Utah ODR Portal Registration for Defendants: 14-Day Deadline Guide

The 14-Day Registration Requirement

If you were served with a small claims summons from an ODR-designated Justice Court in Utah, your summons will direct you to odr.utcourts.gov. Within 14 calendar days of service, you must either register for ODR or request an exemption — not 14 business days, not 14 days from when you first read the papers. If you choose to participate in ODR, complete registration within that window.

Under Utah Supreme Court Standing Order No. 13, if you neither register nor request an exemption within the 14-day window, the plaintiff may file for a default judgment. You can lose your case without ever presenting your side.

ODR-designated courts include many of Utah's largest Justice Courts — Salt Lake City, Sandy, Orem, West Valley City, and others. If your summons mentions "Online Dispute Resolution" anywhere, this deadline applies to you.

How to Register Step by Step

Go to odr.utcourts.gov and create an account. You will need:

• The case number from your summons (printed on the Affidavit and Summons document)
• A valid email address you check regularly — all communication from the facilitator comes through the portal
• Your full legal name as it appears on the summons

Once your account is created, enter the case number to link yourself to the existing case. You will be asked to submit an initial statement describing your position in the dispute. This does not need to be a legal brief — a clear explanation of your side of the story in plain language works.

After registration, the court assigns a neutral facilitator who communicates with both parties asynchronously through an online chat interface. You upload documents (PDFs or images), exchange messages, and work toward a resolution without setting foot in a courtroom.

What the ODR Process Looks Like After Registration

The ODR process is designed to settle disputes before they reach a formal trial. Once both parties are registered:

1. Facilitated negotiation — A court facilitator helps both sides communicate and explore settlement options through the portal's chat system
2. Evidence exchange — Both parties upload relevant documents (contracts, photos, receipts, text message screenshots) directly into the chat thread
3. Live mediation (optional) — If the facilitator determines a live conversation would help, a video mediation session can be scheduled
4. Settlement or trial — If you reach an agreement, the facilitator drafts it for the judge's signature. If not, the case moves to a formal bench trial

One critical detail: under Standing Order No. 13, information shared for ODR facilitation is private and is not disclosed beyond that phase without approval from the party who provided it. If facilitation fails, the facilitator submits a pretrial form with relevant information the parties agree to share, not the full chat. Bring or submit your own evidence for trial as the court directs.

Common Registration Problems

Forgotten case number. If you misplaced the summons, call the Justice Court clerk listed on the original paperwork or look up the case on the Xchange public portal at utcourts.gov.

Technical issues. The portal sometimes rejects file formats or times out during uploads. If you are having trouble, contact the court clerk by phone. Do not wait until day 14 to troubleshoot — register as early as possible to leave time for technical problems.

Mobile-only access. The ODR portal accepts PDFs, JPGs, PNGs, and GIFs. If you are working from a phone, you may need to crop and compress documents. Most phone cameras produce files that work, but contracts spanning multiple pages may need to be combined into a single PDF using a free scanning app.

What Happens If You Miss the Deadline

If you neither register nor request an exemption within 14 calendar days, the plaintiff may file for a default judgment. You may be able to undo a default judgment by filing a Motion to Set Aside within 15 calendar days of the judgment entry; under URSCP Rule 10, the court may grant a timely motion if you show good cause.

The simplest path: register the day you receive the summons.

For the complete defendant roadmap — from decoding your summons through the ODR process, hearing preparation, and your options after a decision — see the Responding to a Small Claims Case in Utah guide.

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