Every year the Florida Supreme Court issues an order detailing the need for additional judges in the upcoming fiscal year. Florida’s constitution requires the Supreme Court to determine the States needs and to certify such findings to the Legislature. In other words, although there may be a need for new judges and court support staff, its ultimately up to the State’s Legislature to make the final budget decisions.
Interestingly this year the caseload for Probate filings grew at twice the rate of the closest competitor.
The most recent report, which was published in December, has some interesting forecasts for the New Year. Any Palm Beach probate attorney knows that the courts have been more than busy in recent years, and statistics back this. Here is some of the more interesting data uncovered by the Court’s:
- Probate filings are up 6% in 2013/2014;
- Civil filings overall only rose by 1%;
- Other Courts such as domestic violence proceedings are actually down by 3%.
The Court uses a three year average to arrive at its needs for the upcoming years. It looks to theaverage caseload across different court systems and between individual judicial circuits where are broken up geographically. In other words the data looks between different types of judges and differentplaces where proceedings occur. The Court ultimately requested judges at the trial level for two different circuits.
- One judge to the First Judicial Circuit due to a steady criminal caseload and steady stream of tobacco cases going to trial.
- Two judges for the Fifth Judicial Circuit as it continues to be one of the fastest growing areas within the State and has shown significant increases in caseloads. Also, the Fifth Judicial Circuit covers several large counties slowing judges’ efficiency as they travel vast distances to perform their job.
The Court did not certify a need for any appellate (District) judges this year.
The Court noted in its Conclusion that it acknowledged the large amount of budgetary demands upon the Legislature but noted the importance of the particular importance of efficient judicial administration. The Court stressed especially in the area of foreclosure proceedings, time was truly of the essence and the Courts simply cannot keep up.
In the end what does all this mean for the average Florida citizen going through Probate? The answer is at this point dependent on whether the need for judges is even address by the Legislature. One thing is for sure, the amount of Probate documents being filed is on the rise in Florida, and the rate is growing higher than the other judicial divisions.