The Illinois Notice of Appeal form is a free, standardized document you download from the Illinois Courts website, fill out under Illinois Supreme Court Rule 303, and file with the circuit court clerk within 30 days of the final judgment. Filing on time is jurisdictional: miss the deadline and the appellate court has no authority to hear your case.1Supreme Court of Illinois. Rule 303 – Appeals From Final Judgments of the Circuit Court in Civil Cases
Where to Download the Form
The Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice publishes standardized appellate forms that every Illinois court must accept.2State of Illinois Office of Illinois Courts. Standardized Court Forms The Notice of Appeal packet lives in the Appellate Forms section of illinoiscourts.gov and contains four documents:3Office of the Illinois Courts. Approved Statewide Forms – Notice of Appeal
- Getting Started, a short overview of the appeal process
- How to File a Notice of Appeal, step-by-step instructions
- The Notice of Appeal itself, which you fill out, sign, and file
- Additional Proof of Delivery, a supplemental form for documenting service on the other parties
Download all four before you start. You will need the Proof of Delivery form to document service, and the instructions walk through every field on the notice.
How to Fill Out the Notice of Appeal
Rule 303(b) sets out what the notice must contain.1Supreme Court of Illinois. Rule 303 – Appeals From Final Judgments of the Circuit Court in Civil Cases Keep your trial court file open next to you. Every name, date, and case number on the notice needs to match the circuit court records exactly.
Caption and Case Identification
At the top, the form asks for two statements: “Appeal to the [Appellate Court district]” and “From the Circuit Court of [county name].” List the parties using the same names and designations they carried in circuit court, then add their appellate labels. So a plaintiff who is appealing becomes “Jane Doe, Plaintiff-Appellant,” and the responding party becomes “John Smith, Defendant-Appellee.” Label the document itself as a Notice of Appeal, Cross-Appeal, Separate Appeal, or Joining Prior Appeal, whichever applies.
Judgment Appealed From and Relief Requested
Identify the specific judgment or order you are challenging, including the date the judge entered it. If you are only appealing part of the judgment, say so; you do not have to appeal the whole thing. Then state exactly what you want the appellate court to do. “Reverse the judgment entered on March 15, 2026, awarding $75,000 in damages” tells the court far more than a bare request for “reversal.” Be concrete about the outcome you want, whether that is reversal, vacatur, remand for a new trial, or something else.
Appellant Information and Signature
List the name and address of each appellant, or of counsel if you are represented. If more than one party is appealing the same order, identify all of them. Sign the document to certify that the information is accurate. An incomplete or inaccurate notice can be challenged on jurisdictional grounds, so re-read every field before you file.
One useful detail: you can amend the Notice of Appeal without asking permission, as long as you do it inside the original 30-day filing window. After that, any amendment requires a motion in the reviewing court.
The 30-Day Filing Deadline
Rule 303(a) requires the Notice of Appeal in a civil case to be filed with the circuit court clerk within 30 days of the entry of the final judgment. Criminal cases use the same 30-day window under Rule 606.4Supreme Court of Illinois. 5Office of the Illinois Courts. eFileIL – Statewide E-Filing You need an account with one of the approved Electronic Filing Service Providers, which you choose when you register. Upload the completed Notice of Appeal as a PDF, and during the filing workflow select the appellate district that matches the county where the case was heard.
The filing fee is $50 for the appellant. Any other party entering the appeal, whether an appellee or an additional participant, pays $30 when filing their first document.6Supreme Court of Illinois. Rule 313 – Fees in the Reviewing Court Paying by credit card adds a convenience fee of roughly 2.89% of the filing fee.7Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Access to Justice. Civil Appeals – Self-Represented Litigants How to E-File in Odyssey
Fee Waivers
If you cannot afford the $50 fee, file the Application for Waiver of Appellate Court Fees at the same time as the Notice of Appeal. You qualify automatically for a full waiver if you receive SSI, SNAP, TANF, AABD, or General Assistance benefits, and you just check the box on the form; no extra financial paperwork is needed.8Illinois Courts. Application for Waiver of Appellate Court Fees If you do not receive any of those benefits, you can still qualify by showing that paying the fee would cause substantial hardship, but you have to fill out the income, expenses, and assets sections.
