All parties involved in a case may e-File. It is mandatory for attorneys practicing in Benton County District Court to electronically file pleadings and documents. (Local Rule BGR 30)
Register to e-File.
Before you can e-file, you must register.
- Submit a completed Registration Form to the District Court, in person or by mail (7122 W Okanogan Pl, Ste A110, Kennewick WA 99336) or email at district.court@co.benton.wa.us. A user name and password will be issued within 2 weeks.
Verify your access.
- Submit two test documents. After receiving your login information, please submit a one-page document and a multi-page document (specify clearly on each that they are TEST DOCUMENTS). Once your documents are filed and processed by the Court, you will receive a confirmation email. If the email does not arrive in your inbox, please check your junk mail. If the email does not arrive in either your inbox or junk mail, please let us know at district.court@co.benton.wa.us.
After receiving confirmation from the court, you are ready to e-file.
All pleadings and documents related to an open court case; new cases and answers to writs of garnishment.
Summons & Complaints
- Prepurchase your case numbers by online payment of your filing fee(s)at www.bentontix.com or by mailing a check.
- Once your payment is processed, your new cause number(s) will be emailed to the email address you have provided.
- E-file the documents with the newly acquired cause numbers, separating documents with case caption headings (Summons, Complaint, Military, etc. )
- Foreign judgments
- Original wills
- Certified records of proceedings for purposes of appeal
- Negotiable instruments
- Bail bonds
- Documents presented for filing during a court hearing or trial
- Documents of foreign governments under official seal
- Bench copies for the judicial office
Yes, either PDF, TIF or TIFF file format is required. Please be sure your documents are legible with clear images before e-filing. Documents that do not meet these requirements will not be accepted.
Documents may be e-filed between 8:00 am and 4:30 pm, Monday through Friday, except legal holidays. The e-file system time is set by the Benton County's system time. Anything that does not download from the FTP site before the 4:30 pm cut-off will be downloaded the following business day at 8:00 am.
E-filers are responsible for making sure their documents have been fully downloaded to the Court before their deadline. The downloading of documents takes time. E-filing documents at 4:28 pm may or may not download before the court cut off time.
- E-Filing instructions using Web Client
- E-filing instructions using File Explorer - Windows 10
- E-filing instructions using FileZilla
Please be sure your primary email address is listed at the bottom of your filing documents. If your e-filing is not accepted, you will be notified by email.
New District Court cases may be e-filed after the filing fee has been paid and a cause number has been issued. Please indicate the cause numbers and e-file a copy of the payment confirmation.
To obtain a Civil Cause number, call District Court at (509) 735-8476 option 7
Filing fees may be paid online with nCourt: www.bentontix.com
