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30 verbatim requirements from Fourth Circuit administrative order 1992-01 (a further document filed under the same order number).
Fourth Judicial Circuit (Duval). Procedural information only; not legal advice.
Verbatim from Fourth Circuit administrative order 1992-01 as published by the Duval County Clerk, harvested 2026-07-26; whitespace normalised only. • WHEREAS, amendments to the order are required to address juvenile dependency and delinquency proceedings, and facilitate an efficient and effective Unified Family Court; • Trial courts must coordinate and maximize court resources and establish linkages with community resources; • The Family Court Division and Juvenile Court Division of the Fourth Judicial Circuit shall constitute a Unified Family Court ("UFC"). • The UFC shall include, at a minimum, the following types of cases:3 • Pursuant to Rule 2.050(b)(5), Rules of Judicial Administration, an administrativejudge for the UFC shall be designated to oversee and coordinate the Fourth Judicial Circuit’s comprehensive response to children and families in litigation.4 At the discretion of the Chief Judge, separate administrativejudges may be appointed for the Family Division or Juvenile Division. • Report of the Commission of Family Courts, 633 So. 2d 14, 17-18 (Fla. 1994) (An administrativejudge must be appointed in each circuit to be directly responsible for administratively managing the family divisions.). • Because of the size of the Fourth Judicial Circuit, the court shall also designate an administrative UFC judge of Clay County and Nassau County. • The administrativejudges shall work together to ensure genuine coordination of cases and a coordinated approach to the overall handling of cases and utilization of resources. • Judges are assigned either to the Family Law Division or Juvenile Division for a term not to exceed two years unless she or he specifically requests to serve for a longer period of time. • A rotation schedule shall be established to ensure that no more than one-half ofthe judges assigned to any UFC division is changed during any one-year assignment period to ensure that UFC judges are experienced in matters relating to children and familiesé and to ensure continuity and consistency can be maintained in the Division. • The UFC shall receive case management services and support to enable the family and juvenile court judges to assess, differentiate, and monitor the resources needed for handling cases, to be able to identify all collateral cases affecting the parties involved, and to monitor the movement of cases through the judicial process. • The Fourth Judicial Circuit shall ensure that self-help programs provide litigants with • As part of its intake function, the clerk of the circuit court shall provide ministerial assistance to pro se litigants. • Such assistance shall not include the provision of legal advice." • The Administrative UFC Judge shall work with other judges within the division to develop a policy to ensure that 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 determine whether a referral to ADR is appropriate in light of the domestic violence issues or whether the safety of the parties and the ADR process would be compromised such that a referral to ADR should not be made. • Referrals shall be made in accordance with relevant Rules ofFamily and Juvenile Procedure, Administrative Order No. 95-17, In re: • Pursuant to Section 61.21, Florida Statutes, all parties to a dissolution of marriage proceeding with minor children or a paternity action that 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 judgement. • 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}4 • The Chief Judge and the Administrative Family Law Judge shall collaborate with relevant stakeholders and the Courthouse Security Committee to develop a plan to ensure that adequate and sufficient security personnel and equipment is available to ensure that • Due to safety concerns,judges shall hold domestic violence hearings in the courtroom whenever possible. • The Chief Judge, the Administrative UFC 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. • The Fourth 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 the appearance of witnesses by electronic means}6 • Parent coordinators shall be mental health professionals with either a masters or doctorate degree. • In identifying related cases, the Fourth Circuit recognizes that many family cases involve individuals and issues that are interrelated, but do not involve a familylg relationship or children. • Any action pending in the Family Law Division, which involves a minor child or party that is then currently, or within the past 36 months was the subject of or party to a dependency or termination of parental rights ("TPR") proceeding in the dependency court of the juvenile division, or which involves a child who has ever been found to be dependent within the meaning of Chapter 39, Florida Statutes, shall be transferred by the judge presiding in the Family Law Division to the dependency court of the Juvenile Division for disposition of the entire family law proceeding, unless the dependency court has terminated its jurisdiction over the child. • Such proceeding shall remain in the dependency section ofthe • Juvenile Division for purpose of any further actions until such time that the child reaches the age of majority and is not otherwise legally dependent on his or her parents, such as in the case of physical or mental disability.'9 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 as otherwise currently heard in this Circuit, notwithstanding that any party or child therein is also involved in a dependency action. • Delinquency cases in which the child is also the subject of a dependency case shall be subject to the crossover reassignment rules set forth in Administrative Order 08- , In re:
WHEREAS, amendments to the order are required to address juvenile dependency and delinquency proceedings, and facilitate an efficient and effective Unified Family Court;
Reviewer note: Order PDF sha256: 42d69afa5f7378c0b30511ca5187a5d1bca322dd3d18596d360f2f8c43332440. Extracted from the order's own text layer. One of several documents the Clerk publishes under order number 1992-01.
18 verbatim requirements from 5th Jud. Cir., M-2018-65 — sha256-hashed 2026-07-25.
13 verbatim requirements from 5th Jud. Cir., Interpreter Services – English — sha256-hashed 2026-07-25.
25 verbatim mandatory provisions from AO 2022-004.