The Florida Court System
Florida Courts
The Florida court system is comprised of the Supreme Court, five district courts of appeal, 20 circuit courts and 67 county courts. Each layer of the Florida judicial system has a distinct role in providing justice to all Floridians.
Appellate Courts
Supreme Court
The highest appellate court in Florida, the Florida Supreme Court’s 150+ years span a time when the state was the least populated (1845) to the present when it ranks third nationwide. Decisions stemming from Florida’s highest court have helped shape, certainly, the State itself, but also the nation as a whole.
District Courts of Appeal
There are five District Courts of Appeal in Florida, located, respectively, in Tallahassee, Lakeland, Miami, West Palm Beach and Daytona Beach. As a general rule, decisions of the district courts of appeal represent the final appellate review of litigated cases. The District Court of Appeal with jurisdiction over Miami-Dade County (and Monroe County) is the Third District Court of Appeal.
Trial Courts
Circuit Courts
There are 20 judicial circuits in the Florida court system. In Miami-Dade County, the geographic jurisdiction of the Eleventh Judicial Circuit Court is the same as the county boarders, but elsewhere some circuits are made up of multiple counties.
Circuit courts have general trial jurisdiction over matters not assigned by statute to the county courts and also hear certain appeals. Thus, circuit courts are simultaneously the highest trial courts and the lowest appellate courts in Florida’s judicial system.
The trial jurisdiction of circuit courts includes, among other matters, original jurisdiction over civil disputes involving more than $30,000 (and, for cases filed on or after January 1, 2023, more than $50,000); controversies involving the estates of decedents, minors, and persons adjudicated as incapacitated; cases relating to juveniles; criminal prosecutions for all felonies; tax disputes; actions to determine the title and boundaries of real property; suits for declaratory judgments (that is, to determine the legal rights or responsibilities of parties under the terms of written instruments, laws, or regulations before a dispute arises and leads to litigation); and requests for injunctions to prevent persons or entities from acting in a manner that is asserted to be unlawful. Finally, circuit courts are also granted the power to issue the extraordinary writs of certiorari, prohibition, mandamus, quo warranto, and habeas corpus, and all other writs necessary to the complete exercise of their jurisdiction.
To be eligible for the office of circuit judge, a person must be an elector of a county within the circuit and must have been admitted to the practice of law in the state for the preceding five years. Circuit court judges are elected by the voters of the circuits in nonpartisan, contested elections against other persons who choose to qualify as candidates for the position. Circuit court judges serve for six-year terms, and they are subject to the same disciplinary standards and procedures as Supreme Court Justices and district court judges. A chief judge is chosen from among the circuit judges and county judges in each judicial circuit to carry out administrative responsibilities for all trial courts (both circuit and county courts) within the circuit.
County Courts
The Florida Constitution establishes that there is one county court in each of Florida’s 67 counties. The county courts are sometimes referred to as "the People’s courts," probably because a large part of the courts’ work involves voluminous citizen disputes, such as traffic offenses, less serious criminal matters (misdemeanors), and relatively small monetary disputes.
The trial jurisdiction of county courts is established by statute. County court jurisdiction extends to civil disputes involving $30,000 or less (and, for cases filed on or after January 1, 2023, $50,000 or less). County courts also have jurisdiction over most misdemeanor cases and violations of municipal and county ordinances. Additionally, county judges are eligible for assignment to circuit court, and they are frequently assigned as such within the judicial circuit that embraces their counties.
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 serve six-year terms, and they are subject to the same disciplinary standards, and to the same jurisdiction of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, as all other judicial officers.
Source: www.flcourts.org/Florida-Courts