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58 verbatim mandatory provisions from OCAD 2026-01 Circuit and County Court Division Assignments for Okaloosa, County, Florida.
First Judicial Circuit. Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
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. • The administrative policies and procedures herein, shall be effective April 1, 2026. 2. • All arrest reports shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Court for Okaloosa County, Florida, no later than three (3) working days following the arrest. 3. • All bonds shall be delivered to the Clerk of the Court, for Okaloosa County, Florida, no later than three (3) working days after being accepted by law enforcement. 4. • Any Misdemeanor Arraignment shall be set for the next following Arraignment Day which is at least fifteen (15) calendar days after each misdemeanor arrest; b. • All Misdemeanor Bonds shall be made returnable for the next following Arraignment Day which is at least fifteen (15) calendar days from the date of arrest; and c. • Each Violation of Probation, in County Court, shall be set for the next following Arraignment Day which is at least fifteen (15) calendar days after each violation of county probation arrest. • All Misdemeanor Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse, located in Crestview, Florida, at 9:30 a.m. • All Misdemeanor Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, at 9:00 a.m. • All Traffic related issues, including but not limited to mandatory civil traffic infractions, shall also be conducted at 9:00 a.m. • (CT). -- 1 of 7 -- 2 Any Misdemeanor Arraignment Day which falls on a legal holiday that is observed by the Court, shall be held as directed by the presiding Judge. • All Misdemeanor Trial Dates and County Court Evidentiary Hearings regarding Violations of Probation shall be set by the presiding Judge at Arraignment. 5. • All Violations of Probation and/or Community Control cases involving a new substantive offense shall be transferred to the Division to which the newest substantive case is assigned, as set forth and provided in herein. • Any Violations of Probation and/or Community Control shall follow the newest substantive case assignment as set forth herein. • The Clerk of the Court shall transfer any case with any new substantive offense to the Division in which the newest substantive case is assigned. • Upon receipt of a Memorandum from the Office of the State Attorney to the Clerk of the Court advising the Clerk of any new substantive case, that case shall be transferred to the Division in which the oldest open substantive case is assigned, without the necessity of an Order from the Court. • In all cases involving co-defendants, those cases shall be assigned to the Division to which the oldest open substantive case is assigned. • In any criminal cases involving multiple charges against the same defendant, those cases shall be disposed of in the Division in which the oldest open substantive case is originally assigned unless, upon agreement and stipulation of counsel, the cases are transferred in the interest of judicial economy. • Criminal cases assigned to a Division at either the Okaloosa County Courthouse, located in Crestview, Florida, or Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as defined herein, shall be disposed of in the Division to which the oldest open substantive case is assigned, upon agreement and stipulation by the Office of the State Attorney and the defendant prior to any transfer. 6. • Any Felony Arraignment shall be set for the next following Arraignment Day which is at least thirty (30) calendar days after each Felony arrest, to include cases where information has not been filed; b. • Any Felony case where information has not been filed by the first scheduled Arraignment Day, the Clerk of the Court shall manually remove that case from the trial cycle and set it for the next following Arraignment Day at least sixty (60) calendar days after the date of Felony arrest; c. • All Felony bonds shall be made returnable for the next following Arraignment Day which is at least thirty (30) calendar days from the date of arrest; and d. • Each Violation of Probation and each Violation of Community Control, in Circuit Court, shall be set for arraignment in the assigned division for the next following Miscellaneous date or Violation of Probation Date which is at least ten (10) calendar days from the date of arrest. • All Felony Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse, located in Crestview, Florida, at 1:30 p.m. • All Arraignments Days shall be scheduled on the first Thursday after the first Monday of each Month and the fourth Thursday after the first Monday of each Month. -- 2 of 7 -- 3 SOUTH OKALOOSA COUNTY FELONY ARRAIGNMENT DAYS: • All Felony Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, at 1:30 p.m. • All cases with surnames beginning with the letter ‘A’ through ‘K’ shall be assigned to Division 001 and all cases with surnames beginning with the letter ‘L’ through ‘Z’ shall be assigned to Division 002. • All Arraignment Days shall be scheduled on the second Thursday after the first Monday of each Month and the third Thursday after the first Monday of each Month. • All Felony Trial dates shall be set for trial in the Division in which the case is assigned to, for the next trial cycle which is at least sixty (60) calendar days after the date of Felony arrest, to include cases where information has not been filed. • Any Felony case where information has not been filed by the first scheduled Arraignment Day, the Clerk of the Court shall manually remove that case from the trial cycle and set it for the next following Arraignment Day at least sixty (60) calendar days after the date of Felony arrest. • For cases in which information has been filed by the second scheduled Arraignment Day, then the Division to which that case is assigned shall direct the Clerk of the Court to set the case