Seminole County Updated Covid-19 Procedures

Please find below Seminole County’s most recent procedures in reference to COVID-19:

Based upon the current situation with COVID-19, pursuant to the Florida Supreme Court’s Administrative Order, and the Amended Administrative Order 20-15, the following designates how all Seminole County courts will proceed until May 29, 2020, or until further order:

Criminal Justice Center-Circuit and County

1. All in-custody initial appearances, arraignments, VOP arraignments, early resolution cases, and bond hearings shall move forward and are to be conducted by remote appearance via video conferencing at the jail. The remote appearance will be conducted at CJC in Studio F for all initial appearances and otherwise either Courtroom 1B or 5D for any other in-custody proceedings. Please contact the Judicial Assistant for the circuit or county judge for updated courtroom location. A plea for an in-custody defendant only will be treated like a bond hearing and may be conducted via videoconferencing at the jail and the courtroom. Please have all felony plea forms signed by the time of the plea.
2. All out of custody defendants’ appearances for arraignments, VOP arraignments, docket soundings, pretrials, docket reviews, and calendar call are to be continued until after May 29, 2020, or until further order of the court. All in-custody docket soundings, if scheduled after March 30, 2020, may proceed via videoconferencing at the jail and Courtroom 1B or 5D. The Clerk of Court will re-notice of the new court date. Please review the Clerk’s website for your new date. Contact the judicial assistant for any further assistance.
3. All Problem-solving courts are continued until after May 29, 2020 or until further order of the court –

Juvenile Justice Center -Juvenile /Probate

1. All Emergency Guardianship matters, Shelter, Detention, and Risk Protection Order Hearings shall proceed via video conferencing or telephonically during weekend duty. Otherwise Monday through Friday, those hearings are to take place at the Juvenile Justice Center as set forth and agreed to by the parties.
2. All other hearings are to be continued until after May 29, 2020.

Civil Courthouse

• All contested civil family cases may be rescheduled until after May 29, 2020. Otherwise, it is within the discretion of each individual judge in the civil family divisions as to whether any motion, stipulation, or hearing may move forward. Please review the website or contact the judicial assistant to determine how each individual judge is proceeding during this time.
• For all uncontested divorces for parties without an attorney, please file the required paperwork as instructed by the County Self Help Center at https://flcourts18.org/selfhelp/ and email Seminoleselfhelp@flcourts18.org on how to proceed further.
• All Baker Acts and Marchman Acts hearings are to proceed via video conferencing or telephonically.

Injunctions

• All injunction petitions and proceedings shall move forward telephonically or via video conference. Please contact the judicial assistant for instructions. All hearings for domestic violence injunctions scheduled before May 29, 2020, will be heard in Courtroom A of the civil courthouse. All repeat violence, dating violence, stalking, cyber stalking injunctions scheduled for March 25, 2020, will be heard in Courtroom B of the civil courthouse. Please review the website or contact the judge’s judicial assistant for those scheduled after March 25, 2020, for the courtroom.

**Please contact each division’s judicial assistant or review the judge’s website to determine if any other non-emergent hearing may be heard.

**Florida Self-Represented Litigants (Pro-Se) – Please register for the E-Portal so you can electronically receive and file documents. https://www.myflcourtaccess.com/default.aspx