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Eighth Judicial Circuit Administrative Order 1.04 (General Magistrate): 45 operative paragraphs verbatim from the order as the circuit publishes it.
Eighth Judicial Circuit — all counties of the circuit. Administrative orders are amended and rescinded by later orders; the circuit's own index controls (the index lists it as a current instrument on 2026-09-14). Procedural information only; not legal advice.
• The Chief Judge shall determine the assignments of the General Magistrates. • For administrative purposes, the General Magistrates shall report to the Administrative Judge of the Family Division. • Within his or her assignment, the General Magistrate shall perform any and all duties as directed by a circuit judge in an appropriate order of referral including but not limited to drafting, reviewing, signing, and distributing reports and recommendations. • REFERRALS Cases shall be referred to the General Magistrate by order of the judge presiding over the division to which the case is assigned. • Consent, either express or implied, of all the parties is required. • Once given, consent may not be withdrawn absent good cause shown before a hearing is held on the merits of the matter referred. • OBJECTIONS A written objection to the referral of a matter to a General Magistrate must be filed within ten days of the service of the order of referral. • If the time set for the hearing is less than ten days after service of the order of referral, the objection must be filed before commencement of the hearing and served by hand-delivery or facsimile. • Failure to file a written objection within the applicable time period is deemed to be consent to the order of referral. • V. EXCEPTIONS Parties may file exceptions to the report and recommendation of a General Magistrate within ten days from the time the report is served on them. • Exceptions shall be heard by the trial court on reasonable notice by either party. • Review of the exceptions shall be based on the record of the hearing before the General Magistrate and shall not be hearings de novo. • LOCATION All hearings presided over by the General Magistrate shall be heard in the courthouse of the county in which the action is pending with the exception of mental health related cases which may take place at the facility at which the respondent resides. • RECORDING All proceedings shall be electronically recorded and maintained according to standards approved by the official court reporter. • Statutes and rules may have more specific recording requirements. • When a General Magistrate’s report and recommendation is ratified and ordered by the court, the court shall provide notice that any evidence taken by electronic means is available to all parties through the office of the official court reporter. • The General Magistrate shall not schedule cases to be heard during anticipated absences. • The General Magistrate shall avoid practices or occupations that would be a conflict of interest or give the appearance of impropriety. • The General Magistrate is prohibited from representing litigants in any county or circuit court in the Eighth Judicial Circuit. • See Florida Supreme Court Ethics Advisory Committee Opinions 92-48; 95-8; 95-23; 97-23; 98-12; 98-22; 98-23; 00-32; 00-36; 02-03; and 02-06, among others, as well as any subsequent updates. • The General Magistrate shall, while performing judicial functions, conform with Canons 1, 2A, and 3, and such other provisions of the Code of Judicial Conduct that might reasonably be applicable depending on the nature of the judicial function being performed. • This order replaces Administrative Order No. 1.700 (A) entitled "General Magistrate," dated May 10, 2006. • This order renumbers and reformats prior Administrative Order No. 1.700 (B) entitled "General Magistrate."
The Chief Judge shall determine the assignments of the General Magistrates.
Reviewer note: Composed 2026-09-14 from BenchPath's custody copy (file 7eecfe8357d0.pdf; 184,504 bytes, 4 page(s), native text layer): the index lists it as a current instrument on 2026-09-14 (https://circuit8.org/eighth-judicial-circuit-court/administrative-orders/); the operative paragraphs after the ORDERED marker are quoted whole, whitespace normalised only; signature block, page markers and stamps dropped. Effective date from the order's own date line where present, else the index date. [Rebuilt 2026-09-27: the published text had been cut at line and page breaks (45 fragments, many beginning or ending mid-sentence); it now publishes the 23 whole sentences those fragments belong to, verbatim from the rule's own source (custody (sha256-matched, 1 document)), with printed page markers and running headers removed.]
9 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-10.
6 verbatim requirements from 4th Circuit Administrative Order 1997-13.