Rule 1.Scope of Rules and Mandatory Electronic Filing.

Subdivision (a) draws the outer line. These rules govern civil proceedings in the Rhode Island Family Court, legal or equitable, that arise out of family relationships — marriage, divorce, separation, support, paternity, adoption and custody of children in those matters — and disputes arising out of contracts between spouses or people intending to marry. The rules are to be construed to secure the just, speedy and inexpensive determination of every action, and they carry their own short citation: R.Dom.Rel.P.

Subdivision (b) is the part that changes a filer's day. Filing through the Judiciary's Electronic Filing System is mandatory in Family Court cases, and all parties are required to use it. Two groups are excused outright: incarcerated individuals, and anyone granted a waiver under Article X, Rule 3(c). Self-represented litigants sit in a third position — they may file electronically under Article X, Rule 3(b), but the rule does not require it. The rule also refuses to be read alone. Article X, the Judiciary's public access rules and its user guide for electronic filing fill in what these rules leave out.

The definitions in Rule 1(b)(1) do the heavy lifting. Filing means sending a document in electronic form to or from a court or clerk through the Judiciary's electronic filing system, or having it scanned and filed into the Judiciary's case management system at the clerk's office. Notice means electronic notice through the system unless a rule states otherwise. Service splits in two: subpoenas, complaints, petitions and anything else that must be hand-delivered or served in person with a summons are not served electronically, while all other service or notice within the case must go through the system unless a rule states otherwise. Discovery travels the same way, except where it does not lend itself to electronic service because the documents do not conform or run too long, in which case conventional service is used. An electronic signature appears as /s/ NAME, and Rule 1(b)(1)(B) supplies certificate of service wording. Under Rule 1(b)(2), service of case initiating documents must include the Language Assistance Notice, which tells the recipient about a free interpreter and how to ask for one.

Two more places people stumble. Rule 1(b)(3) governs how documents arrive: case initiating documents and any required documents, attachments or exhibits go in as separate files within the same submission, later pleadings and motions the same way, though categories of items such as bills, receipts, invoices and photographs may be submitted in one attachment. Rule 1(b)(4) then puts every submission through clerk review, and the court notifies the filer whether the filing is accepted or rejected. The grounds for rejection are limited in scope and listed — sixteen of them, running from a missing conventional signature where one is required, to a page scanned upside down, an unreadable scan, a fillable PDF, a wrong or incomplete case caption, a filing code that does not match the document, or a payment processing error. On acceptance the documents are entered into the docket of the case, and the docket reflects the date and time of filing as set out in Article X, Rule 5(b).