Rule 5.Service and Filing of Pleadings and Other Papers Subsequent to the Original Complaint

Last amended July 1, 2022 · Last verified July 1, 2026

In one sentenceRule 5 governs every paper filed after the original complaint — orders, later pleadings, discovery, and motions — spelling out who must be served, the accepted methods of service, when a served paper must also be filed with the court, and how electronic filing works where a court allows it.

Full Text of Rule 5

Text sizeJump to: (A) (B) (C) (D) (E)

A Service: when required

Except as otherwise provided in these rules, every order required by its terms to be served, every pleading subsequent to the original complaint unless the court otherwise orders because of numerous defendants, every paper relating to discovery required to be served upon a party unless the court otherwise orders, every written motion other than one which may be heard ex parte, and every written notice, appearance, demand, offer of judgment, and similar paper shall be served upon each of the parties. Service is not required on parties in default for failure to appear except that pleadings asserting new or additional claims for relief or for additional damages against them shall be served upon them in the manner provided for service of summons in Civ.R. 4 through Civ.R. 4.6.

B Service: how made

1 Serving a party; serving an attorney

Whenever a party is not represented by an attorney, service under this rule shall be made upon the party. If a party is represented by an attorney, service under this rule shall be made on the attorney unless the court orders service on the party. Whenever an attorney has filed a notice of limited appearance pursuant to Civ.R. 3(B), service shall be made upon both that attorney and the party in connection with the proceedings for which the attorney has filed a notice of limited appearance.

2 Service in general

A document is served under this rule by:

a Handing it to the person;

b Leaving it:

i At the person’s office with a clerk or other person in charge or, if no one is in charge, in a conspicuous place in the office; or

ii If the person has no office or the office is closed, at the person’s dwelling or usual place of abode with someone of suitable age and discretion who resides there;

c Mailing it to the person’s last known address by United States mail, in which event service is complete upon mailing;

d Delivering it to a commercial carrier service for delivery to the person’s last known address within three calendar days, in which event service is complete upon delivery to the carrier;

e Leaving it with the clerk of court if the person has no known address; or

f Sending it by electronic means to a facsimile number or e-mail address provided in accordance with Civ.R. 11 by the attorney or party to be served, or, if mutually agreed in writing by all counsel and unrepresented parties, any other electronic media platform(s), in which event service is complete upon transmission, but is not effective if the serving party learns that it did not reach the person served.

3 Using court facilities

If a local rule so authorizes, a party may use the court's transmission facilities to make service under Civ.R. 5(B)(2)(f).

4 Proof of service

The served document shall be accompanied by a completed proof of service which shall state the date and manner of service, specifically identify the division of Civ.R. 5(B)(2) by which the service was made, and be signed in accordance with Civ.R. 11. Documents filed with the court shall not be considered until proof of service is endorsed thereon or separately filed.

C Service: numerous defendants

In any action in which there are unusually large numbers of defendants, the court, upon motion or of its own initiative, may order that service of the pleadings of the defendants and replies thereto need not be made as between the defendants and that any cross-claim, counterclaim, or matter constituting an avoidance or affirmative defense contained therein shall be deemed to be denied or avoided by all other parties and that the filing of any such pleading and service thereof upon the plaintiff constitutes due notice of it to the parties. A copy of every such order shall be served upon the parties in such manner and form as the court directs.

D Filing

Any paper after the complaint that is required to be served shall be filed with the court within three days after service. The following discovery requests and responses shall not be filed until they are used in the proceeding or the court orders filing: depositions, interrogatories, requests for documents or tangible things or to permit entry on land, and requests for admission.

E Filing with the court defined

The filing of documents with the court, as required by these rules, shall be made by filing them with the clerk of court, except that the judge may permit the documents to be filed with the judge, in which event the judge shall note the filing date on the documents and transmit them to the clerk. A court shall provide, by court order or local rule, for the filing of documents by electronic means. The court order or local rule shall include all of the following:

1 Any signature on electronically transmitted documents shall be considered that of the attorney or party it purports to be for all purposes. If it is established that the documents were transmitted without authority, the court shall order the filing stricken.

2 A provision shall specify the days and hours during which electronically transmitted documents will be received by the court, and a provision shall specify when documents received electronically will be considered to have been filed.

3 Any document filed electronically that requires a filing fee may be rejected by the clerk of court unless the filer has complied with the mechanism established by the court for the payment of filing fees.

Amendment History

Effective Date: July 1, 1970

Amended: July 1, 1971; July 1, 1984; July 1, 1991; July 1, 1994; July 1, 2001; July 1, 2012; July 1, 2015; July 1, 2016; July 1, 2018; July 1, 2022

Staff Note (July 1, 2001 Amendment)

Civil Rule 5(E) Filing with the court defined

The amendments to this rule were part of a group of amendments that were submitted by the Ohio Courts Digital Signatures Task Force to establish minimum standards for the use of information systems, electronic signatures, and electronic filing. The substantive amendment to this rule was the amendment of the second sentence and the addition of the last sentence of division (E), and the addition of divisions (E)(2) and (E)(3). Comparable amendments were made to Civil Rule 73 (for probate courts), Criminal Rule 12, Juvenile Rule 8, and Appellate Rule 13.

As part of this electronic filing and signature project, the following rules were amended effective July 1, 2001: Civil Rules 5, 11, and 73; Criminal Rule 12; Juvenile Rule 8; and Appellate Rules 13 and 18. In addition, Rule 26 of the Rules of Superintendence for Courts of Ohio was amended and Rule of Superintendence 27 was added to complement the rules of procedure. Superintendence Rule 27 establishes a process by which minimum standards for information technology are promulgated, and requires that courts submit any local rule involving the use of information technology to a technology standards committee designated by the Supreme Court for approval.

