The Florida Senate

County courts shall have original jurisdiction:

The county courts shall have jurisdiction previously exercised by county judges’ courts other than that vested in the circuit court by s. 26.012, except that county court judges may hear matters involving dissolution of marriage under the simplified dissolution procedure pursuant to the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure or may issue a final order for dissolution in cases where the matter is uncontested, and the jurisdiction previously exercised by county courts, the claims court, small claims courts, small claims magistrates courts, magistrates courts, justice of the peace courts, municipal courts, and courts of chartered counties, including but not limited to the counties referred to in ss. 9, 10, 11, and 24, Art. VIII of the State Constitution of 1885, as preserved by s. (6)(e), Art. VIII of the State Constitution of 1968.

Judges of county courts shall also be committing trial court judges. Judges of county courts shall be coroners unless otherwise provided by law or by rule of the Supreme Court.

Judges of county courts may hear all matters in equity involved in any case within the jurisdictional amount of the county court, except as otherwise restricted by the State Constitution or the laws of Florida.

A county court is a trial court.

The county court shall have jurisdiction concurrent with the circuit court to consider landlord and tenant cases involving claims in amounts which are within its jurisdictional limitations. The county court may issue a temporary and permanent injunction where appropriate for violation of ss. 83.40 et seq.

The county court shall have exclusive jurisdiction of proceedings relating to the right of possession of real property and to the forcible or unlawful detention of lands and tenements, except that the circuit court also has jurisdiction if the amount in controversy exceeds the jurisdictional limits of the county court or the circuit court otherwise has jurisdiction as provided in s. 26.012. In cases transferred to the circuit court pursuant to Rule 1.170(j), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, or Rule 7.100(d), Florida Small Claims Rules, the demands of all parties shall be resolved by the circuit court.

A county court is permitted to certify a question to the district court of appeal in a final judgment if the question may have statewide application, and:

In the final judgment, the trial court shall:

The decision to certify the question to the district court of appeal is within the sole discretion of the county court.

The district court of appeal has absolute discretion as to whether to answer a question certified by the county court.

No person is eligible for election or appointment to the office of county court judge unless the person is, and has been for the preceding 5 years, a member in good standing of the bar of Florida prior to qualifying for election to such office or submitting his or her name to the appropriate judicial nominating commission for appointment. However, a person is eligible for election or appointment to the office of county court judge in a county having a population of 40,000 or less if he or she is a member in good standing of the bar of Florida.

A county court judge is eligible to seek reelection or retention, notwithstanding the provisions of subsection (1), if, on the first day of the qualification period for election to such office or a retention vote, such judge is actively serving in such office and is not under suspension or disqualification.

Any person who was a county court judge prior to July 1, 1978, in any county having a population of 40,000 or less, according to the last decennial census, and who has successfully completed a 3-year law training program approved by the Supreme Court for the training of county court judges who are not members of The Florida Bar is eligible to seek election or retention and to serve as a county court judge in any county having a population of 40,000 or less, the provisions of subsection (1) to the contrary notwithstanding.

Any county judge who is not a member of the bar, in any county having a population of 40,000 or less, according to the last decennial census, and who has successfully completed a law training program approved by the Supreme Court for the training of county court judges who are not members of The Florida Bar is entitled to serve as a county court judge in any county encompassed in the circuit in which the judge has been elected or retained in a retention vote, when assigned thereto.

Alachua..........5

Baker..........1

Bay..........4

Bradford..........1

Brevard..........11

Broward..........32

Calhoun..........1

Charlotte..........3

Citrus..........1

Clay..........2

Collier..........6

Columbia..........1

DeSoto..........1

Dixie..........1

Duval..........17

Escambia..........5

Flagler..........1

Franklin..........1

Gadsden..........1

Gilchrist..........1

Glades..........1

Gulf..........1

Hamilton..........1

Hardee..........1

Hendry..........1

Hernando..........2

Highlands..........1

Hillsborough..........17

Holmes..........1

Indian River..........2

Jackson..........1

Jefferson..........1

Lafayette..........1

Lake..........3

Lee..........8

Leon..........5

Levy..........1

Liberty..........1

Madison..........1

Manatee..........4

Marion..........4

Martin..........3

Miami-Dade..........43

Monroe..........4

Nassau..........1

Okaloosa..........3

Okeechobee..........1

Orange..........18

Osceola..........4

Palm Beach..........19

Pasco..........7

Pinellas..........17

Polk..........10

Putnam..........2

St. Johns..........2

St. Lucie..........4

Santa Rosa..........2

Sarasota..........5

Seminole..........6

Sumter..........1

Suwannee..........1

Taylor..........1

Union..........1

Volusia..........10

Wakulla..........1

Walton..........1

Washington..........1

With the concurrence of the chief circuit judge of the circuit, the clerk of the circuit court, in his or her capacity as clerk of the county court, may appoint a deputy clerk or clerks of the county court, for whose acts the clerk shall be liable, and the said deputies shall have and exercise each and every power of whatsoever nature and kind as the clerk may exercise as clerk of the county court, except the power to appoint a deputy or deputies.

Any deputy county court clerk appointed for the sole purpose of issuing arrest warrants for violation of chapter 316 or county or municipal ordinances triable in the county courts shall have and exercise only those powers of the clerk which are required to achieve such limited purpose, and those arrest warrants issued for violation of county or municipal ordinances shall be funded by the county or municipality which approved the ordinance.

