Court Operations Closeout

Court Operations Closeout Skill

This skill turns a batch of court paperwork plus a Court Operations Portal snapshot into one clerk-ready JSON answer that matches the schema in answer_template.json. It is domain-general across the closeout flavors (criminal register reconciliation, traffic payment plans, post-sentencing probation/license/payment packets). Read this entry file before doing anything else; the operating rules below are the workflow that worked across the training batches.

When this skill is invoked, expect a working directory laid out as:

• environment_access.md — the only source of network access (portal base URL + allowed endpoints).
• A set of train_tasks (or a single matter input) each with input/prompt.txt, input/payloads/answer_template.json, and one or more supporting payload files (hearing notes, clerk/audit memos, finance queue extracts, worksheets CSV/JSON, local form excerpts, petition/intake facts).

Operating rules

Work these in order. They are the reusable method, not the values of any single batch.

1. Read everything before reasoning

Read prompt.txt, answer_template.json, and every payload file end-to-end before drawing any conclusion. Batches deliberately bury the decisive fact in a later payload or in a single line of a memo (a defense cover memo, a counter note, an obsolete footer, a supervisor note, a review reminder). Never answer from the first file alone. The answer_template.json is the contract that defines every key, enum, ordering rule, date format, and currency precision the grader checks — treat it as authoritative, more authoritative than the prompt prose.

2. The answer_template is the spec, not a hint

• Build the output object shape from required_top_level_keys and each section's required keys.
• Every enum field must take only a value from the schema's enums/allowed list — never substitute prose for an enum, and never invent an enum value.
• Apply every ordering_rules/instructions.matter_order/*_sort rule exactly (sort by case_number/citation_number/petition_id/charge_code as specified, ties by the stated secondary key).
• Apply the stated date_format (ISO YYYY-MM-DD; datetimes as ISO local YYYY-MM-DDTHH:MM:SS) and currency_precision (numbers to two decimals; use null for a date only where the schema explicitly allows it).
• If the schema defines a placeholder enum (e.g. TBD from case file), use that exact token and nothing similar.

3. Corroborate via the portal — do not trust any single worksheet

The finance queue / bench sheet / worksheet is always partially stale, drafted, or miscopied. For each case, fetch the corroborating portal records using only the endpoints in environment_access.md (e.g. /api/cases, /api/charges, /api/fee-schedules, /api/payment-policies, /api/forms, /api/financial-petitions, /api/jurisdictions, /api/citations, /api/docket-entries, /api/search). Use the portal to confirm identity (DOB, defendant name spelling), charge/offense code, fee-schedule amounts in effect for the disposition year, payment policy bands, and form metadata. Never read server-side files; the portal is HTTP-only. If a portal endpoint is unreachable, treat the unverified field per the hold/verify rules below rather than guessing.

4. Resolve conflicts in favor of the most authoritative, nearest-to-hearing source

When sources disagree, rank the resolution and record it:

• A bench statement / signed sentencing order / hearing closeout note beats a draft worksheet or carry-forward finance queue line.
• A clerk audit memo / corroborating memo / courtroom audio clerk statement beats a stale charge screen or old local worksheet.
• The current fee schedule (for the disposition's year) beats an archived/archived-amount fee line.
• When counsel is genuinely ambiguous (e.g. "PD C. Hill" label vs. a defense memo saying county-appointed private counsel), confirm from the record; appointed_private is not public_defender — and that distinction changes fee eligibility (a public-defender user fee does not apply to appointed-private or retained counsel).
• When identity (DOB) is genuinely blank or unverifiable, do not borrow from a similarly-named defendant in search results; use the schema's placeholder/verify action and flag it.

