, General News

Mecklenburg County eCourts Transition Process and Go-Live Timeline

Adjustments to courthouse operations will begin the weeks prior to October 9 to support the transition to eCourts.

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eCourts expanding access to justice logo

As we prepare for the official launch of eCourts in Mecklenburg County on October 9, 2023, significant adjustments to courthouse operations will begin the week prior to support the transition from paper records to electronic filing and case management. Starting the evening of October 4 until Go-Live, there will be paper processes only in Mecklenburg County.

  • Additional training dates for File & Serve and Portal have been added for attorneys and judicial partners in Mecklenburg. View the dates and register for a virtual session: File & Serve | Portal.
  • Drop-in hours will be available at the courthouse for File & Serve assistance October 9-13 in Conference Room 3561, 3rd floor.

Attorneys and other stakeholders may register in advance for Odyssey platforms, access training materials, support, and find more information for eCourts Services:

Due to data integration processes from legacy systems (e.g., VCAP, ACIS, CIPRS) to Odyssey, attorneys, judicial partners, and the public in Mecklenburg County should prepare for the following:

GO-LIVE TIMELINE

Wednesday, September 27, 5:00 p.m. until Go-Live: Credit Card Processing Ceases in Mecklenburg, Online Services Unavailable for Mecklenburg including:

  • Citation Services - payments, requesting reduction, compliance or dismissal
  • Court Date Notifications
  • Court Collections and Payments 

Wednesday, October 4, 7:00 p.m. until Go-Live: Legacy Applications go into Inquiry Only Mode in Mecklenburg County, Paper Processes Only in Mecklenburg

  • For cases filed in Mecklenburg County, legacy systems will go into “inquiry only” mode on Wednesday, October 4, at 7:00 p.m. while data is migrated from the legacy mainframe databases to Odyssey. During this time, all users will be able to access information in Mecklenburg cases using legacy systems, but the information will only be current through Wednesday, October 4.
  • Civil eFiling for domestic violence cases in Mecklenburg unavailable
  • NOTE: Paper Processes Only in Mecklenburg starting October 4 at 5:00 p.m. until Go-Live

Wednesday, October 4, 6:00 p.m. to October 7, 6:00 p.m. ALL COUNTIES:

  • eWarrants integration with Odyssey unavailable

Friday, October 6, 5:30 p.m. to October 7, 6:00 p.m.: eCourts Applications Unavailable in PILOT COUNTIES (Harnett, Johnston, Lee, Wake)

  • Odyssey
  • File & Serve (eFiling)
  • Portal (search court dates and records, online payments)

Monday, October 9: GO-LIVE for Odyssey, Portal, and eFiling in Mecklenburg

  • Once Odyssey is released on October 9, 2023, legacy systems will be decommissioned for both inquiry and update to Mecklenburg County cases. From that point forward, the public will use Odyssey Portal instead of legacy systems to access indexes, abstracted case information, and case documents for cases in Mecklenburg County. Court documents existing in paper on the date of go-live will still be available in paper form in the Clerk’s office. For counties that have not implemented Odyssey, legacy systems will remain available and updated, with one exception: for a judgment transcribed from an Odyssey county to a non-Odyssey county, both VCAP (in the receiving, non-Odyssey county) and Odyssey Portal (in the originating, Odyssey county) will need to be used to search information and updates related to the original judgment.
  • Paper filings received by the Mecklenburg County Clerk’s Office during the migration period will be manually file-stamped as they are today upon receipt and available in the Clerk’s office, but not yet indexed in Odyssey.
  • Clerks will enter into Odyssey paper filings received by the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court during the migration period starting on October 9, 2023. Paper filings will be file-stamped as of the date actually filed, but they will be indexed on the Index to Judgments as of the date they are entered into Odyssey. Thus, in Mecklenburg County, nothing will be indexed during the migration period. For this reason, there will be a delay in indexing and the availability of these filings on the public Odyssey Portal. Attorneys and paralegals may not want to schedule real estate closings in Mecklenburg County on October 5-6.
  • The Mecklenburg County Clerk’s office will announce publicly when all filings received during the transition period of data migration have been indexed in Odyssey and are available in Odyssey Portal. Until that announcement is made, you should contact the Clerk’s office to determine how to access documents filed during the migration period.
  • Upon the release of Odyssey on October 9, 2023, the Mecklenburg County Clerk of Superior Court will begin to scan and enter into Odyssey paper filings received from non-attorneys on and after the Odyssey release.
  • Additional training dates for File & Serve and Portal have been added for attorneys and judicial partners in Mecklenburg. View the dates and register for a virtual session: File & Serve | Portal.
  • Drop-in hours will be available at the courthouse for File & Serve assistance October 9-13 in Conference Room 3561, 3rd floor.

Attorneys and other stakeholders may register in advance for Odyssey platforms, access training materials, support, and find more information for eCourts Services:

The Judicial Branch is excited for eCourts to launch in Mecklenburg County, and we remain committed to making this monumental transition as seamless as possible for all involved. On behalf of the state court system, thank you for your support of the eCourts initiative and for your service to North Carolina’s legal community.