The court rules on the application on its face, without a hearing, unless something looks incomplete or raises a factual question. If that happens, you get a chance to amend and may be given a remote hearing.9Office of the Illinois Courts. New Civil Fee Waiver Forms Reflect Recent Amendments to Rule 298 Review can take a couple of weeks. If the court denies the waiver and you do not pay by the deadline in the order, your appeal can be dismissed.
Serving the Other Parties
You have to notify every other party in the case that you filed the Notice of Appeal. eFileIL can handle service electronically for parties registered for e-service. Otherwise, you may serve by email if the parties have agreed to it, or by another method allowed under the rules. Use the Proof of Delivery form from the packet to document how and when you served each party, and file it with the court.
Extra Step for Guilty-Plea Criminal Appeals
Criminal defendants use the same 30-day window under Rule 606, but if you pleaded guilty and want to appeal, Rule 604(d) adds a mandatory prerequisite. Within 30 days of sentencing, you must file a written motion in the trial court to withdraw your guilty plea or to reconsider your sentence, depending on what you are challenging.10Supreme Court of Illinois. Illinois Supreme Court Rules 604 and 606 Amendments No motion means no appeal. If you have counsel, they must file a certificate stating that they consulted with you about potential errors, reviewed the trial court file and transcripts, and made any needed amendments to the motion. If you are indigent, the trial court should appoint counsel and provide a transcript at no cost. The 30-day appeal clock then runs from the date the trial court rules on that motion.
When the Judgment Is Not Yet Final
The Notice of Appeal form is built for final judgments. If the trial court has not yet resolved every claim against every party, you generally cannot appeal, but there are two situations where you can.
Under Rule 304(a), when a case involves multiple parties or claims, the trial court can make a ruling on some of them immediately appealable by adding a written finding that “there is no just reason for delaying” enforcement or appeal. Without that express finding, a judgment that leaves claims unresolved is not appealable and can be revised at any time before the case fully concludes.11Illinois Courts. Rule 304 – Appeals From Final Judgments That Do Not Dispose of an Entire Proceeding Certain orders are appealable even without that finding, including contempt orders that impose a penalty, custody and parental-responsibility judgments, and orders on petitions for relief from judgment under Section 2-1401 of the Code of Civil Procedure.
Rule 307 covers interlocutory appeals as of right, most commonly from orders granting or denying injunctions. The filing window for a Rule 307 appeal is shorter than the standard 30 days, so check the rule’s specific deadline if your situation involves a preliminary injunction, a temporary restraining order, or a similar interim ruling.
What Happens Right After You File
Once the circuit clerk processes the Notice of Appeal and the appellate court receives it, the appellate clerk assigns a new case number. That number replaces the circuit court number on everything you file going forward.
Within 14 days of filing the notice, you must file a Docketing Statement with the appellate court under Rule 312. It is a separate standardized form, also on the Illinois Courts website, and it gives the appellate court a snapshot of the case: the nature of the action, the issues you plan to raise, and key procedural dates. For interlocutory appeals under Rule 307(a), the docketing statement is due in seven days.12Illinois Courts. Illinois Supreme Court Rule 312 – Docketing Statement
You are also responsible for requesting preparation of the record on appeal and paying the circuit clerk’s fee. Fees vary by county. In Cook County, record preparation costs $70 for up to 100 pages, $100 for 101 to 200 pages, and $0.25 per page after that.13Clerk of the Circuit Court of Cook County. Miscellaneous Fees Transcripts are billed separately by the court reporter and priced per page.1424th Judicial Circuit. Uniform Schedule of Charges for Official Transcripts The circuit clerk generally has 63 days from the date the Notice of Appeal was filed to prepare and transmit the record to the appellate court, so pay the preparation fee promptly.