Amy Hawthorne
Circuit Judge · Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court
High confidence· verified July 25, 2026
Circuit Judge · Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court
What applies in this courtroom
811 verified requirements and 6 rule deadlines govern practice before Judge Amy Hawthorne across the judge, division, county, circuit, and statewide layers.
The tabs below show the judge-and-division layer only. The Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack — every requirement, deadline table, ruling intelligence, live case-type scan, and source appendix in one cited document.
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Circuit Judge — Lee County
A Georgia native, Judge Hawthorne completed her undergraduate studies at Columbus State University in Columbus, Georgia, with a bachelor’s degree in Speech Communications. She graduated from the University of Florida College of Law where she competed on the school’s Moot Court Team. She received her Juris Doctor degree cum laude in 1993.
Judge Hawthorne began her legal career in 1993 in the misdemeanor division of the Public Defender’s Office and was later promoted to the felony division. In 1997, she opened her own firm, focusing on criminal and family law, and practiced exclusively in the area of domestic and family law for many years. Judge Hawthorne is a former General Civil Magistrate for the 20th Judicial Circuit and a court-certified mediator.
In 2012, Judge Hawthorne was appointed to the Circuit Court by Governor Rick Scott. She took the bench on April 2, 2012, and was assigned to the Hendry and Glades County Courthouses. In September 2012, she was transferred to the Charlotte County Courthouse and presided over the family, domestic violence and dependency dockets until January 2013. In January 2015, Judge Hawthorne moved to Lee County and is now presiding over cases in the Family Law Division.
Published by the Twentieth Judicial Circuit Court on this judge's own profile page and reproduced verbatim — BenchPath does not write or paraphrase judicial biographies. Read it on the court's site →
Lee County Justice Center, 1700 Monroe Street, Fort Myers, FL 33901
Published forms & procedures: Read the Memorandum for complete information; Judge Hawthorne's Telephonic Mediation Policy; Virtual Courtroom Decorum; Order regarding family law matters pending before Judge Amy Hawthorne; American Academy Of Matrimonial Lawyers Bounds of Advocacy; Pre-Trial Stipulation - Example; Division U Procedures
Verified against Judge Amy Hawthorne's own court profile page, 2026-07-24.
Appeals from this courtroom go to the Sixth District Court of Appeal (Lakeland).
● LiveThat court's published bench (11): Carrie Ann Wozniak, Dan Traver, Jared E. Smith, John K. Stargel, Joshua A. Mize, Joshua E. Pratt, Keith F. White, Mary Alice Nardella, Paetra T. Brownlee, Rachel B. Kamoutsas, Roger K. Gannam
Jurisdiction per § 35.043, Fla. Stat. (six-district alignment eff. Jan. 1, 2023).
Profile upgraded 2026-07-24: bio_url now points to this judge's own page (https://www.ca.cjis20.org/About-The-Court/jud_profile.aspx?judge=hawthorne), confirmed to name them before extraction. Biography captured verbatim from the court's page. 7 linked form/procedure document(s) fetched and hashed.
3 verified rules specific to this judge's division, grouped by requirement category. 811 total requirements apply in this courtroom across all layers — the Full Premium Report assembles the complete stack.
No judge-level deadline on record runs shorter than a statewide deadline with the same trigger. The sentinel compares quoted timing across every published rule scoped to this judge on each visit — a clean result today is re-earned tomorrow.
No judge-scoped deadlines on this tab. Deadlines are extracted only when the source rule text states them — we never infer or calculate dates the rule does not explicitly contain. 6 rule deadlines apply in this courtroom across all layers — assembled with citations in the Full Premium Report.
Timing shown here is quoted from the rule text. Compute your actual date against the court's calendar and the rule itself — not legal advice.
No verified ruling summary yet. BenchPath generates ruling summaries from opinion and docket corpora (CourtListener where covered) and publishes them only after human review — fabricated judicial analytics are exactly what this platform refuses to ship.
Use the live case-law search below to see what exists for this judge today.
How Florida’s appellate courts disposed of the 34 opinions in BenchPath’s corpus (February 5, 2014–June 9, 2023) that name this judge as the lower-tribunal judge — the courts’ own disposition labels, counted verbatim. This is a census of the appellate record we hold, not a complete case history, an affirmance rate, or a performance rating.
Florida appellate and Supreme Court opinions naming this judge as the lower-tribunal judge, taken verbatim from each court’s official slip opinion (source-hashed). Descriptive record, not a rating.
L. E. B. vs D. D. C.
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Reversed
last checked September 3, 2026
last checked September 3, 2026
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Monitor: content changed at Judge profile — Geoffrey H. Gentile (20th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge profile — Geoffrey H. Gentile (20th Circuit)
Monitor: content changed at Judge profile — Amy Hawthorne (20th Circuit). Review before republishing dependent rules.
via Judge profile — Amy Hawthorne (20th Circuit)
Division (official profile, verified 2026-07-19): Lee Domestic Relations U 20%
Captured verbatim from the court's own published pages and orders during circuit verification. Chambers practices change without notice — confirm anything time-critical with the judicial assistant. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
J. M. vs J. P.
Sixth District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
DEBORAH SUE BEAUCHAMP VS PREN BEAUCHAMP
Sixth District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Appeal - Authored Opinion
DONALD J. DEVERSO vs ZONG Y. DEVERSO
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
MERCEDES L. HIGGINS vs WILLIAM J. HIGGINS
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed in Part/Reversed in Part
RONALD E. PARENT vs NICOLE PARENT
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
W. ALECS DEAN vs JACLYN DIANE BEVIS
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed in Part/Reversed in Part
I. T. vs IN THE INTEREST OF: K. P. L.
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Reversed
GREGORY W. GOETZ, ESQ. vs AMY CARROLL
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
ALAN L. RUMPHS, I I vs LAKWANDA RENEE JONES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
J. D. P. vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Reversed
HENRY ALBERT HOLBROOK vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
GUARDIAN AD LITEM STATEWIDE vs A. S. & R. S.
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
GUARDIAN AD LITEM PROGRAM vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Reversed
L. H. vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
T. G. vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
NORRIS HUBBARD, JR. vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
NORRIS HUBBARD, JR. vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
C. W. vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES AND GUARDIAN AD LITEM
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
B. W. vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
M. K. vs DEPT. OF CHILDREN & FAMILIES
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
M. E. W. vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
NORRIS HUBBARD, JR. vs STATE OF FLORIDA
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Disposition (court’s label): Non-dispositive
CARIDAD MIRAN, N/K/A CARIDAD MOULTON vs TOLGA MIRAN
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
CARIDAD MIRAN, N/K/A CARIDAD MOULTON vs TOLGA MIRAN
Second District Court of Appeal · Lee County
Disposition (court’s label): Affirmed
Cramer v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Colon v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Christopolus v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Bennett v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Nealy v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Hendry County
Genovese v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Ludwig v. State
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
Hanchey v. Leaffer
Second District Court of Appeal · Writ of Certiorari to the Circuit Court for Charlotte County
13-3255
Second District Court of Appeal · Charlotte County
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