. Enter party information — full legal names and addresses for all plaintiffs and defendants. For business defendants, use the exact legal entity name from Sunbiz, not a trade name.
4. Upload your documents — the county's Statement of Claim form that fits your claim and any attachments required by Rule 7.050. Form 7.322 is the summons/notice to appear, and Form 7.323 is the pretrial conference order and notice of trial. Form 1.997 is not required for small-claims cases, though a county may have local information forms.
5. Pay the filing fee — credit card (3.5% surcharge) or e-check ($5.00 flat fee). Current small-claims fees are $55 for claims under $100, $80 for $100–$500, $175 for $500.01–$2,500, and $300 for $2,500.01–$8,000.

The Portal accepts Word, PDF, and PDF/A documents. Trial-court submissions cannot exceed 50 megabytes in aggregate. Scanned documents should be 300 DPI. Follow the Portal's current standards for legibility, searchable text, and accessibility; use OCR for scanned documents.

Filing Status and the Correction Queue

After you submit, the filing goes through three possible stages:

• Transmitted/Received — the portal received and timestamped your submission. If a filing goes to the Correction Queue, it relates back to that attempt only if you correct it and successfully file a substantially identical document within the 30-day period.
• Accepted — the clerk reviewed the filing, approved it, assigned a case number, and issued the summons.
• Correction Queue (Pended) — the clerk placed the document in the queue for one of the reasons listed in Rule 2.525(f)(1). You have 30 days from the notice to correct and refile a substantially identical document, seek court review, or abandon the filing.

Check your portal dashboard and email regularly after filing. If you take no action within 30 days, the queued document is abandoned.

Common Rejection Reasons

Rule 2.525(f)(1) limits the Correction Queue to these seven categories:

• A filing made after a case number was assigned lacks the correct number, and the correct number cannot be reliably established
• The document lacks a case style or has the wrong case style
• Multiple documents are filed as one document
• A multi-page document is filed as separate documents
• The document is a proposed order, unless filed under a notice of filing to preserve the record
• The document is barred by court order or cannot be filed in the clerk's case-maintenance system
• The document is illegible, corrupt, or blank

Other filing defects, including privacy or signature issues, are not Correction Queue reasons under this rule. The clerk must docket other documents and may note a procedural defect; the court may strike a noncompliant filing. Rules 2.420 and 2.425 still require protection of confidential and sensitive information.

What the Portal Doesn't Do

E-filing through the portal does not serve the defendant. It delivers your paperwork to the clerk, not to the other side. After the clerk accepts your filing and issues a summons, you still need to arrange formal service of process through the sheriff, a certified process server, or the clerk's certified mail option.

The portal also doesn't generate forms for you. You fill them out separately (downloaded from the clerk's website or the Florida Courts site) and upload the completed versions.

Navigating the portal's interface is straightforward once you know which forms to upload and in what format. Our Florida Small Claims Filing Guide includes a portal walkthrough alongside the form instructions so you can file everything correctly the first time.

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