The Court Administration office of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit is hiring for several positions. Click here to find out more.

Since the August 20, 2018 inception of the Seventeenth Circuit’s streamlined process for Petition for Simplified Dissolution of Marriage, allowing for divorces on the same day, the number of litigants benefitting from the system shows the process has been a success. In August alone, the court handled 45 simplified dissolution of marriage cases, and September saw 95 cases.

You can only file a Petition for Simplified Dissolution of Marriage if no children have been born during the marriage who are currently under the age of eighteen, and no children are expected by either party. Both parties must sign the Petition. A Petition for Simplified Dissolution of Marriage may be filed in person or electronically. Click here for instructions and procedures for both.

Members of the Unified Family Court judiciary and case management staff attended the 2018 Florida Chapter Association of Family and Conciliation Courts (FLAFCC) Conference last week in Orlando, Florida. This year’s conference theme, “Open Minds: Diverse Services for Diverse Families” offered three days of intensive workshops for attendees.

Pictured here are family court case managers, Judge Hope Bristol and Florida Supreme Court Justice Barbara Pariente.

The Young Lawyers Section of the Broward County Bar Association held a Friday morning early breakfast with the judiciary last week. Held on a semi-regular basis, these breakfast events offer the opportunity for relatively new attorneys to get to know the judges in the circuit.

Judge Phoebee R. Francois had her investiture ceremony Friday, September 21, in the jury room packed with family, friends, and colleagues. Chief Judge Jack Tuter swore her in, and her father robed her.

Judge Francois serves in the South Satellite Courthouse in Hollywood, handling both county civil and criminal cases.