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31 verbatim requirements from admin. order AO 12.2 - Establishment of Unified Family Court (1/2/02) [Family Law].
20th Judicial Circuit. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from https://www.ca.cjis20.org/pdf/ao/ao_12_2.pdf, harvested 2026-07-25; whitespace normalised only. • These family law cases may include but shall not be limited to: dissolution of marriage, division and distribution of property arising out of a dissolution of marriage proceeding, annulment, support unconnected with dissolution of marriage, paternity, child support, URESAIUNIFSA, custodial care of and access to children, adoption, name change, declaratory judgment actions related to premarital, marital, or postmarital agreements, and civil domestic and repeat violence injunctions. • The assignment of cases and the applicability of this order to the various counties within the Twentieth Judicial Circuit shall be determined and governed by • All family law cases shall be coordinated in a manner that will conserve judicial labor, ensure that no conflicting orders are entered involving the same family, and to the extent possible, either the same judge will hear multiple cases involving the same family, or all relevant admissible evidence or 2 -- 2 of 29 -- other background information will be provided by case managers, lawyers or litigants to each judge handling a case involving the same family. • Each general master, special master and hearing officer shall be appointed by separate order of the Chief Judge and shall perform those duties as specified in the order of appointment. • All presently appointed general masters, special masters and hearing officers shall continue to perform those functions as specified in their orders of appointment until further order of this court. • Plan, case management in counties other than Lee County shall remain as currently established until such time as the Model Plan is adopted circuit-wide by order of this court. • The Pro Se Litigant Program provides services for self-represented litigants throughout the circuit and shall continue to do so in accordance with the order. • Juvenile Drug Court shall be operated by separate 4 -- 4 of 29 -- administrative order and contained within the Administrative Code of the Twentieth Circuit Court. • That court shall continue to operate as provided therein and through any orders entered in connection with • All cases in Family Court shall have a final hearing date for dispositions established at the earliest possible time, and all cases filed after July 1, 2001 in Lee County shall be reviewed by the Case Management staff for inclusion in the case management process. • The Court Technology Officer for the Twentieth Judicial Circuit shall develop a search mechanism to allow case managers to determine related parties in cases and report this information to the case management staff and to each judge who is assigned any one of the related cases. 5 -- 5 of 29 -- • This administrative order shall take effect on January 1, 2002 and shall remain in effect unless or until otherwise modified, revised or supplemented by further order of the court. • C Trial courts must coordinate and maximize court resources and establish linkages with community resources. • These guiding principles do not rule out adversary litigation. • Results like these do not meet the needs of the family, the community, or the legal system and are unacceptable. #2(b) Jurisdiction. • Monopoli, 714 So.2d 1007 (Fla. 1998) (judges must allow parties to be present during conference on interstate jurisdiction). • See Family Courts II, 633 So.2d at 17 (case management staff must be available to help and direct families at the initial point of contact with the judicial system to the appropriate judge and/or appropriate services), • Family division judges must have sufficient case management staff to perform differentiated case management, to coordinate all cases involving a single family, to coordinate and monitor services provided to each family, and to collect aggregate data to measure performance of the family division. • Judges must be available to meet these critical needs on an expedited basis. • The chief judge may appoint associate administrative judges for individual counties or specialized divisions, such as domestic relations, domestic violence, juvenile dependency, or juvenile delinquency, but these associate judges shall report to the administrative judge of the family division. • The Committee does not recommend a separate administration, but chief judges must grant family division administrative judges authority to fulfill the directives of the Florida Supreme Court. • Florida Supreme Court must ensure that chief judges do this. #5(c) Family Court Administrator. • Judges assigned to the family division must have expertise in all matters involving children and families. • They must be motivated to learn multi-disciplinary skills in the areas of domestic violence, family dynamics, child development, psychology, and mediation. • 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 after assuming the assignment. • Judges must establish working relationships with the Department of Children and Families and a host of public and private agencies that work with the • For this reason, we must provide family judges with a broad range of judicial education. #6(d) Continuing Education. • (1) Quasi-judicial officers 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 after assuming the assignment. • Many family cases do not end when the judge enters a final judgment. • Dependency cases must be monitored closely to ensure that all time standards are followed. • In domestic violence cases judges must fill out injunction forms that include findings used to calculate child support and specific visitation arrangements to protect the family.
These family law cases may include but shall not be limited to: dissolution of marriage, division and distribution of property arising out of a dissolution of marriage proceeding, annulment, support unconnected with dissolution of marriage, paternity, child support, URESAIUNIFSA, custodial care of and access to children, adoption, name change, declaratory judgment actions related to premarital, marital, or postmarital agreements, and civil domestic and repeat violence injunctions.
Reviewer note: Order PDF sha256: 9761bf2741be5595b0d41e8d7ff7a1ff19786c4e901d5ab9358e9fe044f1893c. Extracted from the order's own text layer.
Judge Bell caps motions and responses at 5 pages for UMC hearings and 12 pages for special-set hearings.
Judge Alijewicz requires every motion for attorney's fees and/or costs to attach a document detailing time records — no records, no fee award.
Judge Corlew bars informal contact: every communication with the Court must be in writing, filed with the Clerk, with copies furnished to all parties — and no calls to the JA to schedule or cancel UMC.