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37 verbatim mandatory provisions from 24-14.
Eighteenth 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. • Trial courts must coordinate and maximize court resources and establish linkages with community resources; • JURISDICTION The Family Court Division of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit shall include, at a minimum, the following types of cases: 3 A. dissolution of marriage B. division and distribution of property arising out of dissolution of marriage C. annulment D. support unconnected with dissolution of marriage E. paternity F. child support G. • See In re Report of the Family Court Steering Committee, 794 So.2d 518, 525 (Fla. -- 2 of 9 -- Pursuant to Rule 2.050(b)(5), Rules of Judicial Administration, an administrative judge for the Family Division shall be designated to oversee and coordinate the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit’s comprehensive response to children and families in litigation. • The second administrative judge shall be from the adjacent county and designated as the Deputy Family Administrative Judge. • The administrative judges shall work together to ensure genuine coordination of cases and a coordinated approach to the overall handling of cases and utilization of resources. • ROTATION OF JUDGES Judges who are assigned to the Family Division for the first time or who have not served in the Family Division for two years, should receive mandatory training in the fundamentals of family law, domestic violence, juvenile dependency, and juvenile delinquency before assuming the assignment or within 60 days (when reasonably possible) after assuming the assignment. • CASE MANAGEMENT -- 3 of 9 -- To the extent that existing staff and resources can be allocated, the Family Division shall receive case management services and support, including, but not limited to, the timely referral of cases to mediation, the timely referral of litigants with minor children to classes which help educate parents on ways to assist their minor children cope with their parents’ separation, the referral of cases to the general magistrate, when appropriate, the scheduling of cases for pre-trial or status conferences, and the scheduling of cases for trial. • Additionally, to the extent existing staff or resources can be allocated, the family division shall receive case management services and support to enable the family court judge to be aware of and to be able to identify all collateral cases affecting the parties involved. • SELF HELP The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit shall ensure that Self Help programs exist so that litigants are provided with Florida Supreme Court approved forms, instructions, definitions, and procedural information consistent with Rule 12.750, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure. • As part of its intake function, the clerk of the circuit court shall provide ministerial assistance to pro se litigants. • Ministerial assistance shall not include the providing of legal advice. • DOMESTIC VIOLENCE The Family Division Administrative Judge shall work with other judges within the division to develop a policy to ensure that the cases involving domestic violence are identified and managed in a manner that is organized, timely, and sensitive to the special dynamics involved in these cases. • The court shall take necessary steps to ensure that a party who has been the victim of domestic violence and who does not wish to participate in mediation is not ordered to attend mediation. • Referrals shall be made in accordance with relevant Rules of Juvenile and Family Procedure and any applicable administrative orders. • CUSTODY EVALUATION To the extent existing staff and resources can be allocated, the family division shall receive -- 4 of 9 -- home study reports from court evaluators in those cases involving a high degree of conflict and/or those cases involving allegations of abandonment, abuse, or neglect. • SUPERVISED VISITATION A list of approved supervision centers in each county shall be made available to each family division judge as well as to the Clerk’s office. • PARENTING EDUCATION Pursuant to section 61.21, Florida Statutes, all parties to dissolution of marriage proceeding with minor children or a paternity action which involves issues of parental responsibility shall be required to complete the parent education and family stabilization course prior to the entry of the court’s final judgment. • Additionally, the strategies shall ensure that compliance is monitored when such services are court-ordered. • The Chief Judge shall consult and cooperate with the local sheriffs’ departments to develop a plan to ensure that adequate and sufficient security personnel and equipment are available to ensure that Family Divisions are safe environments for judges, non-judicial staff, and the public. • TECHNOLOGY The Eighteenth Judicial Circuit shall use available technology to access information essential to case management and coordination, to print forms and notices immediately, to generate statistical reports, to provide