Court of Common Pleas of Lehigh County, Pennsylvania Filing Rules

For qualifying estates not raised in Lehigh County, file a clocked copy of the signed decree for each minor distributee to obtain a separate orphans’ court “M” file number for each minor.

A party filing a bond must immediately serve a copy on the adverse party or the adverse party’s attorney, except in appeals from proceedings before the minor judiciary.

Any party opposing the motion shall file a response along with a supporting brief, within twenty (20) days after service of the motion.

A daily transcript in electronic format costs $4.50 per page if the Court Reporter can accommodate the request and the Presiding Judge approves.

For an Incapacitated Person submission, start a new Orphans’ Court case in the Family category, select Incapacitated Person’s Settlement, enter the specified party information, select the stated filing code, and upload the petition, exhibits, and proposed order.

Pages must be numbered consecutively, with each number at the bottom center of the page.

A party may move for, and the court may grant, an extension of the discovery-completion period.

Counsel and the lawyer mediator may not communicate ex parte unless all parties consent.

All parties must deliver a copy of the pretrial statement to the assigned judge’s chambers no later than five days before a scheduled pretrial conference.

A discovery motion must state that counsel conferred and made a good-faith effort to resolve each matter, or made a good-faith effort to confer but could not do so.

A document filed with the civil clerk may not disclose anyone's Social Security number unless a court order specifically authorizes disclosure.

When an exhibit to a pleading is a Confidential Document as defined in §8.0 of the Case Records Public Access Policy, the exhibit and the Confidential Document Form required by §8.0 are to be filed as the same Lead Documents within the same envelope as the pleading (e.g. “Minor’s Compromise Petition;” “Confidential Information Form”, “Confidential Document Form – Medical/Psyc Records;” “Proposed Order”).