for trial. • Any Felony case in which information has not been filed by the second scheduled Arraignment Day, at least sixty (60) calendar days after the date of Felony arrest, the Division to which that case is assigned, shall handle all future scheduling, including but not limited to setting that case for trial. • Any Felony Arraignment Day which falls on a legal holiday that is observed by the Court shall be held as directed by the presiding Judge. • All Circuit Court Evidentiary Hearings for Violations of Probation and Violation of Community Control, in Circuit Court, shall be set by the presiding Judge at the scheduled Arraignment Day. 7. • All Pretrial Detention Hearings shall be conducted for Okaloosa County, Florida, every Thursday at 12:30 p.m. • Shall a Court Holiday fall on any day in which Pretrial Detention Hearings are scheduled, those hearings shall be conducted for Okaloosa County, Florida, on the day immediately preceding the Court Holiday. • NORTH OKALOOSA COUNTY All Pretrial Detention Hearings shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse, located in Crestview, Florida, every Thursday commencing at 12:30 p.m. • All Pretrial Detention Hearings shall be presided over by the assigned Judge for Division 006 for all cases with surnames beginning with the letter ‘A’ through ‘Z’. • SOUTH OKALOOSA COUNTY All Pretrial Detention Hearings shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, every Thursday commencing at 12:30 p.m. • All Pretrial Detention Hearings shall be presided over by the assigned Judge for the Division in which the case currently is or shall be assigned to. • All cases with surnames beginning with the letter ‘A’ through ‘K’ shall be assigned to Division 001 and all cases with surnames beginning with the letter ‘L’ through ‘Z’ shall be assigned to Division 002. -- 3 of 7 -- 4 8. • All violation of probation and/or community control cases involving a new substantive offense shall be transferred to the Division to which the newest substantive case is assigned, as set forth and provided in herein. • Any violations of probation and/community control shall follow the newest substantive case assignment as set forth herein. • The Clerk of the Court for Okaloosa County, Florida, shall transfer any case with any new substantive offense to the Division in which the newest substantive case is assigned. • Upon receipt of a memorandum from the Office of the State Attorney to the Clerk of the Court advising the Clerk of any new substantive case, that case shall be transferred to the Division in which the oldest open substantive case is assigned, without the necessity of an Order from the Court. • Criminal cases assigned to a Division at either the Okaloosa County Courthouse, located in Crestview, Florida, or Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension, located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, as defined in herein, shall be disposed of in the Division to which the oldest open substantive case is assigned, upon agreement and stipulation by the Office of the State Attorney and the defendant prior to any transfer. 9. • All Juvenile Arraignments shall be set for the next following Juvenile Arraignment Day, in the assigned division, which shall occur no less than four (4) calendar days after the date of case initiation, unless otherwise directed by the presiding Judge. • All Juvenile Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse located in Crestview, Florida, at 9:00 a.m. • All Juvenile Arraignment days shall be conducted at the Okaloosa County Courthouse Annex Extension located in Fort Walton Beach, Florida, at 9:00 a.m. • Any Juvenile Arraignment Day which falls on a legal holiday that is observed by the Court shall be held as directed by the presiding Judge. • All Adjudicatory hearings (including Violations of Probation) set in Juvenile Court shall be set by the presiding Judge at that Arraignment, unless the assigned Judge sets the case for a Pretrial Conference. • All Circuit Court Division for Okaloosa County, Florida, assignments shall be scheduled as set forth below: • All County Court Division assignments shall be scheduled as set forth below: • All of the following matters in Okaloosa County, Florida, shall be handled by the General Magistrate: a. • All cases, related to Title IV-D (Department of Revenue) child support issues, in Okaloosa, County, Florida, shall be heard by the Child Support Hearing Officer. 14. • All specialty and other Court duties are distributed to stakeholders via a memorandum, and these policies and procedure shall be effective as of the date of this Administrative Directive. • All First Appearances shall be conducted by a County Court Judge for Okaloosa County, Florida, Monday through Friday, at 8:30 a.m. • Shall a replacement be required the Judge seeking such replacement is responsible for securing that replacement. • Any Judge assigned to handle Family Law Cases, shall handle all Shelters & Detentions on a rotation schedule commencing at 1:00 p.m.
The administrative policies and procedures herein, shall be effective April 1, 2026. 2.
Reviewer note: Document sha256: 6932bb59cf014d9caa4d9f31a784bbf3943b83634d2567172190a8def52312eb (53062 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.
The 17th Circuit's circuit-wide AI disclosure/certification mandate (Jan 2026, twice amended) was VACATED in its entirety effective June 15, 2026 by Chief Judge Phillips's AO 2026-19-Gen, expressly citing the statewide framework (AOSC26-12; Rule 2.515(d)(2), SC2026-0673). Several division procedure pages still cite the vacated order.
Every circuit-civil case reviewed within 120 days of commencement and assigned a track (complex, streamlined, or general); case management orders required; firm continuance policy; sanctions for missed deadlines. Rescinds AO 21-09.
Circuit-civil hearing-availability standards: motion calendars ~2 weeks from request; 15-30 min special sets within 45-60 days; longer special sets scale.