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Official rule; awaiting reverification against the current source text. Verify with the clerk, judicial assistant, or official court website before relying on it.
35 verbatim requirements from the 15th Circuit's Division AK instructions page as published today.
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Palm Beach) — Division AK only. Division instructions change with judicial rotations; the division's own page controls. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• All parties must be copied on any e-mail directed to the judicial office, unless an ex parte communication is authorized by law. • All attorneys and self-represented litigants must make and receive service by e-mail, which is generally through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, unless excused under Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.516. • Hearings of 30 minutes or less must be scheduled through the Court's Online Services . • Hearings of more than 30 minutes must be scheduled by e-mailing the judicial assistant and copying opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Prior to scheduling a special set hearing online, you must have previously filed your motion and you must clear the hearing date and time with ALL parties. • Special set hearings of more than 30 minutes must be requested by sending an email requesting the hearing to the Judicial Assistant via email at CAD-DivisionAK@pbcgov.org with all parties copied on your request. • Your email should include: case number and style, specific motion(s) requesting to be heard, amount of time being requested, if the hearing will be evidentiary, the names and contact information for all parties, and must note if the matter is on a trial docket. • In addition, parties must include in their letter a single list of dates/times that all parties are mutually available in the following 60 days from the date of the letter. • A notice of hearing must be filed and served immediately after reserving hearing time, if not scheduled by the parties through OLS. • UMC hearings set through OLS do not automatically generate orders, so notices must be served by the setting party. • A notice of hearing involving any remote appearance must list the division's Zoom information. • All notices of hearing must contain the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) notification required by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.540. • Parties must notify the Judicial Assistant via email at the time of scheduling if a hearing will be evidentiary in nature. • The court must receive all materials for the hearing no later than three (3) business days before the hearing. • Motions for continuance must state with specificity: the basis of the need for the continuance, including when the basis became known to the movant; whether the motion is opposed; the action and specific dates for the action that will enable the movant to be ready, including, but not limited to, confirming the specific date any required participants are available; and the proposed date by which the case will be ready to proceed and whether that date is agreed by all parties. • Except for good cause shown, the motion must be signed by the party requesting the continuance, as required by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545(e). • You must also immediately file and serve a notice of cancellation on opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Remote Appearance Special set hearings scheduled online shall be conducted via Zoom with the following exceptions, though parties may attend in person: • Requests to use communication technology for an appearance must be made by motion. • Motions for trial testimony by Zoom must be filed before pre-trial conference, though the parties can agree to it at any time. • If a witness appears remotely, the party calling the witness must ensure the witness has a functioning camera and microphone and has tested the internet connection before the hearing. • All proposed orders must be submitted in Word format and provided to opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Proposed orders must be submitted no later than one week after any hearing, unless another time is given by the court following a hearing. • Courtesy copies of motions for special set hearing must be submitted. • Courtesy copies must be submitted in three-hole punched binders printed on 8.5 x 11-inch paper. • Urgent matters that do not rise to the level of emergencies may be added to the Court's UMC docket with the Court's permission by emailing the Court's Judicial Assistant at CAD-DivisionAK@pbcgov.org . • For Motions that are time sensitive, but do not arise to the level of an emergency as defined above, parties may email the Court a copy of the motion with the subject line stating URGENT [Name of Motion] and indicate the date of the impending deadline or event that warrants expedited review. • All parties shall make themselves available for the emergency hearing, barring exigent circumstances. • Parties are advised that hand-delivered and mailed copies may not be processed and delivered to the judge or the clerk before the hearing if they are not delivered sufficiently in advance. • All attorneys and self-represented litigants must bring sufficient copies of each exhibit for the clerk, the court, and each party to review during the hearing or trial, unless delivered in advance. • All personal conflicts during the trial period must be listed in the Case Information Sheet for calendar call. • Daubert motions must be heard prior to calendar call and may be set by contacting the Court's judicial assistant and requesting a hearing prior to calendar call. • Motions for Attorney's Fees and Costs If entitlement has not been found, a hearing on entitlement must be set first. • When emailing the Court to schedule a fee hearing, the movant shall request entry of a Preliminary Order for fee discovery. • Reasonableness hearings may not be set through the online scheduling system.
All parties must be copied on any e-mail directed to the judicial office, unless an ex parte communication is authorized by law.
Reviewer note: Composed fresh after the July 2026 rotation replaced division instructions; the prior requirement-level rules for this division sit at medium with notes pointing here. Confidence set to medium 2026-09-08 (H3 re-verification): the live official document no longer carries this text verbatim — see the open change_detected task on its source. Verbatim from the division's own instructions page, fetched live 2026-08-03 (sha256 3da2b8ef8e952471…); whitespace normalised only. [moved from the text 2026-09-14]
1 verbatim requirement on judge preferences.
20 verbatim requirements on judge preferences.