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49 verbatim mandatory provisions from OCAD 2013-02 Family Law Pretrial Orders.
First Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• FAMILY LAW PRETRIAL ORDERS In order to assist litigants with cases involving family issues; to avoid conflict and minimize inconvenience to the family; and to maximize all resources readily available to resolve family disputes in a fair, timely, efficient and cost effective manner, the following pretrial orders are hereby approved and shall take effect upon the individual family law Circuit Judge in Okaloosa County directing the Clerk of Court for Okaloosa County to issue said orders in the family law cases assigned to said Circuit Judge, and providing an authorized electronic signature of the assigned family law Circuit Judge. • The Clerk of Court for Okaloosa County shall provide two copies of this order to the petitioner in an original action for dissolution of marriage, upon the filing of the petition for dissolution of marriage. 2. • The petitioner shall have a copy of this order served upon the respondent, along with the summons and copy of the petition for dissolution of marriage. • The Clerk of Court for Okaloosa County shall provide two copies of this order to the party filing one of the aforementioned petitions or counter petitions, at the time of filing. 3. • The party filing the petition or counter petition shall have a copy of this order served upon the other party. • The Clerk of Court for Okaloosa County shall provide two copies of this order to the petitioner in the aforementioned cases when the action involves minor children common to both parties, at the time of filing. 3. • The party filing the petition shall have a copy of this order served upon the other party. • Deputy Clerk EXHIBIT A IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA FAMILY LAW DIVISION Petitioner, and Case Number: __________________ Respondent. ____________________________________/ FAMILY LAW STANDING PRETRIAL ORDER FOR DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE ORIGINAL ACTIONS The following Family Law Standing Pretrial Order (“Order”) shall apply to both parties in an original action for dissolution of marriage. • Service of this Order shall be made with service of process of a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage and shall be effective with regard to the Petitioner upon filing of the petition, and with regard to the Respondent upon service of the summons and Petition for Dissolution of Marriage or upon waiver and acceptance of service. • This Order shall remain in place during the pendency of this action, unless modified, terminated or amended by further order of the Court upon motion of either party. • Neither party shall sell, transfer, encumber, conceal, assign, remove or in any way dispose of, without the consent of the other in writing, or without an order of the Court, any disputed property, individually or jointly held by parties, except in the usual course of business, for customary and usual household expenses or for reasonable attorney’s fees and costs in connection with this action. • Neither party shall incur any unreasonable or unnecessary debts, including but not limited to, further borrowing against any credit line secured by the family residence, further encumbering any assets, or unreasonable use of credit cards or cash advances against credit or bank cards. • Each party who has traditionally paid the following: life insurance, automobile insurance, homeowner’s or renter’s insurance policies, shall continue to maintain same and keep in full force and effect. • Neither party shall change the beneficiaries of any existing life insurance policies. • Neither party shall cause the other party of the marriage to be removed from any medical, hospital and/or dental insurance coverage, and each party shall maintain the existing medical, hospital and dental insurance coverage in full force and effect. • Neither party shall remove, cause to be removed, nor permit the removal of any minor child(ren) from their current county of residence for residential purposes without the written agreement of both parties or an order of this Court. • This means the parents must confer with each other and agree upon all parenting decisions. • For cases in which child abuse and/or neglect is alleged by a party against the other parent, that party shall promptly file the appropriate pleadings with the Court to seek immediate relief from this Order. 1. • Parents must separate any bad feeling for one another from their duties as parents. • Children must be free to draw their own conclusions about each parent, without the prejudicial influences of the other parent. d. • The child’s school attendance zone shall be where he/she has customarily attended unless neither party resides in that zone. • If the child has not attended school anywhere (grades K-12) at the time of filing, then the child shall attend the school in the district in which the parties last resided together as a family unit for at least sixty (60) days. • In the event neither party resides in the same school attendance zone, then the child shall attend school in the zone in which he/she has primarily resided for the sixty (60) days preceding the start of school. • Therefore, to avoid building up an arrearage in child support, the parent with whom the child(ren) are not residing the majority of the time must make voluntary payments of child support to the parent the child(ren) reside with the majority of the time prior to the entry of an order requiring payment of support. • Neither party shall cause the child(ren) of the marriage to be removed from any medical, hospital and/or dental insurance coverage, and each party shall maintain the existing medical, hospital and dental insurance coverage in full force and effect. • If the parties have child(ren), a party moving out of the family residence shall notify the other party or the other party’s attorney, in writing, within forty-eight (48) hours of such move, of an address and telephone number where the relocated party can receive communication. • If you wish to modify this Order, you must file an appropriate motion with the Okaloosa County Clerk’s Office. • Petitioner or Petitioner’s attorney must choose a mediator from the attached list of state certified, contracted mediators. • If Respondent or Respondent’s attorney does not agree with the mediator selected by the Petitioner, the Petitioner must contact the Mediation Services Office (850-595-4482), and a mediator will be assigned to the case. • Once the mediator is chosen or assigned, the Petitioner or Petitioner’s attorney must contact the mediator to schedule a mediation conference, and provide the mediator with current mailing addresses and telephone numbers for both parties and any attorneys. 