Florida Circuit Courts: Jurisdiction, Appeals, and Filing Fees

Florida circuit court jurisdiction covers the state’s most consequential trial-level cases: every felony prosecution, civil lawsuits seeking more than $50,000, divorces and other family matters, probate and guardianship, juvenile delinquency and dependency, and appeals from county court. The Florida Constitution establishes these courts in Article V, Section 5, and Florida Statutes § 26.012 lays out their reach in detail. If a legal matter falls outside the narrower authority of county court, it almost always belongs in circuit court.

Civil Cases Circuit Courts Hear

The dividing line between circuit and county civil jurisdiction is dollar value. County courts handle civil claims up to $50,000.¹ Anything above that goes to circuit court. Circuit courts also have exclusive jurisdiction over all equity cases, meaning disputes where the party asks for something other than money, such as an injunction ordering someone to stop a particular activity.²

Several categories belong in circuit court no matter the dollar amount:

Real property disputes, including lawsuits involving title to or boundaries of land and ejectment actions to remove someone from property.²
Mortgage foreclosures, both residential and commercial, because they involve title to real property.
Challenges to the legality of any tax assessment, toll, or denial of a tax refund.²

Most circuit civil cases involve mediation at some stage. Under Florida Statutes § 44.102, a court must refer any civil action for monetary damages to mediation if a party requests it and is willing to cover the cost. Exceptions include landlord-tenant disputes without personal injury claims, debt collection actions, medical malpractice cases (which follow their own timeline), small claims cases, and situations where parties have already agreed to arbitration or expedited trial.³ Even when mediation isn’t automatically triggered, a judge can order it.

Felonies, Juvenile Cases, and Related Misdemeanors

Every felony prosecution in Florida is tried in circuit court. If a defendant faces both a felony and a misdemeanor arising from the same facts, the entire case is heard by one circuit judge rather than split between courts.² Standalone misdemeanor charges go to county court.

Juvenile matters sit entirely in circuit court. When a child is accused of a delinquent act or a noncriminal violation assigned to juvenile court, the case is heard in the circuit court’s juvenile division under Florida Statutes § 985.0301.⁴ Dependency proceedings, where the state intervenes to protect children from abuse or neglect, also run through circuit court. These cases often use different judges and courtrooms from the adult criminal docket, but the authority is the same.

Family, Probate, and Guardianship

Some of the most personally consequential circuit court cases have nothing to do with crime. The statute grants circuit courts exclusive jurisdiction over estate settlements, guardianship appointments, involuntary hospitalizations, and competency determinations.²

Divorce and Family Law

Divorce, paternity, adoption, and child custody disputes are handled in the circuit court’s family division. In divorce cases, the judge has final authority over the parenting plan, time-sharing schedule, child support, alimony, and division of assets and debts.⁵ In circuits that run a family mediation program, the court must refer custody, visitation, and parental responsibility disputes to mediation before trial, unless a history of domestic violence would compromise the process.³

Probate

When someone dies owning assets in Florida, the circuit court’s probate division supervises identifying those assets, paying creditors, and distributing what’s left to beneficiaries or heirs.⁶ Formal administration is the standard track. Summary administration is a simpler alternative when the estate’s value (excluding property exempt from creditors’ claims) does not exceed $75,000, or when the person has been dead more than two years.⁷ Summary administration skips the appointment of a personal representative and can resolve straightforward estates significantly faster.

Guardianship and Involuntary Commitment

Circuit courts appoint guardians for minors and incapacitated adults who cannot manage their own affairs. A separate process called guardian advocacy applies to individuals with developmental disabilities who lack capacity for some life tasks but have not been adjudicated incapacitated. Petitions for guardian advocacy can be filed once a minor reaches 17 years and six months of age, and the appointed advocate must meet qualifications including Florida residency, no felony convictions, and passing a background check.

Involuntary commitment also runs through circuit court. The court can order involuntary inpatient placement only after finding clear and convincing evidence that the person has a mental illness, has either refused voluntary treatment or cannot decide whether treatment is necessary, and that all less restrictive alternatives have been judged inappropriate.⁸

Appeals From County Court

Circuit courts also serve as the appellate venue for county court decisions. If you lose a misdemeanor criminal case, a county civil case, or a traffic infraction case in county court, the appeal goes to the circuit court rather than directly to a District Court of Appeal.⁹ Circuit courts also review final administrative orders from local government code enforcement boards.²

The standard of review depends on what’s being challenged. Pure legal questions, like how a statute should be interpreted, get a fresh look with no deference to the lower court’s reasoning. Factual findings get much more deference and will be upheld if the record contains competent substantial evidence to support them. Procedural rulings, such as decisions about admitting evidence or granting a continuance, are overturned only if the lower judge abused their discretion. Most circuit court appellate decisions are final, though a higher court can choose to intervene in rare cases involving questions of great public importance.¹⁰

Filing Fees

Filing fees are set statewide by statute and collected by the local clerk of court. For general civil cases, the fee scales with the amount in controversy:

Claim of $50,000 or less: $400
Claim of $50,001 to $249,999: $905
Claim of $250,000 or more: $1,905
Dissolution of marriage: $397.50
Family law matters including child support, paternity, and domestic violence injunctions (filings under chapters 39, 61, 741, 742, 747, 752, or 753): $300
Other civil filings such as adoptions, name changes, and termination of parental rights: $400

A separate judgment fee of $10.50 applies in divorce cases.¹¹ For cases with more than five defendants, the clerk charges an additional $2.50 per extra defendant.¹²

People who cannot afford filing fees can apply for a determination of civil indigent status. If approved, the clerk waives filing fees and summons issuance fees. The general standard is income at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. An applicant who owns property, other than a homestead and one vehicle worth $5,000 or less, with net equity of $2,500 or more is presumed not to be indigent.

All filings go through the statewide Florida Courts E-Filing Portal. Attorneys must file electronically, and self-represented litigants can register and file through the same system. The portal itself is free, though the statutory filing fees still apply.¹³

1
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 34.01 – Jurisdiction of County Court
2
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 26.012 – Jurisdiction of Circuit Court
3
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 44.102 – Court-Ordered Mediation
4
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 985.0301 – Jurisdiction
5
Florida Courts. Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce)
6
Florida Courts. Probate
7
Florida Senate. Florida Code Chapter 735 – Summary Administration
8
Florida Senate. Florida Code 394.467 – Involuntary Inpatient Placement
9
Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers. How Do I File an Appeal
10
Florida Senate. Florida Code 26.012 – Jurisdiction of Circuit Court
11
Florida Court Clerks & Comptrollers. How Do I File for a Divorce
12
The Florida Legislature. Florida Code 28.241 – Clerks of the Circuit Courts
13
Florida Courts E-Filing Authority. FAQs