Prothonotary Launches Online Filing With Well Attended Seminars

When Lycoming County Prothonotary Tom Heap first took office in 2020, one of his goals was to establish an online civil case filing system, that was fully integrated with court administration and scheduling. That goal has now been achieved.

At two sold-out seminars held by the Lycoming Law Association on September 21, Heap, along with representatives of Teleosoft, introduced the county's new CountySuite™ e-Filing system. The system went online on September 1, 2023.

The system allows parties to commence new civil actions, file documents and retrieve filed documents in any civil case. The process was outlined in a detailed PowerPoint presentation. Access is available at the Lycoming County Civil Court Online Portal.

Online access does not include domestic relations cases. Also, Heap emphasized that online filing is not mandatory at the present time, so that pleadings can still be mailed or walked in to the office. He has also established a new fee bill that eliminates some nuisance fees.

Heap studied systems in place in other counties, and benefitted from the experiences of other offices. He also obtained input from the courts and the bar by vetting the proposal through the LLL Customs and Rules Committee.

By implementing this new system, the Prothonotary's office enters a new era of public access to court records. Heap indicated that his staff will monitor implementation of the system closely and make changes to improve the process if necessary.