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In the Circuit Court of the Twelfth Judicial Circuit
in and for Manatee County, Florida

Administrative Order NO. 2023–3.8

In Re:

Temporarily Suspending the Assignment
of New Dependency Cases to Division K for
Three Months and Implementing Change
to the Ratio of Assigning New Dependency
Cases to Divisions J and K

The Manatee County Clerk of Court is responsible for accepting new filings of juvenile dependency cases and assigning them to Division J and Division K.

The court has recently become aware of an imbalanced caseload distribution and a disproportionate allocation of dependency cases in Division K.

To correct this imbalance, it is appropriate for this Court to direct the Manatee County Clerk of Court to temporarily stop assigning newly filed juvenile dependency cases to Division K, except for crossover cases and Independent Living cases.

By the power vested in the Chief Judge under Article V, section 2(d) of the Florida Constitution, section 43.26, Florida Statutes, and Rule 2.215, Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration, it is therefore ordered and adjudged as follows:

  1. Effective April 20, 2023, through July 20, 2023, the Clerk shall assign ALL new juvenile dependency cases to Division J, except for crossover cases and Independent Living cases, which shall continue to be assigned to Division K.
  2. The Clerk shall monitor the distribution of newly filed juvenile dependency cases bi-weekly and send a “number of filings” report to Court Administration bi-weekly to ensure that the caseload distribution is being appropriately corrected.
  3. The new directive to the clerk after July 20, 2023, is to assign new dependency cases to Divisions J and K at a 4:1 ratio. After four new dependency cases are assigned to Division J, one new dependency case should be assigned to Division K.
  4. This allocation of dependency cases to Divisions J and K will continue to be monitored by Court Administration and the presiding juvenile judges and may be further adjusted as necessary.
  5. This order is effective April 20, 2023.

Done and ordered in chambers, Sarasota County, Florida, this 19th day of April, 2023.

Charles E. Roberts
Chief Judge

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