Defendants May Never Call — Writing Only; Zoom Needs an Order… — Palm Beach County, FL · BenchPath

Defendants May Never Call — Writing Only; Zoom Needs an Order — Division RH (FS, NC/H)

High confidence· verified September 9, 2026Judge Preferences15th Jud. Cir. / PBC County Court, Division RH Divisional Instructions

Summary

Judge Stephens bars defendants from calling chambers — all defendant communication in writing — and criminal Zoom appearances require a motion 4 business days out, ASA conferral, confirmed duration, and a signed order.

Applies to

Florida > Fifteenth Judicial Circuit > Palm Beach County > Palm Beach County Court > Division RH — also covering FS and NC/H (Judge Debra Moses Stephens)

Source of truth

"If you are the Defendant, you may not call this office at any time. All communication between this office and any Defendant must be in writing." / "Appearances by Zoom require your attorney to file a motion 4 business days before the hearing...and 3. You have received an order from this Court."

Official source: PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens)
Source health: Healthy · checked October 24, 2026
Effective date: —
Last verified: September 9, 2026benchpath-reverify-2026-09-08 (live text containment) | prior: benchpath-cw-2026-08-04

Reviewer note: Verified against the live official page on 2026-07-05. 30-day recheck scheduled. | 2026-08-03: the source (rendered DOM (headless Chromium)) no longer contains this rule's quoted text; dropped to medium pending re-composition against the current version. | Superseded in practice by fl15-div-rh-instructions (composed 2026-08-03 from the current page after the July rotation). [MEDIUM CONFIRMED 2026-08-03: source re-fetched live — paraphrase-class; 1/2 quoted fragment(s) no longer live; consistent with division-instruction updates. Verbatim recomposition queued (m15-flags.json).] [RECOMPOSED VERBATIM 2026-08-04 (campaign wave, partially-anchored): 1 bullet(s) quoted whole from the live page, sha256 023d82f51ce233414ba9d8d1c30b06f6966f0aca8d81efa384278dc60dd203ba; the prior summary-class text is superseded.] Verbatim from the division's live instruction page (https://www.15thcircuit.com/division/rh/instructions), harvested 2026-08-04; each bullet is quoted whole from the page, whitespace normalised only. [moved from the text 2026-09-14]

PIP / No-Fault Benefits Modification (Family)Criminal Traffic Declaratory & Injunctive Relief Defamation Probate — Elective Share Equitable Distribution Nursing Home & Assisted Living Small Claims Quiet Title Temporary Relief (Family)Paternity Partition Eminent Domain Auto Accident / Negligence

Change history

August 5, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
August 4, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
August 3, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
August 2, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
August 1, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
July 31, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
July 30, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
July 29, 2026Monitor: content changed at PBC County Court — Division RH Instructions (Judge Stephens). Review before republishing dependent rules.
July 27, 2026