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106 verbatim lines from the circuit's civil case-management materials.
Seventeenth Judicial Circuit (Broward County), civil divisions. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim, captured 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. • (1) All Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and Broward County Judges are to • strictly comply with the requirements of Florida Ru le of General Practice and • Judicial Administration 2.545(a), (b), and (e), and SC2023-0837 (March 21, 2024) • which respectively require judges to conclude litigation as soon as it is reasonably • and justly possible to do so, to take charge of all cases at an early stage and to • actively control the progress of the cases thereafter until they are determined, and • to apply a firm continuance policy allowing continuances only for good cause • (2) All attorneys practicing in the Seventeenth Judicia l Circuit must • strictly comply with Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration • 2.545(a), which requires attorneys to conclude litigation as soon as it is reasonably • (3) Consistent with the dictates above and in compliance with SC2023- • 0962 (December 5, 2024) and , there is established in the S eventeenth Judicial • Circuit a Civil Case Management Plan as set forth h erein, applicable to all civil • cases, 3 which will be administered for the implementation o f enhanced case • management procedures and guidelines for the timely and efficient processing o f • 3 For purposes of this Administrative Order the term “civil case” means actions to which the Florida Rules of Civil • Procedure apply, as identified in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.010, and actions in which the court has ordered • that the action proceed under one or more of the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure pursuant to Florida Small Claims • Rule 7.020(c) if the deadline for the trial date specified in Florida Small Claims Rule 7.090(d) no longer applies in • the action, but does not include actions subject to section 51.011, Florida Statutes, post-judgment proceedings, writs • to which Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.630 applies, and those excluded by Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.200. • (1) Not later than 120 days after an action commences as provided in Rule 1.050, • the court must assign each civil case to one of thr ee case management tracks: • streamlined, general, or complex based upon information listed on the Civil Cover • Sheet and according to the case classifications attached he reto, as Exhibit • “A”. After the initial designation as complex, streamlin ed, or general, a track • assignment may be changed by the court on its own m otion or a change can be • requested by a party upon a motion promptly filed a fter the appearance of good • cause to support the motion. A n y cas e initi ally designated as streamlined or general • must comply with Administrative Order 2025-22-Civ, as such may be amended from • time to time, before being designated complex and assigned to a complex litigation • division. Nothing herein prohibits a judge presiding over a g eneral civil division • from declaring an action complex and directing that the action remain in his or her • a. Complex Case Track . The complex case track involves those actions with • extraordinary complexity as to require or benefit from early intervention • and individual judicial management, and are those c ases that have been • or may be designated by court order as complex under Florida Rule o f • Civil Procedure 1.201, or whi ch may be direct filed to a complex • litigation division or declared complex and assigne d to a complex • litigation division pursuant to Seventeenth Judicia l Circuit • Administrative Order 2025-22-Civ. Due to the nature of cases filed in • County Court, cases qua lifying for this designation in County Court • should be extremely rare and must be approved for such designation in • writing by the Chief Judge or the Administrative Judge of County Court. • b. Streamlined Cases . Streamlined cases are those cases that reflect mutual • knowledge of the underlying facts and normally requiring little judicial • intervention and which have relatively simple procedural and legal issues • that can be resolved promptly by early referral to mediation, Alternative • Dispute Resolut ion or expedited hearing. Notwithstanding the case • classifications attached hereto, to determine wheth er a case is • streamlined, the presiding judge shall consider whether the case involves: • vii. An anticipated trial length of less than three (3) days; and • c. General Cases . These cases represent the large majority of standard civil • (2) Time Standards & Goals . The time standards set forth herein are directives • established by Florida Supreme Court Administrative Order A OSC2023-0837 • (March 21, 2024) and Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration • 2.250, and are intended to be presumptively reasonable time periods for disposition • of civil cases in trial courts except where periods where a case is on