MINNESOTA COURT RULES

GENERAL RULES OF PRACTICE

Rule 6.Form of Pleadings that Are Not Filed Electronically

Rule 6.01Format

All pleadings or documents that are not filed electronically shall be double spaced and legibly handwritten, typewritten, or printed on one side on plain, unglazed paper of good texture. Every page shall have a top margin of not less than one inch, free from all typewritten, printed, or other written matter. Under Rule 14 of these rules, all pleadings or documents filed electronically must comply with the format requirements established by the state court administrator in the Minnesota District Court Registered User Guide for Electronic Filing.

(Amended effective January 1, 2006; amended effective September 1, 2012; amended effective July 1, 2015.)

Advisory Committee Comment - 2006 Amendment

Rule 6.01 is amended to delete a sentence dealing with filing by facsimile. The former provision is, in effect, superseded by Minn. R. Civ. P. 5.05, as amended effective January 1, 2006.

Advisory Committee Comment - 2012 Amendment

Rule 6.01 is amended to dovetail the requirements for the form of paper pleadings, as set forth in the prior text of this rule, with the fundamentally different format required for documents electronically filed and served. Those format requirements are generally set forth in new Rule 14.05.

Rule 6.02Paper Size

All papers served or filed by any party that are not served or filed electronically shall be on standard size 8-1/2 X 11 inch paper.

(Amended effective July 1, 2015.)

Rule 6.03Backings Not Allowed

No pleading, motion, order, or other paper submitted to the court administrator for non-electronic filing shall be backed or otherwise enclosed in a covering. Any papers that cannot be attached by a single staple in the upper lefthand corner shall be clipped or tied by an alternate means at the upper lefthand corner.

(Former Rule 102 adopted effective January 1, 1992; renumbered effective January 1, 1993; amended effective July 1, 2015.)

Cross Reference: Minn. R. Civ. P. 5.05, 10.

Advisory Committee Comment - 1992 Amendment

This rule is based on 4th Dist. R. 1.01 (a) & (b), with changes.

Although the rule permits the filing of handwritten documents, the clearly preferred practice in Minnesota is for typewritten documents. Similarly, commercially printed papers are rarely, if ever, used in Minnesota trial court practice, and the use of printed briefs in appellate practice is discouraged.

All courts in Minnesota converted to use of "letter size" paper in 1982. See Order Mandating 8-1/2 x 11 Inch Size Paper For All Filings in All Courts in the State, Minn. Sup. Ct., Apr. 16, 1982 (no current file number assigned), reprinted in Minn. Rules of Ct. 665 (West pamph. ed. 1992). Papers filed in the appellate courts must also be on letter-sized paper. See Minn. R. Civ. App. P. 132.01, subdivision 1. This rule simply reiterates the requirement for the trial courts.

Advisory Committee Comment - 2015 Amendments

The amendments to Rule 6 recognize that upon the adoption of mandatory e-filing for some courts and some types of cases, other documents will be filed in paper form. The rule does not change the requirements for paper documents.

Rule 6.01 also provides a cross-reference to the Minnesota District Court Registered User Guide for Electronic Filing, which will contain the format requirements for electronic documents that are e-filed or e-served. See Minn. Gen. R. Prac. 14. That guidance document will be regularly updated and maintained on the judicial branch website, www.mncourts.gov, which will allow it to be kept current as technical requirements evolve without repeated amendatory Supreme Court orders.