Making Conformed Copies

A “conformed copy” is a copy:

Of an original document that has been filed with the Court, and
That has been “conformed” by you or the Court Clerk, by stamping the upper, right hand corner of its first page with the date the original was filed, eg, “Original filed XYZ County Superior Court [Date].”

For everything that you file with the Court:

Make sufficient copies of each original document, and
When you file any original document, obtain at least one date-stamped (ie, “conformed”) copy of it for your records.

It is vital for you to have a record of everything that you have (and anybody else has) filed with the Court, and when and where it was filed.

If you file in Person in the Clerk’s Office:

The larger counties, such as King County, will simply provide near the filing window a table with hand Court stamps or a Court stamping machine where you may conform your own copies.
Other counties will provide Court stamps at each filing window where you can conform your own copies.
In some counties, the Clerk will conform your copies for you.

Stamp the first page of each copy in its upper-right hand corner with the Court stamp.

If you file in Person with the Clerk of a Courtroom:

At the King County Courthouse, a Court stamping machine is available near the entry to the Ex Parte Courtrooms.
At Kent and in some other counties, Court stamps are available at or near the Clerk’s desk.
In some counties, the Clerk will conform your copies for you.

If you file by Mail: Courts don’t supply envelopes or postage. Make sure that you enclose:

Your original documents, marked “Original.”
At least one copy of each original document for confirmation, marked “Copy.”
A self-addressed, stamped envelope (“SASE”) with sufficient postage for return of your conformed copies.
One way to do this is to attach:
- A Post-It note marked “Original — File” to the top of each original, and
- Another Post-It note marked “Copy — Stamp & Return in SASE” to the top of the copies.

When you send to an interested party a copy of a Notice of Hearing & Declaration of Mailing, attach to it a complete copy of the pertinent document, so that the interested party can see exactly what it is that you are asking of the Court or what the Court has ordered.

When you file with the Court the original of a Notice or Hearing & Declaration of Mailing, attach to it a copy of at least the first page of each document that you sent to each interested party, so that the Judge can see exactly what each interested party received.