Cason - Divisional Instructions

Department of Revenue
Child Support Hearing Officer Jurisdiction

The CSHO reiterates that administrative order 5.301 is applicable and will be enforced in this division.

The Magistrate sits as a Child Support Hearing Officer (CSHO) in this division, pursuant to Rule 12.491, Fla. Fam. L. R. P. and presides over Department of Revenue Child Support matters arising under 42 USC §§ 601 et. seq., and Florida Statutes 61, 88, 409 and 742. The Magistrate may handle enforcement of alimony matters concurrent with the enforcement of child support.

The Magistrate may not have any communications with any party outside of the courtroom pursuant to Judicial Code of Conduct Cannon 3(B)(7). Please do not attempt to communicate with the Magistrate via email, mail or in any other manner. All email communications shall be limited to scheduling hearings or providing evidence as indicated below and all emails shall by copied to opposing counsel and/or unrepresented litigants.

No order of referral is permitted nor is it necessary under Rule 12.491 and this circuit's administrative order 5.104.

ALL HEARINGS WILL BE HELD IN-PERSON

With the exception for the following: Uniform Motion Calendar Hearings, Notice of Contest Hearings and UIFSA Matters. These matters will be conducted via Zoom and In Person (i.e., Hybrid).

Zoom Meeting Information

Requests to Appear Virtually, by Zoom or Telephone

If the matter is not already scheduled virtually or via Zoom, all requests to appear virtually or by Zoom, must be by Motion pursuant to Rule 2.530, Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. Please email a copy of the Motion to the Magistrate's Office, copying opposing counsel or party, if unrepresented, at CAD-DORA-K@pgcgov.org and the Magistrate will review the request and enter an order or set a hearing on the request, if needed.

Uniform Motion Calendar

(UMC)-ALL UMC HEARINGS SHALL BE SCHEDULED ONLINE IN OLS

Uniform Motion Calendar will be held on the first, second and fourth Wednesday of each month 8:30 a.m. to 9:30 a.m. No UMC hearings will take place on the third Wednesday of the month but will be available on the fifth Wednesday of the month for any months that have a fifth week. UMC hearing are for non-evidentiary matters only and are only for matters that will take no more than 5 minutes per side. The parties may not set more than 3 matters in the same case on a particular day on the UMC calendar. UMC scheduling is between the parties only and are not scheduled with the Magistrate's assistant. All UMC hearings shall be conducted via zoom. The moving party must prepare the Notice of Hearing. The Notice of Hearing must include the zoom information for the Magistrate above.

The Magistrate reserves the right to cancel any UMC hearing deemed not appropriate for the UMC docket.

Request to set a Hearing:

Email your request for hearing to CAD-DORA-K@pbcgov.org, AND to the office of counsel for Department of Revenue (pmalaw@att.net) AND to the other party at the same time. The subject line should be, Request for Hearing – and include the parties' names and case number. In your email include a copy of your Petition or Motion that you wish to set and indicate how much time is necessary for the hearing. For Commitment hearings, no more than 30 minutes will be set aside.

Upon receipt and review of your request, you will be provided three dates and times the Magistrate is available. You must coordinate a date with opposing counsel. Please do not include the Magistrate's assistant with the emails coordinating the hearing between the parties. Once a hearing date is agreed upon please notify the Magistrate's assistant of the date and time selected and it will be reserved on the Magistrate's calendar and the Magistrate will either prepare an order setting the hearing or ask the moving party to prepare a notice of hearing. PLEASE NOTE THAT THE DATES PROVIDED BY THE MAGISTRATE'S ASSISTANT ARE NOT HELD UNTIL CONFIRMATION THAT THE PARTIES HAVE AGREED TO A DATE IS RECEIVED BY THE MAGISTRATE'S ASSISTANT.

Submission of Orders:

All proposed Orders shall be submitted via OLS (OnLine Services) to division DORA-K. If the proposed order is an Agreed Order please add a note confirming that opposing counsel has approved the order and send an email to CAD-DORA-K@pbcgov.org with the email correspondence with opposing counsel confirming the order has been approved.

Cancellation of a Final Hearing Scheduled by the Court:

Final hearings scheduled by Order of the Court cannot be canceled or re-set unless the issues have been settled and an order entered, the Petition/motion is withdrawn or dismissed, or until further order of the Court. Prior to the date and time of the hearing, a copy of the entered order or a filed notice of withdrawal/dismissal shall be provided to the Magistrate's office at CAD-DORA-K@pbcgov.org AND to the office of counsel for Department of Revenue (pmalaw@att.net) AND to the other party at the same time.

At the Hearing or Trial:

Please pre-mark all exhibits and exchange exhibits with opposing counsel or the opposing self-represented party.

Electronic Submission of Documentary Evidence

(i.e., Exhibits)

ATTORNEYS: If you wish to introduce evidence to the Court, NO LATER THAN 48 HOURS BEFORE THE HEARING, you must provide it through the Evidence Portal. Do not upload all exhibits together. You must upload each pre-marked exhibit separately, unless it is a composite exhibit.

SELF-REPRESENTED LITIGANTS: If you wish to introduce evidence to the Court you must provide it NO LATER THAN 48 HOURS BEFORE THE HEARING. You may register on the online portal at Online Services.

If you are unable to use the Evidence Portal, you must provide all proposed evidence in PDF format to the Magistrate's office at CAD-DORA-K@pbcgov.org AND to the office of counsel for Department of Revenue (pmalaw@att.net) AND to the other party at the same time.

TO ALL PARTIES: Please do not email or send to the Magistrate's Office any letters or statements regarding the Hearing. You will be allowed to testify at the Hearing. Confidential information (such as Bank Account Numbers, Social Security Numbers, etc.) should be removed from documents provided to the Court as required by Fla. R. Jud. Admin., Rule 2.420(d). If the documents have not been submitted by email to the other party or counsel for Department of Revenue, then the evidence may not be considered by the Magistrate.

Your submission of the documents to the Magistrate does not guarantee the admissibility of these documents into evidence. Admissibility will be determined at the hearing.

Remote Hearing and Non-Jury Trial Etiquette

Although some hearings and Non-Jury Trials are being conducted remotely, they are still Court proceedings and as such are to be conducted with the same dignity and protocol that would apply if the parties and attorney appeared in person. As such, all participants should conduct themselves accordingly.

The Magistrate is required to record all hearings and Non-Jury Trials in order to create and preserve an appellate record. As such, the Parties and Attorneys are cautioned that when appearing remotely either telephonically or via ZOOM, each should be in a quiet, secluded room without children, music, pets, or other audible and visual distractions that would prevent the Court from creating a clear and pristine official audio and video recording of these proceedings. Because of the visual aspect of ZOOM each person appearing should be appropriately attired. Witnesses other than the Parties should be secluded and not present in the same "room" with the attorney and party until called as a witness at the hearing.

In the event the court returns to conducting in-person hearings at some future date the authority to permit your appearance by Zoom may be rescinded. Therefore, it is your obligation to go on-line to the 15th Judicial Circuit's website for this General Magistrate and/or contact the Magistrate's office prior to your hearing to confirm whether it will conducted in-person or remotely.

For more information, see instruction videos on the Court's YouTube Channel, CourtHelp4U.