Judicial Section Details

GENERAL INFORMATION:
Miami-Dade Children’s Courthouse
155 N.W. 3rd Street, Courtroom #9-1
Miami, FL 33128
Assistant to General Magistrate Email Address: bgottlieb@jud11.flcourts.org
E-Service Address: 11thD005@jud11.flcourts.org                                      

Division Zoom Instructions: If a hearing is set for Zoom appearance, please contact the Judicial Assistant at the phone number listed on this page for the Zoom Meeting ID.

Dependency hearings involving the Department of Children and Families scheduled before General Magistrate Karen Kallman will be conducted by Zoom. In-person hearings may be permitted on a case-by-case basis, upon request and with the approval of the General Magistrate. Please check for any updated Administrative Orders regarding changes in the Unified Family Court Division procedures for in-person or Zoom hearings.

Juvenile Marchman hearings are in person unless prior approval to appear by Zoom has been granted.

ORDER OF REFERRAL TO GENERAL MAGISTRATE:
A hearing before the General Magistrate REQUIRES an Order of Referral for each matter. To avoid your hearing from being reset your assistance is requested. Prior to your hearing, please verify that an Order of Referral to General Magistrate Kallman has been entered. A referral to a General Magistrate requires the consent of all parties. You are entitled to have the matter heard before a judge. If you do not want to have this matter heard by the General Magistrate, you must file a written objection to the referral within 10 days of the time of service of the Order of Referral to General Magistrate. If the time set for the hearing is less than 10 days after service of the Order of Referral to General Magistrate, the objection must be made before the hearing.

GENERAL MAGISTRATE AND STAFF COMMUNICATION:
All parties must be included in all communications to the Court. Parties are prohibited from contacting the General Magistrate or the General Magistrate’s staff to discuss facts of the case. The assistant to the General Magistrate should only be contacted to discuss scheduling matters.

EX PARTE COMMUNICATION: 
Ex parte communication is strictly prohibited. An ex parte communication is communication from one side only, without notice to the other side. The Code of Judicial Conduct does not permit a Judge or General Magistrate to read or consider ex parte communications. The General Magistrate may only consider matters presented in open court, on the record, with all parties present.  A person may not simply call the Office of the General Magistrate and ask that something be done on a case. All issues addressed by the General Magistrate requires a filed pleading and an Order of Referral to General Magistrate. 

DEPENDENCY REPORT AND RECOMMENDATIONS / ORDERS:
All Report and Recommendations and Orders for signature to the General Magistrate must first be circulated among the parties. A signature line including “DONE and RECOMMENDED” and the date should be included for the General Magistrate. Following review of all parties, Report and Recommendations and Orders for signature should be submitted via email to the assistant to the General Magistrate. Once signed by the General Magistrate, the Report and Recommendations and Orders will be submitted to the division Judge for signature. The signed order may then be e-filed by the Judicial Assistant to the Judge or the Assistant to the General Magistrate.

TRANSCRIPTS / AUDIO:
The transcript of the proceedings or electronic recording of the proceedings may be requested from Absolute Audio (305) 379-4741.

Court Reporting Services

INTERPRETERS:
Qualified spoken language court interpreters are available for limited-English-proficient parties involved in Juvenile Dependency and Juvenile Marchman matters. 

Requests for Spanish and Creole spoken language court interpreters, in-person or via Zoom, must be submitted 3 (three) business days in advance of the scheduled hearing. All other spoken language court interpreter requests must be submitted 10 (ten) business days if in-person, and 5 (five) business days in advance of the scheduled hearing, if the request is for hearing that will take place via Zoom.

JUVENILE MARCHMAN HEARINGS:
Juvenile Marchman cases are set on Mondays. Juvenile Marchman hearings are in person unless prior approval to appear by Zoom has been granted. If a conflict does not exist, the Respondent will be appointed counsel from the Office of Regional Counsel. Counsel must receive a copy of all documents submitted to the court and must be included on all correspondence sent to the Assistant of the General Magistrate. 
Juvenile Marchman