Seventh Judicial Circuit of Florida, Volusia, Flagler, Putnam, St. Johns Filing Rules

The notice to creditors must identify the estate and relevant representatives and direct creditors to file claims with the court within the time provided by law.

Motions in limine must be heard before docket sounding, address case-specific anticipated evidentiary issues, and avoid boilerplate arguments that do not address such issues.

If either party seeks responsibility, the Pre-Trial Statement must state a brief factual basis supporting it.

The joint pre-trial statement must contain the specified items in the prescribed format.

An attorney who believes the opposing party is not complying in good faith with the disclosure requirements need not file a pre-trial statement that is not truly mutual.

Emails to the judicial office must copy all parties unless the communication is authorized ex parte by law.

The Division 04 email address may be used only to submit proposed orders; other filings, requests, questions, and communications must not be sent there.

Hearing time must be requested from the Judicial Assistant by email.

Inquiries are typically answered in the order received as promptly as reasonably possible, and repeated inquiries will not speed up a response.

For hearing times other than the listed case-management, docket-sounding, and trial dates, parties should contact the judicial assistant as described in Section A.

A petitioner serving a declaration that a proceeding is adversary must serve it with the related petition.

Moving counsel must mail or otherwise deliver the signed order to self-represented litigants and other litigants who cannot be served automatically by eService.

Interrogatories, requests to produce, and requests for admissions may not be served later than 45 days before trial, except by written party stipulation or court order; the deadline does not apply to qualifying trial subpoenas duces tecum or trial notices to produce.

A notice of hearing must be served immediately after hearing time is reserved.

Circulate each proposed order among opposing counsel and self-represented litigants before submitting it to the Court.

If the return’s due date is later extended, a similar notice must be filed and served.

A written motion to cancel a foreclosure sale must be received by the court at least five business days before the scheduled sale.

File a motion for remote appearance at a non-evidentiary hearing at least five business days before the hearing.

Electronically submitted exhibits must be filed with the Clerk of Court at least two business days before the hearing.

Submit proposed orders within three days after any hearing.

Proposed orders must be submitted in PDF/A or Word format.

An objection to a personal representative’s proof of claim must be in writing.

Proposed orders should omit law firm information, including internal file numbers and computer-generated codes.

The email subject line for hearing materials must follow the provided title format.

To display exhibits from a jump/thumb drive, litigants must bring their own laptop with an HDMI port; the court does not provide laptops.

A continuance request based on a witness’s unavailability must state when the witness is believed to be available.

If service is untimely, the petitioner or alleged incapacitated person may move to continue the hearing.

An agreed extension or modification must be set out in a written stipulation signed by all parties and filed with the Court.

Continuances are disfavored and will be granted only when good cause is shown.

A continuance request must be written, state its reason, any party’s objection, and when the case is expected to be trial-ready, and be signed by the requesting party.

Proposed orders for substitution of counsel must be submitted through E-Portal.

Submit orders through the e-portal, filing proposed orders as pleadings rather than using the portal's proposed-order option, unless the judge directs otherwise.

An order on an unopposed matter must be submitted electronically under the procedures stated above.

Self-represented litigants without access to the e-filing portal may file documents in person with the Clerk of Court.

Any communication or request intended to be viewed by the Court generally requires it be in the form of a pleading, motion, notice, stipulation or other document authorized by the applicable rules of procedure and should be e-filed with the Clerk of Court.

A thumb drive may also be used to submit courtesy copies.

The Court welcomes additional memoranda or legal authority for review at least five business days before a hearing.

Courtesy copies of case law are optional and may be submitted for any proceeding.

The movant must deliver a hard copy of an emergency motion to judicial chambers on the day it is filed.

Email one courtesy copy of the Notice of Hearing to the Judicial Assistant when it is filed.

A motion for substitution of counsel must be set for hearing if client consent is not attached.

Summary motions may be scheduled during expedited hearings if they can be heard in five minutes; longer motions should be scheduled on regular hearing days through Benchmark.

If the Court determines an emergency exists, it will schedule the hearing unilaterally.

For an in-person hearing, a motion to attend by Zoom must be heard and granted by an order before the underlying hearing date.

Failure to comply with conferral requirements may result in summary denial of a motion.

If the court enters an injunction, the fees are taxed as costs against the respondent.

Parties may be referred to mediation after the pretrial conference, and the service is free.

Costs must be paid to the Clerk to issue a witness subpoena and to the Sheriff to serve it.

The E-filing portal option for filing documents directly into a case is free of charge.

Each application carries a $50 fee payable to the Clerk within 7 days; an unpaid fee will be added to costs assessed at the conclusion of the case.

File each document individually under a specific title; do not combine multiple motions or proposed orders into one document or attach a proposed order to a motion.

The parties should seek to file all exhibits jointly, but in the absence of a joint filing, must file uni- laterally at least 2 calendar days in advance.

If the guardians of the property and person are different, they must make a good-faith effort to file the initial guardianship report jointly.

Responses or memoranda in opposition to motions are limited to 20 pages unless the Court grants leave.

Responses and memoranda opposing motions are limited to 20 typewritten pages unless the Court grants leave.

Petitioners should protect confidential information and minimize sensitive information in the petition for an injunction.