5. Do not post financials for a matter lacking a signed final order

A draft disposition sheet, an unaccepted plea, or a "draft only" worksheet does not create a register entry. If the matter was continued, deferred pending an unsigned order, or has no accepted plea/sentence pronounced in open court:

• Set the entry/register action to the hold/exclude/continued enum.
• Set fee status to hold / do_not_post_pending (per the schema's vocabulary).
• Exclude the case from the disposed/assessed register totals and count it instead in the held/excluded/pending count.
• Record it in the exclusions section with the stated reason and the next status-check date.

6. Exclude unsupported and stale financial items explicitly, never silently

Only post fees/dollars that are directly supported by the hearing order, the current fee schedule, or current payment policy. Explicitly exclude (in the schema's excluded_charges / excluded_financial_items / exclusions section, with the right reason code):

• Account-management / collection / late-payment / returned-check / DMV / restitution / copy / certification / traffic-school / court-reporter / court-appointed-attorney fees that have no triggering event in the hearing order and no current policy support.
• Stale/archived/obsolete fee amounts (e.g. a prior-year drug assessment, an old $1,000 fine table, a repealed $25 plan service charge) — replace with the current schedule amount, and note the stale item as excluded.
• A statutory-maximum note is not a billing instruction by itself unless the schedule/policy actually applies it.
• If a counter worksheet still carries an old account-maintenance fee row, exclude it pending the current-policy check.

7. Do not invent missing identifiers or contact details

For any field a form requires that is not in the case file (SSN, address, phone, driver license number, probation officer/office, account number), use the schema's exact placeholder (e.g. TBD from case file) and record it in the placeholder_fields / placeholder_cases section with the appropriate reason_code/missing_fields. For a traffic matter with no separate case/account number, the citation number is the account reference. List every such field; do not silently leave it blank and do not fabricate.

8. Compute totals and schedules from posted values only

• Money totals (case totals, register/batch totals, combined_amount_due, grand_total) are sums of the posted (held/verified) items only — never include excluded or hold-amounts in assessed totals, and never include held cases in the disposed count.
• Payment-plan math: amount_due minus down_payment, divided by monthly_payment, gives the number of full installments; the uneven remainder is the final_payment_amount; total_installments and final_due_date follow from the first due date and interval. Apply the policy band (minimum/maximum monthly) to classify the requested amount as supported / below-minimum / above-maximum / unsupported-by-budget.
• License suspension end date = start date + suspension months, where the start basis (conviction date vs. release date vs. petition date) is chosen per the hearing note and current form/policy.
• Every total is a currency number to two decimals.

9. Record audit findings as first-class output

Where the schema has an audit section (audit_findings, case_audit) or asks for conflict resolution, emit one entry per conflict with the conflicted value, the corrected value, the issue type, and the resolution source (which authority was trusted). Do not drop a conflict just because it resolved cleanly — the corrected value and its source are part of the deliverable.

10. Final checks before returning

• Object matches required_top_level_keys; no extra top-level keys; no markdown; pure JSON when the schema says so.
• All enum fields use only allowed values; all sort orders applied; dates ISO; money to two decimals; null used only where the schema permits.
• Every held/continued/deferred matter is out of posted totals and in the held/excluded count; every excluded fee is listed with a reason.
• Every placeholder field is listed; no identifier or contact detail was invented.
• Re-read the prompt's "Return…" sentence and confirm every requested artifact (audit conflicts, dispositions, fee reconciliation, docket summaries, register totals, payment plans, form/account handling, exclusions, placeholders) is present.

Supporting references

These two files live alongside this entry file and give the reusable detail:

• references/data-sources.md — what each kind of payload file means, the trust ranking between bench/hearing notes, audit/corroboration memos, finance queue/worksheets, and form excerpts, and how to map a given payload type onto the schema.
• references/schema-playbook.md — a checklist for turning answer_template.json into the output object, the conflict-resolution hierarchy, the hold/exclude/placeholder rules, and the totals/schedule math, with the enum vocabularies summarized generically (no task-specific final values).

Use them when a step above needs more detail; do not skip step 1 to jump to them.