To add a Cook County case to your account you need to make sure you select the correct court and format your case number correctly. Following these two steps will ensure you find your case the first time.
1) Select the appropriate court
You have many Cook County courts to choose. However, you can not just select Cook County in the drop down to find your law case. If you type Cook in the Court drop down, it will filter your Cook County court choices. After that, you will see a list of choices. Scroll through there to select the specific court your case is in.
2) Format your case number properly
Cook County case numbers can appear in a variety of forms—with or without dashes, extra zeroes or lack thereof. However, when you need to add a Cook County Case to your account, you need to follow a very specific format or the eFileIL system will not be able to find your case. Below are the case number formats you need to follow for each of Cook County’s courts.
Chancery Court
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 CH 1234
18-CH-1234
2018 CH 1234
2018CH1234
2018-CH-1234
2018-CH-01234
However, for all Chancery cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning, the letters “CH” and then five (5) numbers. Add zeroes after the “CH” if you need to make it five (5) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 CH 1234 to 2018CH01234.
So the format 2018CH01234 is required to add a Cook County case in their Chancery Court.
Civil (Municipal) Courts
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 M5 1234
18-M5-1234
2018 M5 1234
2018M51234
2018-M5-1234
2018-M5-001234
However, for all Civil (Municipal) cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning. Then remove the letter “M” after the year, and follow that with the letter M’s digit, and then six (6) numbers. Add zeroes after the digit if you need to make it six (6) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 M5 1234 to 20185001234.
So the format 20185001234 is required to add a Cook County case in their Civil (Municipal) Courts.
County Division Courts
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 COTD 1234
18-COTD-1234
2018 COTD 1234
2018COTD01234
2018-COTD-1234
2018-COTD-001234
However, for all County Division cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning, the letters “COTD”, and then six (6) numbers. Add zeroes after the digit if you need to make it six (6) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 COTD 1234 to 2018COTD001234.
So the format 2018COTD001234 is required to add a Cook County case in their County Division Courts.
Domestic Relations / Child Support Courts
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 D 1234
18-D0-1234
2018 D0 1234
2018D01234
2018-D-1234
2018-D0-01234
However, for all Domestic Relations / Child Support cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning, the letter “D” and a digit, and then five (6) numbers. Add zeroes after the digit if you need to make it five (6) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 D0 1234 to 2018D001234.
So the format 2018D001234 is required to add a Cook County case in their Domestic Relations / Child Support Courts.
Law Courts
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 L 1234
18-L-1234
2018 L 1234
2018L1234
2018-L-1234
2018-L-001234
However, for all Law cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning, the letter “L” and then six (6) numbers. Add zeroes after the “L” if you need to make it six (6) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 L 1234 to 2018L001234.
So the format 2018L001234 is required to add a Cook County case in their Law Courts.
Probate Courts
You might have the case number in one of the following formats:
18 P 1234
18-P-1234
2018 P 1234
2018P01234
2018-P-1234
2018-P-001234
However, for all Probate cases, you need to eliminate any spaces or dashes. Also, you must have the full year at the beginning, the letter “P”, and then six (6) numbers. Add zeroes after the digit if you need to make it six (6) numbers.
For example, you need to change 18 P 1234 to 2018P001234.
So the format 2018P001234 is required to add a Cook County case in their Probate Courts.