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

The proposed Final Judgment must include a proper certificate of service naming both parties.

Authorities and memoranda first submitted during a hearing may not be considered by the court.

The Notice of Hearing filed with the Court must include a Certificate of Compliance.

Unsigned orders and judgments may not be sent to the Clerk’s office for transmission to the Judge.

A hearing request must follow prior coordination with opposing counsel and be emailed to the judicial assistant with specified case, motion, timing, appearance, conference, and evidentiary information.

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

A party must obtain confirmation of cancellation from the judicial assistant and, absent confirmation, must still appear at the hearing.

Communications with the judicial office must comply with Canon 3, and all parties must be copied on emails unless an ex parte communication is authorized by law.

Follow-up with the Judicial Assistant about a submitted order is prohibited before 30 days have passed unless the order is time-sensitive.

To request hearing time, email Chambers a file-stamped copy of the motion and specified hearing information, including requested date and duration, interpreter needs, involved participants, and the conferral date.

A joint stipulation cannot extend the discovery cutoff without a court order.

Deposition designations must be made at the attorneys’ or parties’ meeting, and cross-designations must be made within three days afterward.

Unless the Court orders otherwise, all exhibits must be received in Chambers and served on the opposing party five days before the evidentiary proceeding.

Unless the court specifies another deadline, the proposed order must be submitted within ten days of the hearing with copies to all other counsel and self-represented parties.

Counsel may request a status hearing on an available Short Matters docket 30 days after submitting the proposed order.

The parties must serve counter or fairness deposition designations at least 20 days before the Pretrial Conference.

If not all parties use e-filing, counsel must serve the order on non-efiling parties by U.S. Mail and file a certificate of service no later than three days after the order's date.

A self-represented party must immediately notify the Clerk of Court and all other lawyers or parties in writing when contact information changes.

Counsel must provide copies of the withdrawal materials to every person who does not use the e-portal filing system.

Within the same advance period, the State must serve the Defense a list of intended PTD witnesses with sufficient identifying and locating information.

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.

Courtesy copies of case law submitted to the Court and all parties must be in PDF format.

The Word filename must include the case number, abbreviated case style, and whether it is a proposed order or cover letter.

Do not place any type of label on the evidence tags.

When applicable law requires a non-jury trial or final damages hearing, the party seeking judgment must file a notice for trial and provide chambers a courtesy copy by division email.

Opposing counsel must receive the same hearing information provided to the court.

A motion filed within two court days of its hearing should be accompanied by a courtesy copy emailed or hand-delivered to the court.

When all parties use e-filing, courtesy copies and proposed orders may be emailed to the Judicial Assistant.

Failure to provide timely courtesy copies may result in cancellation of the hearing, and untimely materials will not be considered or reviewed by the court.

As an alternative to appearing at a pretrial conference, attorneys may electronically file a Joint Pretrial Statement and email a copy to the division by noon on the preceding business day.

The Clerk must review proposed probate, guardianship, and mental health orders for compliance and submit them with supporting documentation to the Court.

After the clerk dockets the motion and supporting materials, the party may submit a proposed final judgment to the division email address.

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

The checklist must be completed, scanned, and sent to the court by email.

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.

Pretrial-order deadlines may not be extended by joint stipulation and may be modified only through a timely motion and a court order.

A delay in notifying the court about inadequate trial time, conflicts, or other issues may waive objections to the trial date.

A continuance request must be supported by more than a generalized need for additional time or the parties' agreement.

A continuance motion must state whether the non-moving party objects and, if it objects, specify the basis for the objection.

Before setting an ex parte or short-matter hearing, satisfy the Administrative Order 2012-03-01 meet-and-confer requirement and include a Certificate of Compliance in the notice of hearing.

After reviewing the memoranda and any responses, the Court will either rule without a hearing or direct that a hearing be set.

Pre-filing conferral is not required for the listed motions, actions under section 51.011, Florida Statutes, or motions that do not require notice to the other party.

Before filing any motion, the moving party must confer with opposing counsel in a good-faith effort to resolve the motion and file a certification of the conference and lack of agreement.

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.

In timeshare foreclosure cases, high-volume counsel are encouraged to consolidate ready summary-judgment and default-final-judgment motions into one block of hearing time.

Counsel must promptly file a Notice of Cancellation when the order is signed before the scheduled hearing.

The Court will not accept an exhibit binder in advance without prior approval.

Case law and memoranda first provided during a hearing may be excluded from consideration at the Court's discretion.

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 must be included for recording the final judgment.

After the order granting the petition issues and the respondent is served, or after the court denies the petition, the clerks must make the temporarily confidential petition public unless another confidentiality provision applies.

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 court record and must instead 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.

The signature block, certificate of service, certificate of good faith conference, and case caption are excluded from the page-limit calculation.

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