Staff Note (July 1, 2012 Amendment)

Rule 5(B)

Rule 5(B) is amended (1) to permit service of documents after the original complaint to be made by electronic means and by commercial carrier service and (2) to conform the format and language of the rule to the December 1, 2007 amendments to Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(b).

Rule 5(B)(2)(d) permits service of a document by delivering it to a commercial carrier service for delivery within three calendar days. Rule 5(B)(2)(f) adopts the language of Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(b) stating that service by electronic means is not effective if the serving party learns that the document did not reach the person to be served. Rule 5(B)(3) emphasizes a party’s duty to provide a proof of service that states the date and specific manner by which the service was made, specifically identifying the division of Civ.R. 5(B)(2) by which service was made.

Rule 5(D)

The provisions of Civ.R. 5(D) relating to the duty to provide a proof of service have been moved to Civ.R. 5(B)(3) and amended to require that a serving party specifically identify the division of Civ.R. 5(B)(2) by which the service was made. Additional changes are made to substitute “document” for “paper” for consistency with other Rules of Civil Procedure.

Staff Note (July 1, 2015 Amendment)

The rule is amended by adding a new division Civ.R. 5(B)(3) permitting a party to use a court's transmission facilities to serve other parties by electronic means if so authorized by local rule, and the subsequent division of the rule is renumbered accordingly.

The amendment eliminates a duplication of effort resulting from the 2012 amendments to Civ.R. 5(B) which permitted a party to use electronic means to fulfill the party's Civ.R. 5 duty to serve all other parties but did not authorize the party to use the facilities of a local court's electronic filing system to perform that duty—even though, under local rules, the court's facilities nevertheless serve by electronic means all parties participating in the electronic filing system. The new provision is virtually identical to Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(b)(3).

Staff Note (July 1, 2016 Amendment)

Division 5(D) of this rule, the general rule for the time for filing, is amended to conform the language to the 2007 stylistic changes to Fed.R.Civ.P. 5(d) to the extent that the substance of the Ohio and Federal Rules are the same.

Staff Note (July 1, 2018 Amendment)

Division (B)(1) Serving a party; serving an attorney This and other July 1, 2018 amendments to the Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure encourage attorneys to assist pro se parties on a limited basis without undertaking the full representation of the client on all issues related to the legal matter for which the attorney is engaged. By these amendments, the Supreme Court seeks to enlarge access to justice in Ohio’s courts as recommended by a 2006 Report of the Court’s Task Force on Pro Se & Indigent Litigants and by a 2015 Report of the Court’s Task Force on Access to Justice. The amendment to Civ.R. 5(B)(1) makes clear that when a notice of limited appearance has been filed by an attorney, an opposing party shall continue serving documents upon the party throughout the duration of the limited appearance while also serving the attorney. The purpose of the amendment is to assure appropriate service upon counsel to represented parties, but also to assure that a client being represented on a limited basis has copies of all key documents in the litigation.

Staff Note (July 1, 2022 Amendment)

Although no firm deadline is stated in the rule by which all courts must complete arrangements for filing documents by electronic means, this should be a priority for all courts. Receiving and filing facsimile or electronic mail documents is readily and economically done, and avoids difficulty with delay in United States Postal Service mail delivery.

Plain-English Summary

Division (A) requires service of every order, every pleading after the original complaint, every paper relating to discovery, and every written motion other than one that may be heard without notice. A party who has defaulted by failing to appear need not be served further unless the pleading against them asserts a new or different claim, which must be served in the way an original summons is served.

Division (B) lists how a document is served: handing it to the person or their attorney, leaving it at an office with someone in charge, leaving it at a home with a person of suitable age and discretion, mailing it (complete upon mailing), delivering it to a commercial carrier for delivery within three days (complete on delivery to the carrier), leaving it with the clerk if no address is known, or sending it electronically to an address the recipient has provided, so long as the sender does not learn the transmission failed. Every served document needs proof of service identifying the exact method used.

When an action has an unusually large number of defendants, division (C) lets the court order that the defendants’ pleadings and any responses to them need not be served on every other defendant, so long as notice of the filing is given and the papers remain available for inspection. Division (D) requires most papers to be filed with the court within three days after service, though certain discovery requests and responses — interrogatories, document requests, deposition notices, and requests for admission along with their answers and responses — are not filed until used in the proceeding or ordered filed by the court. Division (E) defines filing with the court as filing with the clerk, unless a judge permits direct filing, and sets the ground rules for any court that allows electronic filing: how transmitted signatures are treated, what hours filings are accepted, and when a filing fee must be paid before the clerk will accept an electronic submission.

Frequently Asked Questions

Who has to be served with papers filed after the original complaint?

Every party to the action, unless that party has defaulted by failing to appear and the new paper does not assert a new or different claim for relief against them.

When is service by mail complete under Rule 5?

Service by ordinary mail is complete the moment the document is mailed, regardless of when, or whether, it is received.

Do discovery requests like interrogatories get filed with the court?

Not automatically. Rule 5(D) keeps interrogatories, document requests, deposition notices, and requests for admission — along with the answers and responses to them — out of the court file unless they are used in the proceeding or the court orders them filed.

Source & verification. The rule text, Effective Date, Amended dates, and Staff Notes are reproduced verbatim from the official Ohio Rules of Civil Procedure (Ohio R. Civ. P. 5). Prescribed by the Supreme Court of Ohio (Ohio Constitution, Art. IV, § 5(B)). The plain-English summary is original and written by us. Last verified July 1, 2026. · Official source

Also known as: service of papersfiling with the courtproof of serviceelectronic filing