Trial Courts - County

Organization

  • The Constitution establishes a county court in each of Florida's 67 counties. The number of judges in each county court system varies with the population and caseload of the county.
  • To be eligible for the office of county judge, a person must be an elector of the county and must have been a member of The Florida Bar for five years; in counties with a population of 40,000 or less, a person must only be a member of The Florida Bar.
  • County judges are eligible for assignment to circuit court and they are frequently assigned to their county's judicial circuit. 
  • County judges serve six-year terms and they are subject to the same disciplinary standards and the jurisdiction of the Judicial Qualifications Commission as all other judicial officers.

Jurisdiction

  • The trial jurisdiction of county courts is established by statute. Beginning January 1, 2023, jurisdiction of county courts was extended to civil disputes involving $50,000 or less.
  • The majority of non-jury trials in Florida take place before a county court judge. The county courts are sometimes referred to as "the people's courts," as the county courts' work involves a myriad of citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.

Links

Judicial Family Institute (JFI) - The Judicial Family Institute is a subcommittee of the Conference of Chief Justices.  It also works with the National Center for State Courts and is dedicated to providing information, support and education to judicial family members.

Florida Courts

Last Modified: February 16, 2024