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33 verbatim requirements from admin. order AO 12.4 - Unified Family Court (12/31/07) [Family Law].
20th Judicial Circuit. Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from https://www.ca.cjis20.org/pdf/ao/ao_12_4.pdf, harvested 2026-07-25; whitespace normalised only. • Effective January 2, 2008, the unification of family court shall be implemented and shall operate as a pilot program in Lee County, and may later be formally expanded to Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and • Glades counties by further order of the Court. 1 Such implementation shall be in accordance with the recommendations of the Florida Supreme Court, the Twentieth Judicial Circuit's FLAG (Family Law • Unified Family Court Jurisdiction 1 Prior to formally expanding the program to Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and Glades counties, no court shall be prohibited or discouraged from informally taking steps to effectuate the intent of this Administrative Order as it relates to resolving intra and inter-related family issues, provided that those steps do not conflict with any provision of this Administrative Order, the Florida Supreme Court's opinion in Re: • Unified Family Court/Domestic Relations, except as otherwise provided in section I.D. of this order, and shall be linked upon order of the Court. • If a family has a pending dependency case, and subsequently, a member of the family files for a dissolution of marriage (DOM), the Unified Family Court/Juvenile judge handling dependency cases shall decide all issues in the DOM action, including those involving children and financial matters, unless the Unified Family Court/Juvenile judge handling dependency cases files a good cause order as described below in section I.D. • However, if a family has a juvenile delinquency case( s) and a DOM case, but no other cases pending, the provisions of this Administrative Order shall not be applicable and the cases shall be heard individually in the respective divisions of the Court. • If different judges are assigned to related juvenile delinquency and dependency cases, the juvenile delinquency judge shall preside over the adjudicatory hearing portion of the delinquency case. • However, after receiving a recommendation from a case manager, the courts shall retain discretion to resolve cases in a manner that promotes the best interest of the family and children (if any). • If a court determines that following the preferred "one family, one judge" model is not in the best interest of the family and children (if any), the court shall file an order finding good cause for not following the preferred model. • The case managers shall maintain the responsibility of sharing information concerning related cases with the various judges presiding over those related cases. • Unified Family Court jurisdiction shall consist of and include the following elements: • The Unified Family Court bench shall consist of judges who have received training and have extensive experience in Family, Juvenile, and County Criminal • The Clerk of Courts shall forward to the UFC case management division of the Administrative Office of the Courts a copy of the filing and the original Unified Family Court Related Case Information Sheet. • The Clerk shall not file the Unified Family Court Related Case Information Sheet in the court file. • In the event that a Unified Family Court Related Case Information Sheet is not provided with the initiating action, the judge or case manager shall inquire of the attorneys at each court hearing as to whether they are aware of any related cases. • Related Case Information Sheet, the Clerk of Courts shall refer parties to the UFC case management division of the Administrative Office of the Courts. • The case manager shall review the filing and Unified Family Court Related Case • Information Sheet and shall submit an appropriate proposed draft order(s) for Court review. • Upon order of the Court, the Clerk of Courts shall enter related case information into the Odyssey or Reflections programs. • The Court shall initiate steps to have full access to the databases of all Unified Family • Clerk of Courts shall notify the presiding judges and the UFC case managers when they identify UFC related cases. • The Clerk of Courts shall also designate a case as a UFC case by placing a visible UFC stamp on the outside of the file and by attaching a copy of this Administrative Order and the attached forms to the inside cover of the UFC related case. • The Unified Family Court shall be evaluated routinely by the Chief Judge or the Chief • The Twentieth Judicial Circuit's FLAG (Family Law Advisory Group) and the involved stakeholders shall continue to provide input regarding the Twentieth Judicial • The Court shall determine the appropriate schedule/dockets and coordinate with the • Accordingly, the Unified Family Court Case Managers shall have access to and may inspect the official juvenile delinquency and juvenile dependency court records in the • Any information the Unified Family Court Case Managers obtain concerning a juvenile delinquency case and/or juvenile dependency case may only be provided to a judge or a magistrate presiding over a unified family court related case and any information in written form must be sealed if it is filed in any unified family court related case file. • Court records deemed confidential and exempt from public access pursuant to any law, statute or rule shall remain so, unless otherwise ordered by the Court. • To the extent that any provision of this Administrative Order may be construed as being in conflict with any law, statute or rule, the law, statute or rule shall prevail. 1Zt.DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers in Fort Myers, Lee County, Florida, this S / day of ~ ,20_!!!1. • If this form contains any information concerning a juvenile delinquency or dependency case, this form and the information contained herein may only be provided to a judge presiding over a unified family court related case and the form must be sealed if it is filed in any unified family court related case file. • Unified Family Court cases shall be coordinated in a manner to avoid conflicting decisions, enhance judicial decision making and minimize inconvenience to the family. • At the Case Conference, the parties shall be prepared to discuss, inter alia, the following matters: a. • As an alternative to the "one family, one judge" model, the UFC case manager shall continue to share information concerning related cases with the various judges presiding over those related cases.
Effective January 2, 2008, the unification of family court shall be implemented and shall operate as a pilot program in Lee County, and may later be formally expanded to Collier, Charlotte, Hendry and
Reviewer note: Order PDF sha256: 92bda93453babdf0d4157907007243a3c73ff30073da2ef7a8b7dc2b5451d361. 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.