Any municipal clerk or deputy municipal clerk appointed as a deputy clerk of the county court shall receive no additional compensation from the state or from any county but may be compensated for such warrant-issuing duties by his or her employing municipality. The limited appointment of any municipal clerk or deputy municipal clerk as a deputy clerk of the county court under this section shall not constitute any appointment to a new office, but rather shall be the conferring of additional powers and duties upon a municipal officer in order to implement revised Art. V of the State Constitution wherein the jurisdiction of municipal courts is transferred to the county courts. It is the expressed intent of the Legislature that the designation of any deputy clerk of the county court herein shall not create any new office but rather shall enlarge the duties and powers of municipal clerks and deputy municipal clerks as provided herein.

Nothing in this section shall limit the power to appoint under s. 28.06.

A party reopening any civil action, suit, or proceeding in the county court shall pay to the clerk of court a filing fee set by the clerk in an amount not to exceed $25 for all claims of not more than $500 and an amount not to exceed $50 for all claims of more than $500. For purposes of this section, a case is reopened when a case previously reported as disposed of is resubmitted to a court. A party is exempt from paying the fee for any of the following:

If a nonindigent party fails to pay accrued costs, the judge shall have power to deny that party the right to file any new case while such costs remain unpaid and, likewise, to deny such litigant the right to proceed further in any pending case.

In criminal proceedings in county courts, costs shall be taxed against a person in county court upon conviction or estreature pursuant to chapter 939.

Upon the institution of any appellate proceeding from the county court to the circuit court, including any appeal filed by a county or municipality, the clerk shall charge and collect filing fees as provided in s. 28.241(2) from the party or parties instituting the appellate proceedings. If the party is determined to be indigent, the clerk shall defer payment of the fee.

A charge or a fee may not be imposed upon a party for responding by pleading, motion, or other paper to a civil or criminal action, suit, or proceeding in a county court or to an appeal to the circuit court.

For purposes of this section, the term “party” includes a county or municipality filing any civil action.

From each attorney appearing pro hac vice, the clerk must collect a fee of $100 for deposit into the General Revenue Fund.

To offset costs incurred by the clerks of the court in performing court-related functions associated with the processing of violations of special laws and municipal ordinances, 10 percent of the total amount of fines paid to each municipality for special law or ordinance violations filed in county court shall be retained by the clerk of the court for deposit into the clerk’s fine and forfeiture fund established pursuant to s. 142.01, except for fines a portion of which the clerk of the court retains pursuant to any other provision of state law.

All persons tried in the county court on any criminal charge shall be tried upon indictment by the grand jury, upon information filed by the prosecuting attorney, or upon affidavit or complaint.

Upon the finding of indictments by the grand jury for crimes cognizable by the county court, the clerk of the court, without any order therefor, shall docket the same on the trial docket of the county court on or before the first day of its next succeeding term.

The state attorney is authorized to sign affidavits before the judge of the county court when the state attorney has evidence to support such affidavit for a criminal charge over which such court has jurisdiction. The judge shall issue arrest warrants upon such affidavit as is done in all other cases. This procedure shall be cumulative to all other practice and procedure before such courts.

Upon complaint made on affidavit to any county court that any misdemeanor has been committed, the county court judge may issue a warrant on the usual form, making it returnable before himself or herself or another county court judge.

Municipal prosecutors may prosecute violations of municipal ordinances.

Any circuit court clerk acting as clerk of the county court, or any deputy county court clerk appointed for the sole purpose of issuing arrest warrants, or any county court clerk, may, at municipal expense, administer an oath to and take affidavit of any person charging another person with a violation of a municipal ordinance and may issue a warrant on the usual form, making it returnable to the appropriate county court judge. The authority granted to a clerk or deputy clerk under this section shall be subordinate to that of any state judge.

Any municipality or county may apply to the chief judge of the circuit in which the municipality or county is situated for the county court to sit in a location suitable to the municipality or county and convenient in time and place to its citizens and police officers, and upon such application said chief judge shall direct the court to sit in the location unless he or she shall determine the request is not justified. If the chief judge does not authorize the county court to sit in the location requested, the county or municipality may apply to the Supreme Court for an order directing the county court to sit in such location.

Any municipality or county which so applies shall be required to provide the appropriate physical facilities as defined in s. 29.008 in which the county court may hold court.

All fines and forfeitures arising from offenses tried in the county court shall be collected and accounted for by the clerk of the court and, other than the charge provided in s. 318.1215, disbursed in accordance with ss. 28.2402, 34.045, 142.01, and 142.03 and subject to the provisions of s. 28.246(5) and (6). Notwithstanding the provisions of this section, all fines and forfeitures arising from operation of the provisions of s. 318.1215 shall be disbursed in accordance with that section.

All fines and forfeitures received from violations of municipal ordinances committed within a municipality within the territorial jurisdiction of the county court, other than the charge provided in s. 318.1215, shall be paid monthly to the municipality except as provided in s. 28.2402(2), s. 34.045(2), s. 318.21, or s. 943.25. A municipality does not include the unincorporated areas, if any, of a government created pursuant to s. 6(e), Art. VIII of the State Constitution.

All other fines and forfeitures collected by the clerk, other than the charge provided in s. 318.1215, shall be considered income of the office of the clerk for use in performing court-related duties of the office.