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19 verbatim mandatory provisions from OCAD 2023-14 Pro Se & Uncontested Dissolution Administrative Directive – Vacates OCAD 2023-14.
First Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• PROCEDURE FOR UNCONTESTED DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE WITHOUT HEARING BY SPECIAL AFFIDAVIT WHEREAS, the Circuit Court in and for Okaloosa County, Florida, established a Family Law Division effective April 1, 1992; and WHEREAS, Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545, provides, in part, “[t]he trial judge shall take charge of all cases at an early stage in the litigation and shall control the progress of the case thereafter until the case is determined”; and WHEREAS, to accomplish the goals of Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545, the prompt and efficient administration of justice requires established, uniform, and defined procedures for the presentation to the Court of a request to enter a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage without a hearing; • These administrative policies and procedures shall be effective September 5, 2023. 2. • Check List To ensure prompt and efficient management of these cases, no substantive changes shall be made to the attached forms. • Other than filling in the blanks, the forms may not be otherwise changed, altered, or modified. • If the case meets procedural criteria for an uncontested dissolution of marriage, the Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage with No Hearing and Notice of Filing Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage shall be filed and a proposed Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage along with the Attorney Checklist for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage Without Hearing (Check List) attached hereto as Exhibit “C” shall be submitted to the assigned Circuit Judge according to the Notice and other provisions below. • If the case meets procedural criteria for an uncontested dissolution of marriage as determined by the Family Law Case Manager, the Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage with No Hearing and Notice of Filing Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage shall be provided to the petitioner and/or counter-petitioner for filing. • The Family Law Case Manager shall prepare a proposed Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage along with pertinent summary/listing of the documents to submit to the assigned Circuit Judge according to the Notice provision below. • If the respondent has not filed an answer that waives further notice of the proceeding or a default has been entered, the respondent shall be served by mail, e-mail, or hand delivery with a copy of the Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage with No Hearing and Notice of Filing Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage. • There shall be a ten (10) day waiting period from the date of service of the Notice of Filing Special Affidavit for Uncontested Dissolution of Marriage before a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage may be submitted to the Court to allow the respondent the opportunity to raise an objection to the entry of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. • If an answer waiving further notice of the proceeding has been filed by the respondent, then no ten (10) day waiting period is required. 4. • To ensure that the Court is presented with a case procedurally postured for the entry of a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage without a hearing, the moving party shall file the Check List, attached hereto as Exhibit “C” with the Court. • Prior to submission for entry of any Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage, all documents filed must be reflected on the attached Check List by a Document Identification Number (DIN) to ensure that all documents are available on the Clerk’s progress docket. • If you disagree with the facts alleged in the attached Special affidavit and/or you desire a hearing before the Court, you must file your objections in writing and file them with the Okaloosa County Clerk of Court, Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, 1940 Lewis Turner Blvd., Fort Walton Beach, Florida 32547 or the Okaloosa County Clerk of Court, Okaloosa County Courthouse, 101 E. • If one or both parties are represented by an attorney, the attorney shall e-file any objection and provide a copy to the other party. • If you are not represented by an attorney, you must submit your objection to the Clerk of Court and provide a copy of your objection to the attorney whose name appears below. • If both parties are unrepresented by counsel and acting pro se, any objections must be filed with the Clerk of Court with a copy provided to the other party. • Upon filing the objection with the Clerk of Court you must immediately contact the Family Law Case Manager at (850) 651-7700. CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE I HEREBY CERTIFY that a copy of the foregoing has been furnished by: • Are there children between the parties born or adopted during the marriage who are still minors (under age 18 or still in high school with an anticipated date of graduation prior to age 19)? ( ) Yes ( ) No If yes, state their names and dates of birth. • ATTORNEY CHECKLIST FOR UNCONTESTED DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE WITHOUT HEARING **This form must be completed and accompany the proposed Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage which may be submitted to Court electronically after 20 days from that date petition filed. 1.
PROCEDURE FOR UNCONTESTED DISSOLUTION OF MARRIAGE WITHOUT HEARING BY SPECIAL AFFIDAVIT WHEREAS, the Circuit Court in and for Okaloosa County, Florida, established a Family Law Division effective April 1, 1992; and WHEREAS, Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545, provides, in part, “[t]he trial judge shall take charge of all cases at an early stage in the litigation and shall control the progress of the case thereafter until the case is determined”; and WHEREAS, to accomplish the goals of Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545, the prompt and efficient administration of justice requires established, uniform, and defined procedures for the presentation to the Court of a request to enter a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage without a hearing;
Reviewer note: Document sha256: a7823e3de8cd99fc1ef33d7ee80af4b86102abdc19bf77afb9797961621bfbd7 (61167 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]
4 verbatim requirements on hearings.
2 verbatim requirements on hearing time in LAUREN N. PEFFER's division.