Section 905. Filing of Notice of Appeal

(a) Filing with clerk.

(1) Two copies of the notice of appeal, the order for transcript, if any, and the proof of service required by Rule 906 (service of notice of appeal), shall be filed with the clerk of the trial court. If the appeal is to the Supreme Court, the jurisdictional statement required by Rule 909 shall also be filed with the clerk of the trial court.

(2) If the appeal is a children’s fast track appeal, the concise statement of errors complained of on appeal as described in Rule 1925(a)(2) shall be filed with the notice of appeal and served in accordance with Rule 1925(b)(1).

(3) Upon receipt of the notice of appeal the clerk shall immediately stamp it with the date of receipt, and that date shall constitute the date when the appeal was taken, which date shall be shown on the docket.

(4) If a notice of appeal is mistakenly filed in an appellate court, or is otherwise filed in an incorrect office within the unified judicial system, the clerk shall immediately stamp it with the date of receipt and transmit it to the clerk of the court which entered the order appealed from, and upon payment of an additional filing fee the notice of appeal shall be deemed filed in the trial court on the date originally filed.

(5) A notice of appeal filed after the announcement of a determination but before the entry of an appealable order shall be treated as filed after such entry and on the day thereof.

(b) Transmission to appellate court. The clerk shall immediately transmit to the prothonotary of the appellate court named in the notice of appeal a copy of the notice of appeal showing the date of receipt, the related proof of service and a receipt showing collection of any docketing fee in the appellate court required under Subdivision (c). If the appeal is a children’s fast track appeal, the clerk shall stamp the notice of appeal with a ‘‘Children’s Fast Track’’ designation in red ink, advising the appellate court that the appeal is a children’s fast track appeal and shall transmit to the prothonotary of the appellate court named in the notice of appeal the concise statement of errors complained of on appeal required by Subdivision (a)(2) of this rule. The clerk shall also transmit with such papers:

1. a copy of any order for transcipt;

2. a copy of any verified statement, application or other document filed under Rule 551 through Rule 561 relating to in forma pauperis; and

3. if the appeal is to the Supreme Court, the jurisdictional statement required by Rule 909.

(c) Fees. The appellant upon filing the notice of appeal shall pay any fees therefor (including docketing fees in the appellate court) prescribed by Chapter 27 (fees and costs in appellate courts and on appeal).

Official Note

Insofar as the clerk or prothonotary of the lower court is concerned, the notice of appeal is for all intents and purposes a writ in the nature of certiorari in the usual form issued out of the appellate court named therein and returnable thereto within the time prescribed by Chapter 19 (preparation and transmission of record and related matters).

To preserve a mailing date as the filing date for an appeal as of right from an order of the Commonwealth Court, see Rule 1101(b).

As to number of copies, see note to Rule 124 (form of papers; number of copies). The appellate court portion of the filing fee will be transmitted pursuant to regulations adopted under 42 Pa.C.S. § 3502 (financial regulations).

Pending adoption of such rules the subject is regulated by Paragraph 4 of the Order amending this rule, which provides as follows:

‘‘4. Pending adoption of initial regulations under 42 Pa.C.S. § 3502 (financial regulations), the docketing fee (currently $12 in the Supreme Court and the Superior Court and $25 in the Commonwealth Court) paid through the clerk or prothonotary of the lower court pursuant to Rule 905(c) (fees) of the Pennsylvania Rules of Appellate Procedure shall be transmitted as follows:

(a) If the docketing fee is tendered by check payable to the appellate prothonotary, the clerk or prothonotary of the lower court shall transmit the check pursuant to Rule 905(b).

(b) If the docketing fee is tendered by check payable to the clerk of prothonotary of the lower court he or she shall endorse it without recourse to the appropriate appellate prothonotary and transmit the check pursuant to Rule 905(b).

(c) If the docketing fee is tendered in cash the clerk or prothonotary of the lower court shall draw a check in like amount on the account of such clerk or prothonotary to the order of such clerk or prothonotary to the order of the appropriate appellate prothonotary and transmit the check pursuant to Rule 905(b).

(d) In matters arising under 42 Pa.C.S. § 723 (appeals from the Commonwealth Court), the appellant shall tender the docketing fee in the Supreme Court to the Prothonotary of the Commonwealth Court by check payable to the order of the Prothonotary of the Supreme Court, which shall be transmitted pursuant to Rule 905(b).’’

The better practice will be to pay the fee for filing the notice of appeal in the lower court and the docketing fee in the appellate court by separate checks payable to the respective clerks or prothonotaries.

The 1982 amendment to Subdivision (a) corrects deficiencies in previous practice which were illustrated in State Farm Mutual Auto. Ins. Co. v. Schultz, 281 Pa. Super. 212, 421 A.2d 1224 (1980).

The provisions of this Rule 905 amended through December 10, 1987, effective January 31, 1987, and shall govern all matters thereafter commenced and, insofar as just and practicable matters then pending, 16 Pa.B. 4951; amended September 10, 2008, effective December 1, 2008, 38 Pa.B. 5257; amended January 13, 2009, 39 Pa.B. 1094, effective as to all appeals filed 60 days or more after adoption. Immediately preceding text appears at serial pages (293780) and (338797) to (338798).