DA and chief judge say courts have more work with electric filing system down
18 October 2023
WICHITA, Kan. (KSNW) – On Tuesday, the Department for Children and Families said some parts of their system will see delays because of the electronic filing being offline with the court.
“With the efiling and electronic court records system offline, Kansans should expect delays on returned filings, court hearings and orders being entered. Child support payments that are awaiting court orders or direction from DCF, Court Trustees, and county clerks will be delayed,” said a statement, in part, from DCF.
Attorneys say there are also court delays, but the paper system is working.
“It may be slower, it may be less efficient, but the courts are still operating,” said Wichita attorney Kurt Kerns. “And most of our judges have been around from the time when it was all paper filing.”
Kerns says delays will likely happen more in rural court systems where there are fewer people working for the courts. But he also says the threat of online issues remains.
“Thank God we do have a paper system we can always fall back on,” said Kerns. “I mean, there’s always a risk from hackers.”
Kerns says it may be some time before we know what the security breach is with the courts and the electronic filing system.
“We may never know,” said Kerns. “The only thing we’re being told is quote it’s a security breach. If I had a little bit more understanding of what the actual security breach was, we might be able to foresee what the problems are. But any time you’re dealing with the internet, and any time you’re dealing with electronic filing, you’re always going to have the same risks and exposures that are tied into the internet itself.”
While there is still no word, publicly, from the Kansas Judicial Branch as to the nature of the breech, there remains optimism.
“But from what I hear, it’s supposed to be up and running again in a couple of weeks,” said Kerns. “We will all be back to normal in a couple of weeks, and we will be moving on.”