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35 verbatim requirements from the 15th Circuit's Division FI instructions page as published today.
Fifteenth Judicial Circuit (Palm Beach) — Division FI only. Division instructions change with judicial rotations; the division's own page controls. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• Emails to Division FI must only relate to procedural or scheduling matters. • All communications with the judicial office must comply with Canon 3 of the Code of Judicial Conduct, which prohibits a judge from initiating, permitting, or considering ex parte communications and from considering other communications outside the presence of the parties concerning a pending or impending proceeding, unless authorized by law. • 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 provide an e-mail address to receive signed orders electronically, unless excused. • UMC hearings must be coordinated with opposing counsel or pro se litigant (unless short notice is agreed by all parties). • In order for the Court to consider any UMC motion, all notices and motions must contain a proper certificate of service listing the party and method of service. • Parties appearing via Zoom must provide proper notice to all parties. • A copy of your client's driver's license - The driver's license issue date must demonstrate residency 6 months prior to filing of the petition; • A notice of hearing must be filed and served immediately after reserving hearing time. • A notice of hearing involving any remote appearance must list the judge's remote platform credentials (see this website). • All Notices of Hearing must contain ADA notification language required by Florida Rule of General Practice & Judicial Administration 2.540 and Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Administrative Order 2.207 (as amended). • CERTIFICATE OF SERVICE SHALL LIST EACH PARTY SERVED and the method of service (i.e. address, email etc.). • Case Law shall be sent by hard copy and received three (3) business days prior to the hearing. • All motions for continuance shall be in writing unless made at a trial and, except for good cause shown, shall be signed by the party requesting the continuance. • All motions for continuance in priority cases shall clearly identify such priority status and explain what effect the motion will have on the progress of the case. • The motion shall indicate whether the party has sought any prior continuances. • You must also immediately file and serve a notice of cancellation on opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Parties must comply with Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Procedure. 2.530. • 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. • Out of state witnesses appearing remotely must agree to being sworn in by video / zoom. • All proposed orders must be submitted via the Online System on the 15th Circuit website in Word format and provided to opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Any attorney or self-represented litigant who uses any generative artificial intelligence tool in the preparation of a pleading, motion, memorandum, response, proposed order or other court document, must disclose such use on the face of the filing. • All proposed orders are to be submitted to the court for review no later than 48 hours following the hearing and no earlier than 48 hours prior to the hearing via OLS. • Any extensions to this 48-hour deadline must be otherwise stated by the Court at the time of the hearing. • Courtesy copies of memorandum of law and legal authority must be submitted to the court before any hearing or trial. • Courtesy copies must be printed on 8.5 x 11-inch paper and submitted in three-hole punched binders when greater that 20 pages. • Courtesy copies of documents less than 10 pages (ex.: motions, memorandum of law and legal authority) for Special Set Hearings must be submitted to the court by e-mail to CAD-DivisionFI@pbcgov.org . • Courtesy copies of documents more than 10 pages (ex.: motions, memorandum of law and legal authority) for Special Set Hearings must be submitted to the court by U.S. mail or hand-delivery to the judicial drop box in the courthouse. • Courtesy copies must be submitted to the court no later than three (3) days before any hearing or trial. • All parties shall make themselves available for the emergency hearing, barring exigent circumstances. • Hard copies of exhibits do not need to be submitted to Judge Scher's office prior to the hearing or trial. • All attorneys and self-represented litigants must bring sufficient copies of each exhibit for the court and each party to review during the hearing or trial. • If the event is in person and more than one hour, you must provide opposing counsel in writing the opportunity to review exhibits two (2) days prior to hearing and bring pre-marked exhibits to the event. • The requesting party must have a telephone or zoom conference with the other party's counsel to discuss and include in the motion any outstanding motions that have been filed and requests to be heard prior to trial and all matters set forth in Family Rule of Procedure 12.200 and file a joint statement addressing all of the above. • The email request must provide case number, complete style of the case, amount of time needed, the motion(s) to be heard including full title of the motion and filing date(s) of the motion(s) or docket entry number(s), if available.
Emails to Division FI must only relate to procedural or scheduling matters.
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. Verbatim from the division's own instructions page, fetched live 2026-08-03 (sha256 c46d85e7cd3c7cb7…); whitespace normalised only. [moved from the text 2026-09-14]
1 verbatim requirement on judge preferences.
20 verbatim requirements on judge preferences.