To file a lawsuit you must pay a filing fee. You can ask the court to waive the filing fee however, by filing the form “Motion to Proceed Without Prepayment of Fees. Before it decides, the court must look at your case to see if it is frivolous or malicious, fails to state a claim for relief, or names defendants who are immune from suit. In addition, the court must look at whether it has jurisdiction over your case. While the court is looking at these issues, your case is undergoing judicial review. This review can take anywhere from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the court’s workload at any given time. Typically, cases are reviewed in the order in which they are filed.