Unified Children’s Court
The Unified Children’s Court (UCC) Division has jurisdiction to handle related family law matters (Family, Juvenile Dependency and Delinquency, and Domestic Violence (DV) Injunction cases) in multiple parts of the court system (sometimes referred to as “crossover” cases). In accordance with mandates issued by the Florida Supreme Court in May 2001 and January 2014, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit’s Unified Children’s Court Division was established as a mechanism to provide a comprehensive, coordinated approach to handling complex related case matters, pursuant to the “One Family, One Judge” Model, with the overall purpose of promoting judicial economy, ensuring consistent rulings and court orders regarding access to children are not conflicting, minimizing inconvenience to litigants, and eliminating duplication of resources. For purposes of matters qualifying to be heard in the UCC Division, a Related Case is defined as two or more open cases in the Family and/or Domestic Violence Divisions, and/or Juvenile Dependency and/or Delinquency case(s), which involve any of the same parties, children, or issues.
Programs and Services