Rule 10.Form of Pleadings.
Current through February 2024 · Last verified September 12, 2026
Full Text of Rule 10
Amendment History
Rhode Island does not publish a per-rule amendment history inside the compiled rules text reproduced here. The text above is verified current through the source’s own February 2024 printing; for the underlying adopting orders and any later amendments, see the Rhode Island Judiciary’s compiled rules page.
Plain-English Summary
Every pleading carries a caption with the name of the court, the county, the title of the action, the file number and a designation drawn from Rule 7(a). The complaint's title names all the parties. Later pleadings may name the first party on each side with an appropriate indication that there are others. Parties are called plaintiff and defendant, with one exception worth remembering: in an adoption, the party seeking to adopt is the petitioner.
Subdivision (b) governs the body. Allegations of claim or defense go in numbered paragraphs, each held as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances, and any paragraph may then be referred to by its number in every later pleading. A claim founded on a separate transaction or occurrence, and any defense other than a denial, goes in its own count or defense whenever splitting them makes the matter clearer.
Subdivision (c) saves repetition and has real consequences. A statement made in one place may be adopted by reference elsewhere in the same pleading, in another pleading, or in a motion. A copy of a written instrument attached as an exhibit to a pleading is part of that pleading for all purposes, so an attached agreement or order is in the case as fully as the words typed above it.
Frequently Asked Questions
What has to appear in the caption of a Rhode Island Family Court pleading?
Rule 10(a) requires the name of the court, the county, the title of the action, the file number and a designation as in Rule 7(a). The complaint's title has to list all the parties. Other pleadings may name the first party on each side with an appropriate indication that other parties exist.
In an adoption, am I the plaintiff or the petitioner?
Rule 10(a) calls parties plaintiff and defendant except in adoption proceedings, where the party seeking to adopt is referred to as the petitioner. That matches Rule 7(a)(2), which allows a petition rather than a complaint in an adoption.
Do I have to number the paragraphs in my complaint?
Yes. Rule 10(b) requires allegations of claim or defense to be made in numbered paragraphs, each limited as far as practicable to a single set of circumstances. The numbering pays off later, because a paragraph can then be referred to by number in every succeeding pleading.
Is a document I attach to my complaint part of the complaint?
Rule 10(c) says a copy of a written instrument that is an exhibit to a pleading is part of that pleading for all purposes. The other side responds to it as it would to anything else in the pleading.
Do I have to put each claim in a separate count?
Rule 10(b) requires a claim founded upon a separate transaction or occurrence, and each defense other than a denial, to be stated in a separate count or defense whenever the separation makes the matters clearer. The rule ties the requirement to clear presentation, not to a fixed number of counts.