Fifteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Palm Beach County Filing Rules

The final home investigation must include the family social and medical history under section 63.082.

Requests to the Court must be made by motion, provided to all parties, and uploaded to OLS with a proposed order as an exhibit.

A hearing notice must include a certificate describing the conferral, particularized efforts if the opposing party did not respond, or why the rules do not apply.

For Name Changes, Counsel must upload a proposed form of order to set the case for hearing with the division checklist attached as exhibit A indicating all requirement have been met for Court review.

Attorneys and self-represented litigants must provide an email address for electronic receipt of signed orders unless excused.

The parties must complete all written discovery within the number of days stated in the order.

Parties must move to set motions within five days after filing and have them heard within 60 days, or the motions may be deemed abandoned.

The parties must file a Joint Status Report with the clerk at least 10 days before the DCM conference.

Witness and exhibit lists must be filed 120 days before calendar call.

A post-hearing order must be submitted within 48 hours after the hearing date.

If an order for the upcoming calendar call is not received, contact the division by email.

Communications to the judicial office must be emailed to the division addresses with the case number, case name, and relevant matter in the subject line.

The Judicial Assistant is best contacted by email at CAD-DivisionAO@PBCGOV.ORG.

Unless the Court directs otherwise, case-related communications with chambers are limited to scheduling hearings and related issues.

Out-of-court communications with the Court must generally be directed to the Judicial Assistant at the stated email address.

Attorneys and self-represented parties must serve and accept court filings by email unless exempted by a procedural rule or court order.

Attorneys and self-represented litigants must make and receive email service, generally through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, unless excused.

The plaintiff must serve the order on every defendant together with the initial complaint or petition and summons.

An unrepresented party must designate a primary e-mail address for service unless excused, may designate up to two secondary addresses, and e-mail becomes the exclusive service method when the other party is represented or has designated e-mail addresses.

If any counsel or party is not registered with the Court's online services/ scheduling system, then a written request should be sent manually by U.S. mail to the Court's attention including the name and contact information of the requesting party and associated counsel/parties of record (including e-mail addresses and telephone numbers of respective parties).

Each exhibit must bear a numbered sticker in its upper-right front corner that clearly identifies the plaintiff or defendant.

Electronically stored information must be produced in its native format as it exists in the producing party's computer system.

Each exhibit must bear a numbered sticker in its upper-right front corner that clearly identifies the plaintiff or defendant.

Requested structured database data must be extracted with appropriate queries and returned in a verifiably responsive, readable format using specified criteria and fields.

Each exhibit must bear a numbered sticker in the upper-right corner of its front that clearly identifies Plaintiff or Defendant.

Continuances are disfavored and require good cause; successive continuances are highly disfavored, and lack of due diligence is not grounds for a continuance.

A Special Set hearing may be reset or continued only for good cause, not lack of diligence; request relief by motion set for UMC, not email absent an emergency.

A motion to continue trial, including the Calendar Call, must comply with Rule 1.460, be filed promptly after good cause appears, and be immediately set for a DCM Conference.

A request to extend a Daubert-motion deadline must be filed before that deadline and set for hearing.

A motion to amend the DCMO must state the extension basis and when it became known, opposition status, the requested date and whether it is agreed, and the actions and dates needed to meet the proposed schedule.

All documents filed in any court must be filed by electronic transmission.

Proposed orders must be submitted through the proposed-order portion of OLS.

All proposed orders must be submitted in Word format through OLS for electronic signature.

Uniform Motion Calendar materials under 25 pages must be reflected on the docket before the hearing date and sent to the court by e-courtesy.

Documents for hearings and non-jury trials must be submitted through the 15thcircuit.com E-courtesy system unless the Court or Judicial Assistant directs otherwise.

A courtesy copy of the notice or motion to set a cause for trial should be emailed to the judge.

The moving party must provide the court with copies of the motion to be heard and the notice of hearing, unless it makes special arrangements with the clerk's office.

A courtesy copy of the Notice for Trial, Notice of Unavailability, and requested trial duration must be emailed to the division.

If you resolve your motion prior to the hearing date, please cancel your scheduled hearing via OLS and submit a courtesy copy of the e-filed Notice of Cancellation to CAD-DivisionIA@pbcgov.org.

The court prefers hard copies of documents exceeding 30 pages to be placed in the Judges' Box just inside courthouse security.

Set a hearing if the parties disagree about deadlines or proposed deadlines would move the case out of its assigned trial docket.

UMC is limited to non-evidentiary motions hearable in 10 minutes total, with five minutes per side; evidentiary matters should be specially set, while specified default judgments and uncontested summary-judgment motions may be set on UMC.

Before filing and serving a notice of hearing, the noticing attorney must attempt to resolve the matter and certify that the attempt was made in good faith.

By mutual agreement, the parties may opt out of the ESI discovery order if the procedures are inapplicable, but only by a written stipulation signed by all counsel and filed within 60 days of service on the first defendant or respondent.

Parties may have only one hearing set at a time and may set another only after the Court rules on the last motion heard.

The CRS Department must establish applicable fees for producing transcripts and digital recording copies.

A party who has not paid will not receive a family mediation session unless the party is indigent or has been excused from payment.

Guardian fingerprinting or criminal-check fees must be verified with the sheriff's department.

Eligibility for the provider's sliding scale requires submission of a Social Security earnings statement.

Companion-case files must remain separate, and pleadings may not be consolidated into a single pleading file.

A motion to withdraw filed within 90 days of trial must be set on the UMC docket.

Parties should not reserve hearing time for unready matters and should promptly cancel hearings that are no longer needed.

Each order must be uploaded separately; multiple orders in one submission will be rejected.

UMC is limited to non-evidentiary motions that can be heard in ten minutes, with no more than five minutes per side, and multiple motions require Court approval.

Rule 2.420 must be followed before making a court record confidential or sealed.

Counsel should invoke the sealing process for private or sensitive information before it becomes publicly available in the court record.

Bank account numbers, Social Security numbers, health information, and similar confidential information must be removed from evidentiary documents provided to the court.

Any court filing that discloses or communicates confidential or highly confidential information must be filed under seal.

All but the last four digits of a driver's license or identification number must be redacted before filing.

For UMC hearings, parties should make best efforts to limit both motions and responses to five pages each.

The court can print only documents totaling ten pages or fewer.

Memoranda may not exceed 10 pages absent good cause.

Parties should make best efforts to limit motions and responses to five pages for UMC and ten pages for special-set hearings and provide a proposed order.

Memoranda of law must comply with the Florida Court Technology Standards' technical size limits and any page limit set by the divisional judge.

The Court encourages less-experienced lawyers to argue; lead counsel should notify the Court before the hearing when a lawyer with seven or fewer years’ experience will argue, and multiple lawyers may argue on an issue in that circumstance.

The Court encourages argument opportunities for less-experienced lawyers, asks lead counsel to identify an attorney with seven or fewer years of experience before the hearing, and permits multiple lawyers to argue an issue when a less-experienced lawyer is presenting.

Ordinarily one lawyer per party may argue a discovery hearing, but a party should notify the court before the hearing if an attorney with three or fewer years of experience will argue, in which case multiple lawyers or additional hearing time may be allowed.

The court encourages participation by less-experienced lawyers and instructs a party to give advance notice when a lawyer with three or fewer years of experience will argue, in which case multiple lawyers may argue for that party.