Loading…
25 verbatim requirements extracted from hearing-officer-bruce-baillie__BB-CSE-Hearing-Officer-Judicial-Practices-and-Procedures.pdf, across 4 topics.
Nineteenth Judicial Circuit (Indian River, Martin, Okeechobee, St. Lucie). Check the order's own effective and rescission dates before relying on it. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from the order, captured 2026-07-24; whitespace normalised only. No OCR was used anywhere in this chain. HEARING TIME & ARGUMENT LIMITS • Hearing Officer Practices and Procedures (last modified February 5, 2026) Serving Indian River County, Martin County, Okeechobee County, and St. Lucie County • Bruce Baillie, Child Support Enforcement Hearing Officer Ramie Perkins, Administrative Assistant • Ex-parte Communications: Please do not ask the hearing officer’s assistant or other court personnel to communicate any message to the hearing officer, as this is prohibited ex-parte communication. Court staff is not permitted to relay ex-parte information to the hearing officer. All communication with the hearing officer shall be in open court with all parties present, in writing/email copied to opposing counsel/party, and/or filed with the County Clerk of Court and served on the opposing party/counsel. No party or attorney shall otherwise communicate directly with the hearing officer. All emails must include all parties and the style of the case, or they will be disregarded. • Unsolicited Communications: Unsolicited communications from non- parties will not be considered by the Court. Parties may only contact the hearing officer’s office in accordance with these practices and procedures. • Response to Inquiries: The administrative assistant is not authorized to provide legal advice. All inquiries received that are in compliance with the court’s division procedures are responded to in the order in which they are received. Please do not contact the administrative assistant to ask if orders have been entered unless two weeks have elapsed from the date of the hearing. Information is available online at the clerk’s office website regarding the entry of orders: Indian River County at www.indianriverclerk.com, Martin County at www.martinclerk.com, Okeechobee County at www.myokeeclerk.com, and St. Lucie County at www.stlucieclerk.gov. • Telephone: If you are unable to e-mail the judicial assistant, please do not leave more than one voicemail message. Voicemail messages are answered in order of receipt within 24 -48 business hours. Please understand that the judicial assistant is entitled to sick and vacation time, which might occasionally account for a delayed return of a voicemail. • B. Scheduling Procedures • Court Schedule: All hearings must be coordinated through the administrative assistant via email. This office does not use an online calendar. • Scheduling Hearings: All motions must be filed with the Clerk of Court in the appropriate county BEFORE you contact this office for hearing date • and time. Hearings will not be coordinated unless (1) the motion is visible in the clerk’s file or (2) you attach a time stamped copy of the motion to your e-mail requesting hearing time. Otherwise, you will not receive a hearing time form the administrative assistant. Note: You may obtain a timestamped copy of your motion by serving yourself when you file the motion in the e-portal. • Notice of Hearing: 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 hearing officer’s Zoom credentials. All notices of hearing must contain the ADA notification required by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.540. • Submission Deadlines: The court must receive all materials (documents or exhibits) for the hearing no later than three business days before the hearing. The Exhibit Policy can be found online at www.circuit19.org under the Hearing Officer’s procedure tab. • Order of Proceedings: Matters will be heard in the order they appear on the docket. Parties represented by attorneys will generally be heard first. • Continuance Procedure: Continuances are disfavored and will be granted only upon good cause shown. All requests or motions for continuance must be in writing unless made at a hearing, except for good cause shown, shall be signed by the party requesting the continuance, as required by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545(e). • Cancelling Hearings: A party requesting to cancel a hearing on their motion must do so by notifying the administrative assistant immediately. You must also immediately file and serve a notice of cancellation on opposing counsel and any self-represented litigant. • Representation: If a party is represented by an attorney or plans to retain an attorney for this matter, that party should notify the attorney of any hearing. • Resolution: If the scheduled matter is resolved, the moving party shall contact the hearing officer’s office to cancel the hearing. • Failure to Appear: If you are the party that is ordered to pay the support and this action is filed against you then failure to appear at the hearing may result in the court issuing a writ of bodily attachment for your arrest. If you are arrested, you may be held in jail up to 48 hours before a hearing is held. • Platform Meeting ID#: If a party’s request to appear virtually for a hearing is granted, then an order will be entered providing the Zoom information (link and/or phone number and meeting ID. • Format: All proposed orders must be submitted via e-mail in Word format using the hearing officer’s template. The administrative assistant will provide the template applicable to the matter upon request via email if the attorney does not have the template. • Deadline for Submissions: Attorneys shall submit proposed orders two business days prior to hearings. • When Required: When counsel/party intends to rely on case law or other documents in a hearing, a courtesy electronic copy submitted to the court and the opposing party in advance is required. Please do NOT send courtesy copies of documents that have been filed and docketed in the court file. • Deadline for Submissions: Courtesy copies of case law, legal memoranda, and/or hearing materials must be submitted no later than five business days prior to the hearing. • Requirements: If a party believes there is a factual basis for setting an emergency hearing, a detailed motion setting forth the following must be filed: (1) the issues to be resolved and (2) reasons why an emergency hearing is necessary. Note: A motion marked “urgent” is not considered an emergency by this office. • Scheduling: After the motion is filed, if the court determines that an emergency exists, a hearing will be scheduled unilaterally by the court. All parties shall make themselves available for the emergency hearing, barring exigent circumstances. G. Pro Se/Self-Represented