Group II: Commencement of Action; Service of Process: Pleadings, Motions, and Orders · Last amended October 6, 2025 · Last verified July 14, 2026
(a) Service: When required. —
(1) In General. — Unless these rules provide otherwise, each of the following papers must be served on every party:
(A) an order stating that service is required;
(B) a pleading filed after the original complaint, unless the court orders otherwise under Rule 5(c) because there are numerous defendants;
(C) a discovery paper required to be served on a party, unless the court orders otherwise;
(D) a written motion, except one that may be heard ex parte; and
(E) a written notice, appearance, demand, or offer of judgment, or any similar paper.
(2) If a Party Fails to Appear. — No service is required on a party who is in default for failing to appear. But a pleading that asserts a new claim for relief against such a party must be served on that party under Rule 4.
(3) Seizing Property. — If an action is begun by seizing property and no person is or need be named as a defendant, any service required before the filing of an appearance, answer, or claim must be made on the person who had custody or possession of the property when it was seized.
(1) Serving an Attorney. — If a party is represented by an attorney, service under this rule must be made on the attorney unless the court orders service on the party.
(2) Service in General. — A paper 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) leaving it with the court clerk if the person has no known address;
(D) mailing it to the person’s last known address—in which event service is complete upon mailing and simultaneously sending it by electronic means unless otherwise ordered by the court; or
(E) delivering it by any other means that the person consented to in writing—in which event service is complete when the person making service delivers it to the agency designated to make delivery.
(c) Serving numerous defendants. —
(1) In General. — If an action involves an unusually large number of defendants, the court may, on motion or on its own, order that:
(A) defendants’ pleadings and replies to them need not be served on other defendants;
(B) any crossclaim, counterclaim, avoidance, or affirmative defense in those pleadings and replies to them will be treated as denied or avoided by all other parties; and
(C) filing any such pleading and serving it on the plaintiff constitutes notice of the pleading to all parties.
(2) Notifying Parties. — A copy of every such order must be served on the parties as the court directs.
(1) Required Filings; Certificate of Service. — Any paper after the complaint that is required to be served —together with a certificate of service — must be filed within a reasonable time after service. But disclosures under Rule 26(a)(1) or (2) and the following discovery requests and responses must 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 onto land, and requests for admission. A notice of discovery proceedings may be filed concurrently with service of discovery papers to demonstrate substantial and bona fide action of record to avoid dismissal for lack of prosecution.
(2) How Filing Is Made — In General. — A paper is filed by delivering it:
(A) to the clerk of court; or
(B) to a judge who agrees to accept it for filing, and who must then note the filing date on the paper and promptly send it to the clerk.
(3) Acceptance by the Clerk. — The clerk must not refuse to file a paper solely because it is not in the form prescribed by these rules or by a local practice, except the clerk may refuse to file a paper that obviously does not comply with the Wyoming Rules Governing Access to Case Records, the Uniform Rules of the District Courts of the State of Wyoming, and the Uniform Rules of the Circuit Courts of Wyoming. See Rule 9, Wyoming Rules Governing Access to Case Records. The clerk may refuse to accept email filings not substantially in compliance with this rule. The clerk will promptly notify the filer of such rejection.
(e) Filing with the court defined. —
(1) Unless electronic filing is required pursuant to the Wyoming Rules for Electronic Filing and Service, and except as set forth in this Rule 5(e), documents shall be filed in paper with each clerk’s office in the county and court where the document is appropriately filed.
(2) Filing of documents in the trial courts through the electronic filing system (EFS) shall be governed by the Wyoming Rules for Electronic Filing and Service.
(3) Email filing of documents is permissible as set forth herein.
(A) Email filing is permissible by attorneys only in trial courts that do not yet have mandatory electronic filing requirements in accordance with the Wyoming Rules for Electronic Filing and Service.
(B) Initial pleadings (complaints or petitions), and applications for civil writs, shall not be filed by email. No document made confidential by state statute, court rule, or court order, or any paper containing confidential information which has not been redacted in accordance with the Wyoming Rules Governing Access to Case Records shall be filed by email.
(C) Except as set forth in Rule 5(e)(3)(B), all papers may be filed by email. A paper filed by email in compliance with this rule constitutes a written paper for the purpose of these rules.
