If your question is not covered below, contact your local Sheriff Court.

There are full user guides for members of the public and solicitors.

If you are a member of the public, the Public User Guide has details of how to register.

If you are a legal professional, the Solicitor User Guide has details of how to register. You will need your company ID.

If you require assistance completing the forms, you should contact your local Sheriff Court.

Court staff cannot give legal advice but the Law Society of Scotland can provide contact details for solicitors in your area who can advise you.

If you do not have all the information you need to complete your submission, the system will save a draft that you can continue to work on later. There is a user guide that explains draft submissions.

A full breakdown of costs can be found on the Sheriff Court Fees page.

You may be entitled to an exemption. If you are, you must upload your completed fee exemption form and supporting document during the submission process.

Log-in to Civil Online and follow the on-screen instructions. 

There are user guides for members of the public and solicitors that explain the steps for raising a new claim.

Before you start, you should have:

• Details for the person(s) or organisation(s) making the claim (the claimant)
• Details for the person(s) or organisation(s) you are making the claim against (the respondent)
• Details of the dispute you want to resolve
• Any supporting documents that you want to upload
• If you are acting as a lay representative, your completed lay representative form
• Your credit or debit card to pay the court fee; or
• A completed fee exemption form (see Am I exempt from court fees?)

Claims should be submitted online. If you feel you cannot do this, you must seek approval from the sheriff for the claim to proceed in paper form. You should complete the claim form on paper and send this to the court with the appropriate fee and a note detailing:

• the names and addresses of the parties; and
• the reasons why the form cannot be submitted online.

The sheriff will consider the circumstances set out in the note. Where approval is not given and the claimant wishes to proceed with the claim, it must be submitted online.

You can download a completed PDF copy of your claim form when you have submitted it to the court. This can be saved and printed at any stage, for example to use for service on the respondent.

Log-in to Civil Online and follow the on-screen instructions.

When you respond to a claim as a member of the public, there are user guides that explain how to: 

• admit the claim and settle
• dispute the claim
• apply for time to pay.

A separate user guide covers lodging a response as a solicitor.

Before you start, you will need:

• The case reference and the name of the claimant (you will find both on the claim form you have received)
• Any supporting documents that you want to upload
• If you are applying for time to pay, your completed Form 5A Time to Pay Application
• If you are acting as a lay representative, your completed lay representation form

There is a user guide that explains how to track your case.

You can be contacted via the SCTS's online portal, which stores all the correspondence for your claim in one, secure and easy-to-access place.  This allows you to track the progress of your case and submit documents easily.

Alternatively, you can ask to be contacted by post or email.

When you complete and submit your claim, a submission ID will be displayed on the confirmation screen - it will look like this: sid456-23.

When the claim is registered, a case reference will be issued and will appear on case documents - it will look like this: ABE-SG123-23. (The prefix identifies the court – the example is for Aberdeen.)

Please quote either of these when contacting the court.

If you have a legal or lay representative they will also be able to use Civil Online to access the case on your behalf. They will first need to register for access.

Contact the court dealing with your case, quoting the case reference.

There is a user guide that explains user administration for solicitors.

If your branch/firm is not registered for Civil Online please contact civilonlinelab@scotcourts.gov.uk to arrange access.

If your branch/firm has previously been set-up with access for Civil Online and you do not know the Company ID please ask a colleague in the first instance, if this is not possible please contact the Civil Lab on the email above.

If you have access to more than one branch just pick one of the Company IDs for the purpose of signing-up.

If you have been instructed following a change of agency and wish to use Civil Online, you must make a request in writing for the representative details to be updated and send this to the appropriate Sheriff Clerk, quoting the case reference.

Solicitors may use the Civil Online API to transfer Simple Procedure claims directly to the court from their own case management systems.

If you are interested in setting up your firm to use the API, email civilonlinelab@scotcourts.gov.uk    

When you submit an Initial Writ, we use a secure, internal AI system to support the processing of your form. The AI helps by automatically extracting key details—such as names, addresses, and case references—and entering them into our case management system.

This improves the accuracy and speed of data entry and helps us manage cases more efficiently, reducing delays and manual handling.

Importantly, the AI does not make any decisions about your case. It simply assists with interpreting and structuring the information. Everything processed by the AI is reviewed and verified by a member of our staff, who remains fully responsible for ensuring the accuracy and appropriate use of your information.

The AI system is used exclusively within the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service. It is not connected to any public-facing AI service, and your data is never shared externally or used to train AI models. All information is handled securely and in line with UK Government standards for data protection.