Ninth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Orange and Osceola Counties Filing Rules

The Child Support Guidelines Worksheet must match the child support amount stated in the Final Judgment.

Before a short-matter hearing, the parties must file a joint report describing the case-management issue and each party’s position.

A motion to compel seeking attorney’s fees must include, at filing, a statement certifying the good-faith conferral or attempted conferral and inability to resolve the dispute.

An order must state the deadline for any required act and identify when that deadline runs from.

If the non-moving party does not respond within three days, the moving party must submit two proposed orders: one addressing the requested relief and one compelling a written response within ten days.

Interpreter services remain unconfirmed until the Judicial Assistant sends a confirmation email.

A request for an inmate's transport to a private-attorney pretrial conference must be emailed to the division by noon on the preceding day.

Ex parte and short-matter hearings must be coordinated with opposing counsel, then the Notice of Hearing must be emailed to the Judicial Assistant and confirmation received that the case was added to the list.

A hearing must be cancelled by immediately notifying the judicial assistant.

All communications to the judicial office must be submitted by email to the division address.

A Notice of Settlement signed by all parties must be filed within five business days after the settlement email notice.

Motions in limine must be scheduled and heard no later than one week before the trial period begins.

A motion must be filed before a hearing can be scheduled.

Requests for an attorney, party, or witness to appear by communication technology must be filed at least 14 days before the hearing.

The notice of hearing must be filed and served immediately after hearing time is reserved.

Each party must serve its intended deposition designations at least 30 days before the Pretrial Conference.

The attorney noticing a hearing must provide all parties, including pro se litigants, at least five days' notice.

The Petitioner must give the Standing Temporary Order to the process server for service on the Respondent with the dissolution petition.

The cover letter and proposed order must be sent contemporaneously to all other parties.

Within the same advance period, the State must serve an exhibit list and make all intended PTD exhibits available for inspection and copying, identifying the affiant or declarant when relying on hearsay.

A proposed agreed order sent to chambers must be prepared in Word format.

Evidence intended for court use should be provided on an indexed and hyperlinked USB drive.

After the deadline lapses and the opposing party is unresponsive, the proposed-order document emailed to the Judicial Assistant must be in Word format.

Jury instructions must have a case-style cover page, specified margins and New Roman spacing, completed party names, deleted Notes for Use, and all inapplicable blanks or bracketed terms removed.

Circle the party filing the exhibits, or circle joint when both sides agree on the exhibits.

Hearing materials must also be furnished to Chambers at least five business days before the hearing.

For ex parte and short matters, courtesy copies of the notice of hearing and motion must be emailed to the judicial assistant at least three business days before the hearing after checking the AI calendar; late copies may result in cancellation of the hearing.

For short matters, counsel must submit proposed orders to the division email before the hearing and send a courtesy copy of the Notice of Hearing to the court.

Courtesy copies delivered after the 48-business-hour deadline may not be reviewed and may result in cancellation of the hearing.

For ex parte and short-matter hearings, courtesy copies of the motion, notice of hearing, and proposed order must be provided at least five business days before the hearing.

Request an exhibit-upload link through the division email, do not email exhibits directly, and bring a hard copy to court.

Self-represented litigants are encouraged to use the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal.

The proposed order should not be filed, but the cover letter must be e-filed prior to submission to the Court.

A copy of the e-filed notice of cancellation must also be emailed to 22osceola@ninthcircuit.org.

The court will electronically file the necessary documents under the current procedure, which may change.

A motion for continuance must specifically state the basis for continuance, whether it is opposed, the actions and dates needed to prepare, and the proposed date the case will be ready.

A party unable to attend the pretrial conference must obtain a continuance through a motion and a court order, or the case may be removed from the docket.

A continuance motion should be set for hearing during Ex Parte and Short Matters before the pretrial conference and ordinarily will not be entertained at that conference.

If a party believes the scheduled trial date will not provide enough discovery time, counsel should immediately request a status hearing or case management conference to consider an alternate trial date.

A motion for continuance must state the reasons for the requested continuance, and the signature certifies that the motion is made in good faith.

A meet-and-confer conference is required for all non-dispositive motions before filing.

A motion in limine is abandoned if it is untimely or, when unresolved, was not discussed at the meet-and-confer and set for hearing.

The movant must confer with the opposing party in good faith before filing a non-dispositive motion.

A conference requires a substantive in-person or telephone conversation in good faith, not merely an ultimatum exchange by email, fax, or letter, and counsel must respond promptly to opposing counsel.

Before a Motion in Limine is set for hearing, counsel—not support staff—must confer with opposing counsel by telephone or in person concerning every evidentiary matter raised.

The Verified Checklist and Notice of Final Hearing must be filed as separate documents simultaneously.

Additional motions must not be “piggy-backed” by cross-notice unless counsel first confirms with opposing counsel and the Judicial Assistant that sufficient additional time can be reserved in which to hear them.

All materials for competing documents must be included in a single email.

The Court disfavors advance submission of trial or hearing binders.

Counsel are encouraged to timely file written argument with the Court supporting and opposing their positions.

The party designated in a venue- or forum-non-conveniens-transfer order must deliver the other court’s filing fee to the Clerk within 30 days after the order so the fee accompanies the transferred file.

The party designated in a transfer order must deliver the other court’s filing fee to the Clerk within 30 days of the order for an improper-venue or forum-non-conveniens transfer.

The party designated in a transfer order must deliver the other court's filing fee to the Clerk within 30 days of the order when transferring a case for improper venue or forum non conveniens.

The recording fee must be paid directly to the Clerk of Court.

A $10.50 check for recording is required in marriage cases only.

The Orange and Osceola County Clerks must temporarily seal as confidential petitions for injunction for protection under sections 741.30, 784.046, or 784.0485 until the court has reviewed the petition.

Motions to seal are disfavored, and sealed filing is permitted only when the court finds extraordinary circumstances and particularized need.

The Court may deny, defer, or restrict required disclosures when a substantial risk of harm, intimidation, or reprisal outweighs their usefulness; a party seeking protection must move promptly and feasibly before the disclosure deadline, and identifying or locating information must be limited as needed for safety.

The closing statement should not be filed in the record but should be submitted directly to Chambers under seal.

Although the closing statement should not be entered in the public court record, it should be submitted directly to Chambers under seal.

A memorandum of law may support only one motion, and the motion and memorandum together may not exceed 25 pages.

In most instances, a legal memorandum should not exceed 10 double-spaced pages.