Home › Tennessee › Rules of Criminal Procedure › Rule 49.2

Rule 49.2 Electronic filings, signing, or verification

X. General Provisions

← Previous Rule 49.1: Facsimile Filing of Papers Next → Rule 50: Scheduling Cases

Rule Text

Any court governed by these rules may, by local rule, allow papers to be filed, signed, or verified by electronic means compliant with technological standards promulgated by the Supreme Court. Pleadings and other papers files electronically under such local rules shall be considered the same as written papers.

[By order filed January 8, 2018, effective July 1, 2018.]

Plain-English Summary (for reference only — not a substitute for the rule text above)

This summary is not the rule. The rule text controls.

Courts in Tennessee can choose to let people file, sign, or verify criminal court documents electronically instead of on paper. To do this, a court has to set up its own local rule that follows technology standards set by the Tennessee Supreme Court.

If a court allows electronic filing, documents submitted this way count just as much as documents filed on paper. In other words, an electronic signature or filing has the same legal weight as a handwritten one, as long as the court has approved this system and the filer follows the required technology rules.

This rule matters because it gives courts flexibility to modernize how people submit paperwork, while making sure electronic documents are treated fairly and taken just as seriously as paper ones.

Committee Notes

Advisory Commission Comment 2018.

Normal

false

EN-US

X-NONE

/* Style Definitions */

table.MsoNormalTable

{mso-style-name:"Table Normal";

mso-tstyle-rowband-size:0;

mso-tstyle-colband-size:0;

mso-style-noshow:yes;

mso-style-priority:99;

mso-style-parent:"";

mso-padding-alt:0in 5.4pt 0in 5.4pt;

mso-para-margin-top:0in;

mso-para-margin-right:0in;

mso-para-margin-bottom:10.0pt;

mso-para-margin-left:0in;

line-height:115%;

mso-pagination:widow-orphan;

font-size:11.0pt;

font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif";

mso-ascii-font-family:Calibri;

mso-ascii-theme-font:minor-latin;

mso-hansi-font-family:Calibri;

mso-hansi-theme-font:minor-latin;}

Courts in certain counties have expressed a desire to implement an electronic filing system. This rule permits trial courts, by local rule, to adopt such systems. This rule provides the same authority for trial courts exercising criminal jurisdiction as currently exists under Rule 5B, Tennessee Rules of Civil Procedure, and Rule 106(h), Tennessee Rules of Juvenile Procedure.

Electronic filing systems have also been implemented in all of the federal district courts (with the sole exception of the United States District Court for the Northern Mariana Islands) and in a number of states. Electronic filing offers numerous advantages over traditional “paper filing,” including vastly increased public access to court documents and reduction of the time and expense incurred by litigants and court personnel in filing, storing, and retrieving documents.

The Commission envisions that, in the not too distant future, all of Tennessee’s courts will adopt electronic case filing systems. In order to achieve statewide uniformity, the systems utilized throughout the state must comply with technological standards promulgated by the Supreme Court. Without such uniformity, the desired ease of access to data and cost efficiencies could not be achieved.

← Previous Rule 49.1: Facsimile Filing of Papers Next → Rule 50: Scheduling Cases

This Rule Set

View All Tenn. R. Crim. P. Rules

Last updated: September 2026

Report an error