Litigants • Petitioners and/or Respondents without legal representation or an attorney are “pro se.” Please note that the hearing officer is not permitted to hear any matters unless they (1) have been properly raised by a motion or petitions, and (2) have been properly noticed for hearing. • Legal Advice: Please note that this office is not permitted to give you legal advice or answer any legal questions for you. Please do not contact this office seeking such advice or answers. Instead, you may contact an attorney of your choosing. • If Both Parties are Pro Se: If both parties are pro se/self-represented • then their case will be placed on the pro se docket. The administrative assistant will set all hearings in the case. • If Only One Party is Pro Se: If only one party is pro se/self-represented and the other party has an attorney, then hearings must be scheduled in the manner outlined in Section B above. • Pro se/self-represented litigants are required to comply with all relevant procedural rules and substantive law as are attorneys, both in court and in their written submissions to the court. These include standards of professionalism and courtesy. • Service: All motions or other pleadings filed in your case must be provided to the other party or his/her attorney at the time of filing. Proof of service (via a properly completed certificate of service) must be completed to verify service of a copy of the item being filed to the other party, the date served, how served (US Mail, email, etc.) and the address where the item was sent/served. If service is required by process server or sheriff’s office, the return of service affidavit must be filed in the court file with the appropriate Clerk of Court. Failure to properly certify service in the court file may result in the rescheduling of your hearing or dismissal of your motion. H. Other Division Procedures • ADA Accommodations: If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact Court Administration, 250 NW Country Club Drive, Suite 217, Port St. Lucie, FL 34986, (772) 807-4370 at least 7 days before your scheduled court appearance, or immediately upon receiving this notification if the time before the scheduled appearance is less than 7 days; if you are hearing or voice impaired, call 711. • Interpreter Requests: If you are in need of translation services, it is your responsibility to bring a Florida Supreme Court certified interpreter to your court hearing. Your notification of the need of an interpreter to either the judicial assistant or the clerk is greatly appreciated at the time of the scheduling of the hearing and/or trial for planning purposes. A list of certified interpreters can be found on the Find an Interpreter page of the Florida Courts website, located here: Find an Interpreter / Court Interpreting / Court Services / Services - - Florida Courts. • Obtaining a Recording of Your Proceedings: All hearings before the hearing officer are recorded and a copy of the recording may be obtained on a CD from Court Reporting. You may request a copy of the audio or a transcript using the online forms link located on the 19 th Judicial Circuit Court website: Digital Court Reporting - Circuit19. COURTESY COPIES • Contact Information Physical Address: St. Lucie County Courthouse Courtroom 1C 218 South Second Street Fort Pierce, FL 34950 E-mail: Indian River County at ircho@circuit19.org, Martin County at mcho@circuit19.org, Okeechobee County at ocho@circuit19.org, and St. Lucie County at slcho@circuit19.org Telephone: 772-462-1157 Note: While we make every effort to answer and/or return phone calls, email is the best way to reach this office. It is our preferred form of communication. Table of Contents A. Communications with the Judicial Office ............................................................... 1 B. Scheduling Procedures .......................................................................................... 2 C. Remote Appearance ............................................................................................... 4 D. Submission of Orders and Judgments.................................................................... 4 E. Courtesy Copies of Case Law and Other Documents ............................................... 4 F. Emergency and Other Urgent Matters .................................................................... 5 G. Pro Se/Self-Represented Litigants ......................................................................... 5 H. Other Division Procedures ..................................................................................... 6 • Other Procedures Relating to Submission of Orders and Judgments: Strict compliance with this section is greatly appreciated by the court and helps produce orders more quickly and efficiently. If you are submitting an agreed order for signature, please note it in the body of the email to the judicial assistant. Your proposed order must have the word “agreed” in the title. E. Courtesy Copies of Case Law and Other Documents REMOTE & VIRTUAL APPEARANCES • Remote Appearance Procedure: The court maintains a hybrid virtual courtroom, allowing parties to appear either in person or remotely, as provided by Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.530. Requests to use communication technology for an appearance must be made by motion. • Platform Used: The court uses Zoom for remote appearances. PROPOSED ORDERS • Do not send multiple emails about the same subject matter. Emails are answered in the order in which they are received. Do not start a separate email thread about the same case—it will be ignored until you reply within the thread.
Hearing Officer Practices and Procedures (last modified February 5, 2026) Serving Indian River County, Martin County, Okeechobee County, and St. Lucie County
Reviewer note: Document sha256: e9b5e6d976d6bc05395c8d2d610fb4bc5024c9cad963e382fc422265e9567e1f. One rule per order rather than per topic, so an order's requirements stay together. Published during the completeness pass. | Title normalised 2026-07-26 for readability; the court's own asset name was "19th Cir. — hearing-officer-bruce-baillie__BB-CSE-Hearing-Officer-Judicial-Practices-and-Procedures.pdf: published requirements". Only the display title changed — the requirement text, source URL and hash are untouched. Text layer cleaned 2026-09-08 (Phase 3f): page headers/footers, ligatures and letter-spaced headings normalised; wording untouched. Slug completed 2026-09-09 (fix program 2026-09-09, Phase 5, audit M7): was fl19-ao-hearing-officer-bruce-baillie-bb-cse-hearing-officer-judicial-practices- (truncated with a trailing hyphen).
4 verbatim requirements on hearing setting & time in James W. Morgan III's division.
1 verbatim requirement on hearing setting & time in Mark H. Jones's division.