Loading…
46 verbatim mandatory provisions from AO 2015-002.
Third Judicial Circuit (Columbia, Dixie, Hamilton, Lafayette, Madison, Suwannee, Taylor). 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 2026-07-25; whitespace normalised only. No OCR. Only sentences carrying mandatory language are reproduced — the full order is in custody and is the controlling text. • Courts must coordinate and maximize court resources, and they must establish linkages with community resources; • Report of the Family Court Steering Committee, 794 So.2d 518 (Fla. 200 I), and to serve better the needs of the citizens of the state of Florida, it is hereby ORDERED as follows: • SCOPE The Family Division of the Third Judicial Circuit shall include, at a minimum, the types of cases specified by the Family Court Steering Committee,3 as well as those deemed appropriate for inclusion as follows: • ADMINISTRATIVE FAMIL Y LAW JUDGE 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 Third Judicial Circuit's comprehensive response to children and families in litigation.4 The Administrative Family Judge will manage the Family Division and be responsible for: 5 A. • Report ofthe Commission of Family Courts, 633 So.2d 14, 17·18 (Fla. 1994) ("An administrative judge must be appointed in each circuit to be directly responsible for administratively managing the family divisions."). 6 Drug referral and treatment are referred to the Third Circuit Drug Court, established by Administrative Order 2005- 009. -- 3 of 11 -- 4 Unified Family Court III. • UNIFIED FAMILY COURT DIVISION In the Third Circuit, there shall be a Unified Family Court Division, which shall include cases in which a litigant is a party to a pending dependency proceeding and one or more additional Family Division cases. • In each county, the judge assigned as the juvenile dependency judge shall be the presiding judge ofthe Unified Family Court Division. • ROTATION OF JUDGES In order to ensure that Family Division judges are experienced in family law matters/ and to ensure that continuity and consistency can be maintained in the Family Division, the periodic rotation of judges shall not cause the reassignment of more than one-half of the Family Division judges during anyone year. • CASE MANAGEMENT With the assistance of the Family Court Support Unit in self-help cases, the Family Division judges shall assess, differentiate, and monitor the resources needed for handling cases, identifY all collateral cases affecting the parties involved, monitor the movement of cases through the judicial process, and dispose of cases in a timely manner. • Self-help case management shall include: 1o 7 Recommendation of the Family Court Steering Committee. 8 See, In re: • SELF-HELP The judges of the Third Judicial Circuit shall ensure that self-help programs provide Florida Supreme Court approved forms, instructions, definitions, and procedural information to persons who choose to represent themselves, consistent with Rule 12.750, Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure. • As part of its intake function, the clerks of the circuit court shall provide ministerial assistance to pro se litigants. • I I Pro se letters shall be forwarded to the Family Court Support Unit to advise the litigant of the availability of Supreme Court approved forms. • All forms which are not either Supreme Court approved or forms approved by the Chief Judge of the Third Judicial Circuit shall be discarded. • DOMESTIC VIOLENCE (1) Petitions for Temporary Injunctions The Administrative Family Judge shall consult with other judges within the Family Division and develop a procedure which ensures that Petitions for Injunction For Protection (including repeat violence, dating violence, and sexual violence, and stalking) are identified and managed in a manner that is organized, timely and sensitive to the special dynamics involved in these cases. 12 The procedure shall comply with the requirements of Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.610. • Every effort shall be made to identify all Family Division cases in which domestic violence is an issue. • The review of Petitions for Injunction For Protection shall be a priority for the Family Division. • When there is a corresponding Unified Family Court case, the domestic violence petition shall be referred to the Unified Family Court judge when possible. • Petitions for Injunction For Protection shall be delivered to the assigned judge (or circuit- wide back-up judge) along with the style and case number of any known open related cases. • Judges who review petitions for injunctions for protection shall carefully apply the standard of proof stated in Chapter 741, Florida Statutes. • (2) Return hearings Unless a temporary injunction is denied, a return hearing shall be set before the Judge handling related Family Division cases for the same parties. • When the court has ruled on the petition, all relevant sections of the order shall be completed and the order shall be signed. • If available, copies shall be provided to the petitioner and respondent at that time. • Any case within the Family Division involving family matters and issues in which the parties are adversely litigating parenting time or related child issues, child support, equitable distribution, or alimony, the parties are required to attend family mediation unless otherwise exempted by statute, rule, or court order. • SUPERVISED VISITATION The Administrative Family Judge, or his or her designee, shall maintain a list of supervised visitation centers in the Third Circuit and verify on an annual basis that the minimum standards for visitation centers as set forth by the Florida Supreme Court are met. • PARENTING EDUCATION Pursuant to Section 61.21, Florida Statutes, all parties to a dissolution of marriage proceeding with minor children, or a paternity action, which involves issues of parental responsibility, shall be required to complete a parent education and family stabilization course prior to the entry of a final judgment in their case. • At a minimum, such strategies shall ensure the availability of crisis intervention and long-term counseling/treatment programs. • Additionally, the strategies shall ensure that compliance is monitored when such services are court-ordered. 