Rule 2.01 Pleadings and Motions Must Be Filed Before Being Presented

Before you can bring any paperwork to the chancellor (the judge in these cases), you first need to file it with the court clerk. This applies to pleadings, motions, accounts, and any other papers related to your case. The clerk needs to have the official record before the judge looks at it.

There's an exception for emergencies or situations where filing with the clerk first would create a real hardship for the attorney. In those cases, the papers can go straight to the chancellor, who can mark them "Filed" on the spot. But even then, the attorney still has to take those papers to the clerk's office afterward to make sure they become part of the official court record.

The point of this rule is to keep the court's paperwork organized and make sure there's always a proper record of what's been submitted in a case, while still allowing some flexibility when time is tight or filing first isn't practical.