Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Broward County Filing Rules

If your hearing is by Zoom, please include the zoom instructions in your Notice of Hearing. Zoom instructions are attached as Exhibit A.

All proposed orders must contain the hearing date(s), motion title(s), motion filing date, and any other pertinent dates.

Trial and hearing exhibits must be pre-marked using letter format (e.g., Petitioner's Exhibit A).

Parties in family cases involving child support, alimony, or equitable distribution must file a financial affidavit (short form under $50,000/year income; long form over $50,000/year).

Emails to the division must include the case style (case number and party names) in the subject line, and emergency motions must be noted in the subject line.

All parties and counsel of record must be copied on any e-mail communications with the Court.

If a settlement is reached, please notify the Court IMMEDIATELY so hearings in all related matters can be cancelled.

Pro se litigants must contact the Case Management Unit by email or phone rather than the Judge's office.

Parties may not call chambers to schedule hearings; hearing requests must be made by email.

To request a hearing, email the Judicial Assistant with case number, party names, requested hearing time, copy of motion, and Clerk's acceptance.

Proposed orders from domestic violence hearings must be submitted within seven days of the hearing.

Proposed orders after special set hearings must be uploaded to the CMS Workbench within 10 days of the hearing.

REMEMBER to upload it at least 5 days before the hearing.

Responses to a motion must be uploaded at least two business days before the hearing or the Judge will not read them.

All pretrial motions must be filed and heard no later than 7 days before trial, and the moving attorney must promptly file, serve, and obtain a hearing time.

Should you seek relief, please file the appropriate petition or motion with the Clerk of Courts, copy the opposing party, and send a courtesy copy to the Court. You must certify that any pleading provided to the Court as a courtesy was also simultaneously provided to the opposing party.

For motions seeking to exceed page limits, proposed orders may be uploaded to CMS, the motion must be uploaded as a supporting document, and no hearing is required.

Hearing documents may be mailed or FedExed, but uploading is preferred and documents should also be filed with the Clerk of the Court.

Only petitions and motions properly e-filed and accepted by the Clerk's Office will be acted upon by the Court.

DIY Florida documents may be filed electronically through the E-Portal or by hand at the clerk of court office.

Should you seek relief, please file the appropriate petition or motion with the Clerk of Courts, copy the opposing party, and send a courtesy copy to the Court.

Case law submissions over fifteen pages must be provided to the Court in hard copy no later than three business days before the hearing.

Copies of the Notice of Hearing, the motion, and any related pleadings or discovery must be in the Judicial Assistant's hands five working days before the hearing, with originals filed with the Clerk.

For evidentiary hearings, hard copies of the motion, memoranda, and supporting authorities are preferred by mail or hand delivery at least two business days before the hearing, and any drop off must be reported to the Judicial Assistant.

A courtesy copy of your Motion for Rehearing or a Motion for Reconsideration shall be emailed (with all parties cc'ed) to div49@17th.flcourts.org.

Court-scheduled CMCs may not be cancelled without prior Court Order; continuances require an agreed order via CMS or, absent agreement, a motion to continue set on UMC or sent to the Judge with a blank order in Word format.

Parties cannot unilaterally cancel emergency hearings set by the Court.

Emails or calls to chambers requesting a continuance are not permitted, and agreed continuances are not automatically accepted.

Court-scheduled case management conferences may not be canceled or rescheduled without a prior Court Order.

Motion calendar hearings must be canceled promptly through the online scheduling system and only by the attorney who set them.

Counsel must provide witness names and contact information to opposing counsel no later than 2 days before the hearing and must notify the witnesses who will testify.

Self-represented parties must designate an email address for service, and until they do, attorneys cannot rely on email service alone and must serve per Rule 2.516(b)(2).

Hearing request emails to the Judicial Assistant must include a courtesy copy to the opposing party.

Hearing request emails to the Judicial Assistant must include a courtesy copy to the opposing party and state the amount of hearing time needed.

Electronically signed orders are served by email on all relevant parties, and parties who have not received service confirmation within 48 hours should contact chambers.

All parties must consult regarding each attorney's availability before scheduling a hearing.

Hearings over five minutes or requiring evidence must be Special Set; motions to vacate GM/HO R&R are limited to 30 minutes, temporary relief to 1 hour, and temporary relocation to 3 hours.

A fee hearing cannot be set until the Court determines entitlement and the parties comply with the preliminary order.

Before setting a matter on UMC, the noticing party must attempt to resolve or narrow the issues by direct communication with all parties and certify the good-faith attempt.

Agreed motions should not be scheduled for hearing unless the Court determines a hearing is necessary.

Multi-page exhibits must be stapled or securely bound; paperclips and rubber bands are not acceptable.

All motions and responses must be double-spaced with at least one-inch margins and a font size of at least 12 points.

Voluminous paper copies for the Court should preferably be provided as searchable PDFs on a USB drive.

Physical evidence must be presented at hearings as hard copies or on a USB drive; displaying it on a phone, laptop, or tablet does not constitute entry of evidence.

Case law provided to the Court must be highlighted as to the specific portions counsel relies on, and highlighting must not be placed in the motion where cases are cited.

Add-on motions may not be added to a scheduled hearing without Court approval, updated CMS scheduling information, and notice to opposing parties, and no additional time will be allocated.

Orders must be filed together with their appropriate motion on CMS or the Court will reject the order.

Add-ons, cross notices, exchanged motions, and amended notices are prohibited without written Court approval delivered by U.S. mail, overnight, or hand-delivery.

Competing proposed orders are not accepted; parties must schedule a UMC hearing to resolve disputes over the substance of a proposed order.

Correspondence and motions must not be transmitted together with the agreed order submission.

A motion seeking relief from the page limits may not exceed 2 pages.

Motions set on motion calendar are limited to 4 pages and motions set for special set hearing are limited to 10 pages.

For special set hearings, the motion is limited to a maximum of 15 pages including footnotes and endnotes.

Motions uploaded to CMS for special set hearings are limited to 25 pages including footnotes and endnotes, due five business days before the hearing.

To file confidential pleadings, a party must schedule a UMC hearing, inform the judge which documents need confidentiality, and obtain an order notifying the clerk's office before filing.

Confidential paperwork for the judge to review must be emailed to div21@17th.flcourts.org.

All “sensitive” information should be redacted per the requirements of Rule 2.425, Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin.

To file confidential pleadings, a party must schedule a UMC hearing so the judge issues an order notifying the clerk, then file a 'Notice of Confidential Information within Court Filing' marked 'See Judge's Order on file' with the documentation in the Clerk's Office.

Exhibits containing confidential information such as bank account/routing numbers or social security numbers must be redacted (blacked out) before filing.

Family law forms are available in Room WW4-130 of the Clerk's Office for a fee.