Rule 81. Local court rules

(A) Authority. Courts may regulate local court and administrative district practice by adopting and amending in accordance with this Rule local and administrative district rules not inconsistent with--and not duplicative of--these Rules of Trial Procedure or other Rules of the Indiana Supreme Court. The local and administrative district rules may reflect different practices due to geographic, jurisdictional, and other variables. Courts must not use standing orders (that is, generic orders not entered in the individual case) to regulate local court or administrative district practice. Local and administrative district rules requiring approval of the Indiana Supreme Court or the Indiana Office of Judicial Administration (IOJA) are subject to the provisions of this rule.

(B) Notice and comment.

(1) When a court or administrative district proposes to adopt or amend local or administrative district rules, it shall give notice to the bar and public of the content of the proposal, the time period for the bar and public to comment, the address to which comments should be sent, and the proposed effective date. Notice shall include, but not be limited to, transmitting the proposal to the officers of any local county bar association.

(2) The court must also transmit the proposal to the county clerk and to the IOJA in digital format. The county clerk must post the proposal in the county clerk’s office(s) and on the county clerk’s website, if any, and the IOJA must post the proposal on the Indiana Judicial Website for public inspection and comment. The court and the IOJA must receive comments for not less than thirty days.

(C) Schedule. The IOJA shall establish and publish a uniform annual schedule, similar to the schedule for proposed Supreme Court rules under Rule 80(D), for publishing proposed local and administrative district rules, receiving comment, adopting rules, and the effective date of adopted rules.

(D) Exceptions to the schedule. If a court finds that there is good cause to deviate from the schedule established by the IOJA, the court or administrative district may adopt or amend local or administrative district rules at other times. However, a local or administrative district rule does not take effect unless it has first been posted for thirty days in the county clerk’s office(s) and on the county clerk’s website, if any, and on the Indiana Judicial Website. The court promptly thereafter must provide opportunity to comment in the manner provided in subdivision (B)(1).

(E) Style, format, and numbering. The IOJA shall establish and publish a standard format for drafting and amending local and administrative district rules. The format shall include a uniform numbering system which, to the extent practicable, corresponds to the numbering of these Rules of Trial Procedure and other Rules of the Indiana Supreme Court.

(F) Adopted Rules. The court must cause the county clerk to post local rules and amendments in the county clerk’s office(s) and on the county clerk’s website, if any, for public inspection, and must transmit a copy of the rules in digital format to the IOJA for posting on the Indiana Judicial Website.

(G) Availability of local and administrative district rules. All local and administrative district rules, as amended and with any appendices thereto, shall be compiled into one document, which shall be posted and available in the clerk’s office at all times for public inspection and on the county clerk’s website, if any. They shall be available free of charge on the Indiana Judicial Website.

(H) Suspension of local or administrative district rules. In an individual case the court, upon its own motion or the motion of any party, may waive, suspend or modify compliance with any local or administrative district rule if the interests of justice so require. All such waivers, suspensions or modifications shall be entered in the Chronological Case Summary of the case.

(I) Periodic review and update. At least once every two years, courts and administrative districts must review and change local and administrative district rules as required by changes in statutes, case law, or these Rules of Trial Procedure or other Rules of the Indiana Supreme Court. Each county must certify that the judges have made the required review when submitting the county caseload allocation plan required by Administrative Rule 1(E)(1).