inactive status • which are excluded from the time periods set forth herein . D ead lines are strictly • enforced in accordance with Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.200. H o wever, up on a showing o f • extraordinary circumstances, certain unique cases may have cause for reasonable • delay beyond these periods. Most cases should, however, be completed within the • following time periods and the presiding judge shal l take appropriate action to • manage new and existing cases to bring such matters t o disposition within such • 4 Time begins from the date of service of initial pro cess on the last defendant or 120 days after commencement of • the action as provided in Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.050, whichever occurs first. • (3) Assignment to Case Tracks – General and Streamlined Cases • a. A case classification is determined upon filing the initial complaint in • accordance with the classifications set forth in Exhibits “ A” for Circuit • b. Disagreement as to case classification. If the parties do not agree to the • classification of the case as general or streamline d, the presiding judge • shall determine the appropriate designation upon motion. The moving • party shall bear the burden of demonstrating the pr opriety of the case • i. For assignment of a case to a complex litigation division (business • or tort) the parties must comply with Administrative Order 2025- • ii. Establishing Procedures for Direct Filing or Reassignment o f • Division, as such may be amended from time to time. This does not • presiding judge of a general civil division and such case remaining • i. Motion by Parties. Any party to a County Court civil action may • file a written motion with a courtesy copy provided to the assigned • division judge requesting the case be designated as complex. Upon • receipt, the motion should be referred to the Chief Judge or • ii. On Court’s Order. If the division judge, after receipt of all the • pleadings believes there is a colorable basis for d esignating the • matter complex, the case shall be referred to the C hief Judge or • iii. In those extremely rare cases in which the Court is sues an order • designating a county court civil case as complex, the parties shall be • required to comply with the procedure s for complex cases as set • amended from time to time, and Florida Rule of Civi l Procedure • Case Management Order must be issued as provided by Rule 1.201, • Florida Rule General Practice and Judicial Administ ration. The Case • Management Order outlining required time periods for Complex Cases is • attached as Exhibits “D” and “F” for Business and Tort, respectively, and • the Uniform Trial Order, attached as Exhibits “E” and “G”, Business and • No later than 120 days after commencement of an action as provided in • Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.050, or 30 days after service of complaint of the last • defendant, whichever is first, the court must issue a Case Management • Order specifying pr ojected or act ual trial period setting deadlines • consistent with time standards specified in Fla. R. Civ. P. 2.250(a)(1)(B) • for completion of civil case. The Case Management Order for Streamlined • Cases is attached as Exhibit “ H” and the Uniform Trial Order is attached • as Exhibit “I”, which must specify no less than the following deadlines: • This Administrative Order vacates and supersedes Administrative Order 2024- • 26-Civ (Amendments 1 and 2) and all prior inconsistent Administrative Orders. The • Exhibits to this Administrative Order may be amended from time to time without the • DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers, Fort Lauder dale, Broward County,
(1) All Seventeenth Judicial Circuit and Broward County Judges are to
Reviewer note: Source sha256: 57b9603938b47305592d7c09230abbf439804db8ea45621f7a0b59b99e2efaab. GOOGLE DOCS VEIN: 102 of the Seventeenth Circuit's 106 division procedure documents are published as Google Docs (docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-...), not as PDFs on the court's own host. Two consecutive fetches of the same Google Doc URL return DIFFERENT bytes — Google injects per-request session config — so the document_sha256 recorded here pins one render, not a stable identity, and content-hash change detection does not work on this vein. Re-verified live 2026-07-24 by text presence instead: six sampled documents still carried 100%, 100%, 100%, 91%, 100% and 100% of their published requirements.
Parties in dissolution and most family financial cases must exchange a financial affidavit and specified financial documents within 45 days of service of the initial pleading, file a certificate of compliance, and supplement as circumstances change.
Small claims cases (up to $8,000) begin with a mandatory pretrial conference where the court narrows issues and typically orders mediation. Failure to appear can result in default or dismissal.
CV-E runs a structured 150-day case management conference track with published CMO templates for jury, non-jury, and complex settings, plus a projected-vs-actual trial period system and 2026–2027 published trial calendars.