(D) Papers filed by email must comply with the following:
(i) if filed in the circuit court, be followed by the fee as set forth in the Rules For Fees and Costs For Circuit Court, mailed within 24 hours of the electronic transmission.
(ii) the party or attorney making the filing may use
(a) a scanned original signature, or
(b) may use a conformed signature. A conformed signature is used to indicate a real signature in place of an original. For example “/s/ Jane Doe.” Whether a scanned original is used or a conformed signature is used, the signature line of the filing shall be accompanied by an attestation that an original signature is on file with the person who made the filing. The following form would constitute a conformed signature and an attestation:
/s/ Jane Doe Jane Doe Counsel for Petitioner I hereby attest that I have on file all holographic signatures corresponding to any signatures indicated by a conformed signature (/S/) within this electronically filed document.
(c) All notarized documents must be filed as scanned originals.
(iii) comply with the formatting requirements of applicable rules;
(iv) Cannot exceed fifty (50) pages in length unless the filer has given prior telephonic notification and received permission of the clerk of court.
(v) Multiple pleadings may be attached to a single email if they do not exceed fifty (50) pages in total, but each pleading must be a separate PDF. Pages must be numbered. No email shall contain pleadings for more than one case, and the case number shall be reflected in the subject line.
(vi) Clerks will print documents only in black and white.
(vii) Filing by email is certification that the documents are virus free. Filer will be charged for any cost incurred as a result of a transmitted virus.
(viii) Email filing must be sent to the designated email address for that clerk’s office. Clerks may require filers to obtain approval prior to filing.
(ix) Email filings are deemed filed upon receipt by the clerk’s office at the email address set forth in subsection (viii). Email filings received on or before 11:59:59 p.m. (Mountain Time) will be file-stamped for that day. Email filings received on weekends or legal holidays will be file-stamped on the date the emailed filing is received.
(E) The court may reject any paper filed not in compliance with this rule.
(4) No documents shall be transmitted to the court by facsimile for filing without prior telephonic notification to the clerk of court. Only under emergency circumstances shall documents be filed by facsimile transmission. Any paper filed by facsimile must be followed by an identical signed or otherwise duly executed original, together with the fee as set forth in the Rules For Fees and Costs For Circuit Court if filed in Circuit Court, mailed within 24 hours of the facsimile transmission. The clerk upon receiving the original or copy shall note its date of actual delivery, and shall replace the facsimile in the court file. A paper filed by facsimile in compliance with this rule constitutes a written paper for the purpose of applying these rules. No document which exceeds ten (10) pages in length may be filed by facsimile.
Added February 2, 2017, effective March 1, 2017; amended September 24, 2019, effective December 1, 2019; amended October 6, 2020, effective December 7, 2020; amended June 22, 2021, effective September 1, 2021; amended December 6, 2023, effective February 5, 2024; Amended August 5, 2025, effective October 6, 2025.
Once a case is underway, Rule 5 governs the back-and-forth of paper. Most everything filed after the original complaint — later pleadings, discovery papers, written motions (other than those that may be heard ex parte), and notices, demands, or offers of judgment — must be served on every party. There are limited exceptions: a party in default for failing to appear generally does not need to be served unless a new claim is being asserted against them, and in cases with an unusually large number of defendants, the court can streamline service so that not every defendant gets every other defendant's papers. Service itself can happen through a party's attorney, by handing over the paper, by leaving it at an office or home, by mail, or by another method the recipient agreed to in writing.
Rule 5 then turns to filing. Papers that must be served generally must also be filed with the court along with a certificate of service, though discovery materials like depositions, interrogatories, and document requests are held back from the court file until they are used in the case or the court orders otherwise. Filing happens by delivering the paper to the clerk (or to a judge willing to accept it), and the clerk cannot refuse a paper just because it does not match the prescribed form, though the clerk can refuse filings that plainly violate the rules on public access to case records. The rule also spells out, in detail, when and how documents can be filed by email in courts that do not yet have mandatory electronic filing — covering what cannot be emailed (like initial pleadings and confidential documents), signature requirements, page limits, and filing-time cutoffs — and preserves a narrow, notice-first option for filing by fax in genuine emergencies.