public and inter-agency access to records, and to allow teleconferencing and appearance of witnesses by electronic means. • Upon the filing of a case in the Family Division, the clerk shall conduct a search of existing family law cases to determine the existence of other litigation involving the same family. • Additionally, at the time of the filing, the parties and/or their attorneys shall be required to complete an information sheet indicating, as appropriate, the existence of prior or pending cases involving the same parties. • If possible, the party/attorney shall set forth the style, case number, and date of disposition of the case. 3. • These cross-over cases shall be treated as companion cases and assigned to the dependency division judge unless otherwise ordered by such judge. 4. • A pending Department of Revenue action for child support and a pending dissolution of marriage action or paternity case involving the same children shall be treated as companion cases until a Final Judgment is entered in the dissolution or paternity case. • At that time the Department of Revenue case shall automatically be consolidated with the dissolution or paternity case and arrearages or credits from the prior Department of Revenue action will be transferred to the dissolution or paternity case. • Such actions will not be consolidated with the dissolution or paternity case. • There shall be a unified family court division which will be presided over by the dependency division judge. • If the family law case is filed prior to the Unified Family Court Injunction, the clerk will be directed to assign the Unified Family Court Injunction to the judicial division that is handling the existing family law case. • Alternatively, if a closed family law case exists involving the same parties, the Unified Family Court Injunction shall be assigned to the judicial division assigned to the closed family law case. • If the Unified Family Court Injunction is filed first, and a subsequent family law case involving the same parties is filed prior to the final hearing upon or dismissal of the Unified Family Court Injunction, the clerk will be similarly directed to assign the family law case to the judicial division that is assigned to the Unified Family Court Injunction. 3. • Effective March 1, 2024, if any closed Unified Family Court Injunction that does not have a related family law case involving the same parties is being reopened for any purpose, the Unified Family Court Injunction shall be assigned as follows: if the closed Unified Family Court Injunction is presently assigned to either Division K or L, upon reopening, the Unified Family Court Injunction shall remain assigned to Division K or L; if the closed Unified Family Court Injunction is assigned to Division G, upon reopening, the Unified Family Court Injunction shall be transferred to Division K; and if the closed Unified Family Court Injunction is assigned to Division W, upon reopening, the Unified Family Court Injunction shall be transferred to Division L. 5. • Between March 1 and June 30, 2024, Divisions G, K, L and W shall continue to be responsible for completing in its division any outstanding hearings for any Unified Family Court Injunction that was both opened prior to March 1, 2024 and that has a related family law case involving the same parties that is also assigned to that same division -- 7 of 9 -- II. • The chair of the family law advisory group shall either be the administrative family judge, or a family division judge appointed by the administrative family judge. • Membership of the group shall be open to interested parties, to include but not be limited to, a representative from each of the following: • Judge(s), Domestic Relations Judges(s), Dependency Judge(s), Domestic Violence Judges(s), Delinquency Hearing Officer General Magistrate Trial Court Administrator Case Manager Self Help Center Director Clerk of Court Clerk’s Office Staff Mediators Guardian ad Litem Custody Evaluators Parenting Course Providers Supervised Visitation Providers Parenting Coordinators Process Servers Private Attorneys Public Defenders State Attorneys Legal Services/Legal Aid Department of Revenue Department of Children and Families Department of Juvenile Justice School Board/Dept. of Education Law Enforcement Local Government Officials Community Organizers Parents and Children (Consumers) Certified Public Accountants Faith-based Community Programs Domestic Violence Advocates/Shelter Staff Substance Abuse and Mental Health Providers Batterers’ Intervention Providers Local Colleges, University Professionals -- 8 of 9 -- The Family Law Advisory Group shall meet quarterly, or more often, upon the call of the chairperson. • The report on the progress of the group in meeting the goals of the model family court shall be submitted to the Chief Judge by December 1st of each year.
Trial courts must coordinate and maximize court resources and establish linkages with community resources;
Reviewer note: Document sha256: 20ba18eb33a5f409eb9bca5e49c24d6c00d968b914d3c47fe99c654ddf5f5b15 (71043 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.