14 K. • The Chief Judge and the Administrative Family Law Judge shall collaborate with relevant stakeholders and the Courthouse Security Committee to develop a plan which provides security personnel and equipment which are adequate to ensure that the work of the Family Division is conducted in environments that provide safety to judges, judicial staff, non-judicial staff, and the publicY 14 See, In reo Report ofthe Family Court Steering Committee, 794 So.2d 518, 526 (Fla. 2001). 15 See, In reo Report of the Family Court Steering Committee, 794 So.2d 518, 526 (Fla. 2001). -- 7 of 11 -- 8 Unified Family Court The Chief Judge, the Administrative Family Law Judge, and the Sheriff shall develop safety procedures for domestic violence cases that include separating petitioners and respondents before the hearing, monitoring hallways outside the courtroom, and providing staggered departure times for the parties when an injunction is entered. • TECHNOLOGY The Third Judicial Circuit shall use available technology to access information essential to case management and coordination, to generate statistical reports, to provide public and inter- agency access to records, and to allow teleconferencing and the appearance of witnesses by I . 16 e ectromc means. • Parent coordinators shall be mental health professionals with either a masters or doctorate degree, and shall be certified family mediators. • The person acting as the parenting coordinator in a case may not perform a custody evaluation in the same case. • It carmot be overemphasized, however, that Rule 12.003 of the Family Law Rules, mandates that all related family cases must be handled by one judge unless impractical. • Additionally, the coordination of related family cases and hearings shall be in accordance with Rule 12.004. • Pursuant to Florida Ru1e of Judicial Administration 2.S4S( d), every party filing a case in the Family Division must also file a Notice of Related Cases "if related cases are known .... " In order to more fully insure that any known cases involving the parties are considered, the Third Circuit has implemented an Administrative Rule which requires the filing of such notice in all family cases. • In all instances in which a litigant is a party to two or more related pending Family Division cases, none of which is a dependency case, the cases shall be assigned or transferred to the Judge with the most familiarity by entry of an UFC Assignment Order. • When a petition for protection (including repeat violence, dating violence, and sexual violence or stalking) is filed and another Family Division case is pending, the case shall be assigned to the division to which the pending family case is assigned. • Petitions for protection filed when there are no other pending family cases shall be assigned to the DV judge. "Pending" shall be defined for the purpose of this order as any Family Division case over which the court has jurisdiction. • This paragraph shall not be construed, however, to prevent child support hearing officers from hearing any Title IV -D or Title IV -D eligible child support proceedings that otherwise would be heard by the hearing officer, notwithstanding that any party or child therein is also involved in a related Family Division case. • Upon notification by ajudge or judge's designee, the Clerk shall conjoin and transfer a case from one division to another to accomplish the goals of the Unified Family Court. • However, in deciding whether or not to grant temporary injunctive relief, the judge must consider the written petition on an ex parte basis. • JUDICIAL DISCRETION Upon discovery of the existence of multiple pending related cases, not otherwise subject to the provisions above regarding dependency cross-over, judges shall confer to determine the best way to address the pending issues in such cases. • The assigned judges shall confer to determine how to coordinate the cases, including which division shall take precedence in managing the cases and determining issues, whether one case shall proceed while another is inactive or abated, and how judicial labor should be divided. • The Administrative Family Judge shall oversee the Family Law Advisory Group for the Third Judicial Circuit. • The essential elements identified by the Family Court Steering Committee will be utilized when available and appropriate. 21 The cross-over provisions of this order may not apply in each county, but judges are encouraged to adopt similar procedures for the coordination of Family Division cases. • This Administrative Order shall become effective upon being signed. ~ ORDERED in Taylor County, Florida, this Copies:
Courts must coordinate and maximize court resources, and they must establish linkages with community resources;
Reviewer note: Document sha256: 6891d507290395709da01c95287ee294110284d0437691bd6888929e20738a0f (372547 bytes).
25 verbatim mandatory provisions from AO 2022-004.
10 verbatim mandatory provisions from AO 2014-025.
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.