2. • All mediation shall be completed within 75 days of the date of this Order and prior to requesting a final hearing unless extended or waived by order of the Court, for good cause shown. 3. • Each Party shall prepare a notarized Financial Affidavit in the form approved by the Florida Supreme Court Forms 12.902(b) or 12.902©) which can be found at http://www.flcourts.org/gen_public/family/forms_rules/index.shtml and file the original with the Court prior to the mediation session. • Each Party shall present a copy of the Financial Affidavit filed with the Court to the other Party prior to the mediation session. • Each Party shall present a copy of the Financial Affidavit filed with the Court to the mediator at the time of the first mediation session. 4. • The provisions of this Order shall not apply to those cases where all the issues have been agreed upon by the Parties and are evidenced by an agreement or stipulation, in writing, signed by the Parties and/or their respective attorneys and filed with the Court at the time of the filing of the action or prior to the scheduled date of the first mediation session. 5. • The attorneys participating in the case shall prepare any Agreement reached at mediation. • If both Parties are pro se (not represented by an attorney), the mediator shall prepare any Agreement reached at mediation. 6. • The confidentiality of any records of Family Mediation Services shall be maintained at all times in accordance with the requirements of Florida Law. 7. • The fees shall be paid to the Clerk of Court once a mediation session has been scheduled. • Any time needed above three (3) hours must be agreed upon by the Parties and the mediator. • Fees for any additional mediation sessions shall be paid to the Clerk of Court prior to that session. 8. • A copy of the receipt indicating the mediation fees have been paid or the Affidavit approving indigent status must be presented to the mediator at the time of the mediation. 10. • If a scheduled mediation is not cancelled at least 72 hours prior to the appointment excluding weekends, the fees will be due and payable, to be paid prior to final judgment. • Petitioner with copy for service upon Respondent EXHIBIT C IN THE CIRCUIT COURT OF THE FIRST JUDICIAL CIRCUIT IN AND FOR OKALOOSA COUNTY, FLORIDA FAMILY LAW DIVISION Petitioner, and Case Number: __________________ Respondent. ____________________________________/ ORDER TO ATTEND DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES APPROVED PARENT EDUCATION AND FAMILY STABILIZATION COURSE This Order shall apply to all parties in all petitions for dissolution of marriage involving minor children common to both parties, paternity actions, and any other domestic relations actions when so ordered by the Court. • Each party shall attend and successfully complete one of the Department of Children and Families (DCF) approved Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course, either in person, by correspondence, or on-line, at their own expense, unless the Court has granted a request to attend an alternative course. • Parties with special circumstances must obtain approval from the Court prior to taking an alternative course. • For dissolution of marriage actions, unless excused by the Court for good cause, the Petitioner must complete the course within 45 days after the filing of the petition, and all other parties must complete the course within 45 days after service of the petition. • For paternity actions, unless excused by the Court for good cause, the Petitioner must complete the course within 45 days after filing the petition, and any other party must complete the course within 45 days after an acknowledgment of paternity by that party, an adjudication of paternity of that party, or an order granting timesharing to or support from that party. 4. • Each party shall file proof of satisfactory completion with the Court prior to the final hearing being scheduled or the entry of the final judgment. 5.
FAMILY LAW PRETRIAL ORDERS In order to assist litigants with cases involving family issues; to avoid conflict and minimize inconvenience to the family; and to maximize all resources readily available to resolve family disputes in a fair, timely, efficient and cost effective manner, the following pretrial orders are hereby approved and shall take effect upon the individual family law Circuit Judge in Okaloosa County directing the Clerk of Court for Okaloosa County to issue said orders in the family law cases assigned to said Circuit Judge, and providing an authorized electronic signature of the assigned family law Circuit Judge.
Reviewer note: Document sha256: cd6b08ead7fb370300d5dbd156da42a42100bd5c16c423039f96d60f6c4a0be5 (120165 bytes). BenchPath harvested this circuit itself because no research corpus existed for it. Extraction is conservative: mandatory-language sentences only, so this rule is a faithful subset of the order, never a summary of it. Text layer cleaned 2026-09-08 (Phase 3a): page markers removed; wording untouched. Verbatim from the order's own text layer, harvested 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used. Only sentences containing mandatory language (shall, must, may not, no later than, within N) are reproduced — the full document is in custody and is the controlling text. [moved from the text 2026-09-14]
A 2013 standing order requiring attorneys to e-file family-law and civil documents (no paper filings accepted) as the court began compliance with the Supreme Court's e-filing mandate; criminal filing unchanged.
A 2013 standing order requiring attorneys to e-file family-law and civil documents (no paper filings accepted) as the court began compliance with the Supreme Court's e-filing mandate; criminal filing unchanged.