Appeals

The Supreme Court Access to Justice Commission has created forms for filing an appeal along with additional resources and instructions to help navigate the process. A litigant may file an appeal with or without an attorney and our office has a Legal Self Help Center available to assist you in filing your documents with our office should you not have internet access.

The documents for a civil appeal are required by state mandate to be filed electronically, which means we cannot accept paper filings over the counter without an exemption. However, criminal appeals may be filed either electronically or in paper format at the counter or in the mail. For more information about the mandate, please visit the E-filing for Illinois Courts website.

There are no filing fees to file an appeal with the circuit clerk but there will be fees required to prepare the record being submitted to the Appellate Court. The preparation fee is only required on civil cases and not for a criminal case. Please visit our fees page for more information on the fee for preparing the record.

If you need to obtain copies of transcripts, you will submit that request to the court reporter who was present at the hearing. You may contact Courtroom Monitoring at 309-558-3931 or by emailing Courtroom Monitoring.

Disclaimer: Circuit Court Clerk staff are prohibited from providing legal advice.