How to Complete and File the Queens County Motion Submission Form

If you are looking for the Queens County motion submission form, you no longer need it. Effective May 27, 2025, the Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term eliminated the motion submission form from its filing process.¹ Motions now go directly to the court, either electronically through NYSCEF or in hard copy at the Motion Support Office, with no separate submission form attached. The rest of the filing process is unchanged, and it is what actually matters.

What to Have Ready Before You File

The information the old form collected still needs to be at your fingertips. You need the case’s index number, assigned when the case was first filed, and the Request for Judicial Intervention (RJI) number if one has been purchased. If a judge has been assigned, you need that judge’s name so the motion is routed to the correct part. Each motion in a case gets its own sequence number; confirm the current sequence on the NYSCEF docket or through WebCivil Supreme before you file.²

The notice of motion must specify the exact relief you are seeking, and any supporting memorandum of law should restate that relief in a concluding section. Attach copies of the pleadings and other documents the court needs to decide the motion, which matters especially for CPLR 3211 dismissal motions and CPLR 3212 summary judgment motions. In hard copies, separate exhibits with tabs and make sure everything is legible. If an exhibit is unusually long and only a few pages matter, attach the relevant excerpts and submit the full document separately.³ Foreign-language documents need an English translation under CPLR 2101(b). If you rely on a decision or authority that isn’t widely available, include a copy.

Submit a proposed order with certain motions, such as a motion to be relieved as counsel or for pro hac vice admission. Do not submit a proposed order with a dispositive motion like summary judgment.³

Serve the Opposing Party First

Service comes before filing. Under the default rule, the notice of motion and supporting affidavits must be served at least eight days before the return date. Serving at least sixteen days before the return date, with a demand under CPLR 2214(b) in your notice, triggers a longer schedule: answering papers become due seven days before the return date, and reply papers one day before.⁴ Under the standard eight-day notice, answering affidavits are due at least two days before the return date.

How you serve changes the count. Service by mail within New York adds five days to the prescribed period; service from outside the state but within the U.S. adds six days; overnight delivery adds one business day.⁵ Service in a pending case goes to the opposing party’s attorney, not the party. Acceptable methods include personal delivery, mailing to the attorney’s designated address, leaving papers with a person in charge at the attorney’s office, and overnight delivery.

File proof of service with the court. A standard affidavit of service, signed by whoever performed the service and stating the date, method, and address, is what the court uses to confirm notice.

Filing Through NYSCEF

Queens County Supreme Court participates in the New York State Courts Electronic Filing system.⁶ If the case is already on NYSCEF, log in, choose “File to Existing Case,” enter the index number, and select Queens County Supreme Court from the drop-down.⁷

Indicate you are filing a motion and upload your documents as PDFs that meet PDF/A specifications; the system’s PDF Checker tool validates your files. On the Add Motion Information screen, pick the primary relief from the drop-down, add any secondary relief, and enter the return date. If your notice of motion includes a CPLR 2214(b) demand for the extended response schedule, check that box.⁷

Before you click through, confirm redaction of Social Security numbers and confidential personal information under 22 NYCRR 202.5(e). Pay any filing fee through the system’s payment page. When you file, NYSCEF assigns a motion number and notifies all registered parties automatically. The electronic confirmation is your proof of filing.

One thing catches e-filers off guard: working copies of e-filed motions do not go to the Motion Support Office. Bring them directly to the calendar call in the assigned judge’s part on the return date.⁸

Filing Hard Copies at the Motion Support Office

For cases not on NYSCEF, deliver the original motion papers in person to the Motion Support Office at the Jamaica Courthouse, Room 140. The office phone is 718-298-1009.⁸ Papers must be in the office’s possession at least nine days before the noticed return date. Not nine business days. Nine days. Miss that window and the motion may not make it onto the calendar.

There is a size restriction. The Motion Support Office cannot accept notices of motion or petition with accompanying exhibits that measure more than eight inches. If your papers exceed that size, submit only the notice of motion to the office and bring all exhibits to the calendar call on the return date.⁸

If you are e-filing but need to submit a proposed order or judgment, e-file it first, then deliver a working copy to the Motion Support Office.⁸

The Filing Fee

Every motion or cross-motion filed in Supreme Court requires a $45 fee paid to the county clerk.⁹ The only exception is a motion for permission to proceed as a poor person under CPLR 1101(a). NYSCEF filers pay by credit card through the system’s payment page; hard-copy filers pay at the courthouse cashier’s window. The clerk will not process the motion until the fee is paid, so handle it at the time of filing.¹⁰

Opposing a Motion or Filing a Cross-Motion

Under the standard eight-day notice, answering affidavits must be served at least two days before the return date. If the moving party used the sixteen-day demand under CPLR 2214(b), opposition papers are due at least seven days before the return date, and any reply from the moving party at least one day before.⁴

A cross-motion, where you ask for your own relief in response to the other side’s motion, must be served at least three days before the return date, or seven days before if the moving party made the sixteen-day demand. Add three days if you serve by mail, or one for overnight delivery.¹¹ A cross-motion carries its own $45 fee.¹⁰

The Motion Support Office does not accept responsive papers or cross-motions. Bring those directly to the calendar call in the assigned judge’s part.⁸

Oral Argument and Adjournments

Whether the court hears oral argument depends on the assigned judge. Some parts hear argument on every motion; others decide on the papers unless a party requests argument. To request it, submit a letter with your motion papers. If the court grants the request, you should receive at least fourteen days’ notice of the argument date when practicable.¹² Check the individual part rules for the assigned justice, which many judges post on the court’s website, so you know what to expect before the return date.

A motion cannot be adjourned on consent more than three times under the Uniform Rules, and the total adjournment period cannot exceed sixty days unless the court orders otherwise.¹³ If you agree with opposing counsel to postpone, put the stipulation in writing and file it before the return date. Judges generally expect adjournment requests well in advance; showing up on the return date to ask for more time is a good way to have the request denied.

A Note on Frivolous Motions

Filing a meritless motion carries a real financial risk. Under 22 NYCRR 130-1.1, a court can impose sanctions and award the other side reimbursement of attorney’s fees and actual expenses when a motion is frivolous, meaning it is completely without legal merit with no reasonable supporting argument, was filed primarily to delay or harass, or rests on false factual statements.¹⁴ Sanctions can fall on the attorney, the party, or both, and filing a frivolous motion for sanctions itself counts as frivolous conduct.

1
New York Courts. Queens County Supreme Court, Civil Term
2
New York State Unified Court System. WebCivil Supreme
3
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 CRR-NY 202.8a – Form of Motion Papers
4
FindLaw. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules CPLR Rule 2214
5
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2103 – Service of Papers
6
New York State Unified Court System. New York State Courts Electronic Filing
7
New York State Unified Court System. New York State Courts Electronic Filing System User Manual
8
New York Courts. Queens Supreme Court Motion Support
9
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law 8020 – County Clerk Fees
10
New York Courts. New York State Filing Fees
11
New York State Senate. New York Civil Practice Law and Rules Law R2215 – Relief Demanded by Other Than Moving Party
12
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 202.8-f – Oral Argument
13
New York Codes, Rules and Regulations. 22 CRR-NY 202.8c – Adjournment of Motions
14
Legal Information Institute. 22 NYCRR 130-1.1 – Costs and Sanctions