RE: UNIFIED FAMILY COURT

Unified Family Court was created in 2001 and consists of sections 1, 2, 5 and 6.

In order to ensure an even distribution of cases in the Unified Family Court sections, ZIP codes 33772 and 33776 need to be moved from section 6 to section 2.

Assignment of adoption cases under chapter 39, Florida Statutes, and chapter 63, Florida Statutes also need to be handled differently in order to ensure an even distribution of cases in the Unified Family Court sections. Therefore,

IT IS ORDERED:

1. Unified Family Court (UFC) shall continue to be comprised of sections 1, 2, 5, and 6.

2 Every juvenile delinquency case arising from a law enforcement complaint against a minor child, juvenile dependency case, termination of parental rights case (TPR) under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes, adoption that emanates from a TPR under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes, action under Chapter 751, Florida Statutes, and action under Chapter 984, Florida Statutes shall be assigned to a UFC section according to the ZIP code of that minor child’s most recent residential address.

3. Effective February 21, 2005, the Clerk of Court shall assign the cases described in paragraph 2 using the ZIP code of the minor child’s most recent residential address as follows:

a. Section 1: 33755, 33756, 33759, 33761, 33763, 33765, 34660, 34688, 34697, 34677, 34681, 34682, 34683, 34684, 34685, 34688, 34689, 34695, 34697, 34698

b. Section 2: 33757, 33758, 33760, 33764, 33766, 33767, 33770, 33771, 33772, 33773,

33774, 33775, 33776, 33777, 33778, 33779, 33780, 33781, 33782, 33784,

33785, 33786

c. Section 5: 33701, 33702, 33703, 33704, 33705, 33712, 33716, 33762

d. Section 6 33706, 33707, 33708, 33709, 33710, 33711, 33713, 33714, 33715, 33744

4. The Clerk of Court shall continue to assign cases described in paragraph 2 with an out of county ZIP code on an equal, at random, blind assignment basis among Sections 1, 2, 5, and 6.

5. If a minor child has been previously assigned to a section but has moved to a new residence with a new ZIP code, the Clerk of Court shall assign a new juvenile delinquency, dependency, termination of parental rights case, case under Chapter 751, Florida Statutes, or case under Chapter 984, Florida Statutes according to the minor child’s most recent or new ZIP code. If a minor child has any cases pending before one section of the court at the time of the new case, and the new ZIP code results in the new case being assigned to a different section, then the court on its own motion or on the motion of the state attorney, public defender, court appointed counsel, private counsel for the child, or counsel for the Guardian ad Litem, may assign all pending cases relating to the child to a single section. Notwithstanding Local Rule 3(B), the motion shall be filed in and heard by the judge of the section in which the older pending case(s) are assigned.

6. The Clerk of Court shall assign all co-defendants in a juvenile delinquency case to a UFC section according to their ZIP code as described in paragraph 3. However, should the court determine that it is necessary to reassign one or more co-defendants in order to ensure that all the co-defendants’ cases are tried in one section, then the case shall be reassigned by the court as described in paragraph 5.

7. The Clerk of Court for Pinellas County shall reassign existing cases in ZIP codes 33772 and 33776 from section 6 to section 2 no later than February 21, 2005, and shall mail to all counsel of record and parties, if pro se, a notification of the reassignments. The Clerk shall provide to the judge in section 2 and in section 6 a listing of the cases assigned to each section once the reassignment has been accomplished.

8. Effective immediately, the Clerk of Court shall assign termination of parental rights cases under Chapter 63, Florida Statutes, and adoption cases under Chapter 63, Florida Statutes (excluding those adoption cases arising from a TPR under Chapter 39, Florida Statutes) on an equal, at random, blind assignment basis among Sections 1, 2, 5, and 6 without regard to the ZIP code.

9. The Chief Judge shall designate a circuit judge as UFC Administrative Judge. The

UFC Administrative Judge shall exercise administrative supervision over the UFC and the judges and officers of that court. The UFC Administrative Judge shall be responsible to the Chief Judge and shall have such duties and responsibilities as directed by the Chief Judge. Such duties may include, but are not limited to, making recommendations to the Chief Judge for any changes to sectional ZIP code assignments which may become necessary from time to time as demonstrated by Information Technology (IT) reports which will be provided to the Administrative Office of the Court pursuant to the provisions below, and after consultation with the Chief Judge, deciding which other family law cases may be appropriate to be heard in UFC.

10. The Administrative Office of the Courts (AOC) is directed to provide the UFC Administrative Judge with a report, which reflects the number of cases being assigned to each UFC section based upon the ZIP code lists. This report should specifically show how many cases are coming from each individual ZIP code listed in Paragraph 3 above. These reports should be

provided to the UFC Administrative Judge on a monthly basis. The AOC shall be responsible for monitoring any significant shifts in the number of cases being assigned to the UFC sections. The AOC shall report to the UFC Administrative Judge any significant shifts in the number of cases being assigned to the judges assigned to UFC.

Administrative Order PI-CIR-01-29 is repealed effective February 21, 2005.

All terms and conditions of Administrative Order 2004-097 PI-CIR remain in full force and effect.

DONE AND ORDERED in Chambers at St. Petersburg, Pinellas County, Florida this _____ day of January 2005.

________________________________

David A. Demers, Chief Judge

cc: All Judges

The Honorable Bernie McCabe, State Attorney

The Honorable Robert H. Dillinger, Public Defender

The Honorable Ken Burke, Clerk of Court, Pinellas County

Donna Rasmussen, Director, Guardian ad Litem Program

Carol Heath, Director, Court Services Division, Pinellas County Clerk’s Office

Gay L. Inskeep, Trial Courts Administrator

Bar Associations, Pasco and Pinellas Counties

Law Libraries, Pasco and Pinellas Counties