Search Duval Circuit Court Cases

Duval County Circuit Court Overview

Florida runs a two-tier trial system. The Circuit Court is the general-jurisdiction court. The County Court is the limited-jurisdiction court. In Duval, both sit inside the same building, but they carry very different caseloads. The Circuit Court handles felonies, family and divorce, probate and guardianship, civil cases above the statutory cap, juvenile delinquency and dependency, and the bigger appeals from county-level matters. Duval is one of three counties in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. The other two are Clay and Nassau.

The Chief Judge of the Fourth Judicial Circuit is Lance M. Day. The circuit's official site at jud4.org publishes courthouse locations, judge lists, court hours, and treatment-court information. The Duval County Courthouse opened in 2012 at 501 West Adams Street and houses circuit and county courtrooms, the Clerk's main counters, family services, and treatment-court sessions. Court hours run 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. weekdays, excluding holidays.

Where the Circuit Court Sits in Florida

Florida's state court structure is a four-step ladder. The Supreme Court sits at the top. The District Courts of Appeal sit below it. The Circuit Court is the main trial court. The County Court is the lower trial court. The Florida Supreme Court explains the layout on its Florida's Court Structure page. Duval state appeals route to the First District Court of Appeal in Tallahassee.

The screenshot below comes from the Supreme Court site and shows how cases move up the system. Duval state cases follow this exact path. Federal cases use a separate track that runs through the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida and on to the Eleventh Circuit.

The diagram is also the source for the case-flow steps later on this page. A Duval circuit case can be appealed; the appeal does not start over but reviews legal errors.

Duval Circuit Court Judge Directory

Duval's circuit bench is split into divisions. Civil divisions use CV codes. Probate uses PR codes. Family uses FM codes. Felony criminal divisions use letter codes such as F through Q. The Chief Judge sits at the top and handles administration along with a docket. The judge list below is taken from the Fourth Judicial Circuit's judges page.

The judge list is taken from the Fourth Judicial Circuit site. A snapshot of that page is below.

The page is the authoritative source for division assignments, which shift as judges rotate. Confirm a judge's current division before a filing if the matter is time-sensitive.

Duval County Circuit Court Divisions

The Circuit Court is split by subject matter. Each division has its own rules, judges, and case-number prefix. Knowing the right division saves time when looking up a case or filing a new one.

• Circuit civil (CV): higher-value civil suits, foreclosures, complex civil, injunctions, declaratory actions, malpractice, and business disputes.
• Felony criminal (F through Q): felony prosecutions handled by the State Attorney's Office for the Fourth Judicial Circuit.
• Family (FM): divorce, paternity, child support, custody, name change, and domestic violence injunctions.
• Probate (PR): estates, wills, guardianship, guardian advocacy, and trust petitions; Florida Probate Rule 5.030 generally requires an attorney for formal administration.
• Juvenile (JV/DP): delinquency and dependency; access is restricted under Fla. Stat. § 119.0714 and juvenile rules.
• Mental health: Baker Act and Marchman Act matters; clinical records are protected.

Court files for each division are kept by the Duval Clerk and surfaced through CORE, the Clerk Online Resource ePortal. Family-rule and probate-rule cases sit under tighter remote-access rules than ordinary civil files.

Circuit Court vs County Court in Duval

The two trial courts in Duval share a building but carve up the work by case type and dollar amount. A quick comparison helps users figure out which court holds their case before they pull a record.

For a deeper look at the lower-level docket, see the County Court page.

How a Case Moves Through the Florida System

A new Duval case starts in the court whose jurisdiction matches the subject matter. Once filed, it moves through pleadings, motions, hearings, and a final order. If a party appeals, the case moves up one level. The flow below is a text version of that path.

1. County Court: a misdemeanor, traffic, small-claims, or low-dollar civil case begins here.
2. Circuit Court: a felony, family, probate, juvenile, mental health, or major civil case begins here; appeals from county civil and county criminal also come here.
3. First District Court of Appeal: the intermediate appellate court for Duval state cases.
4. Florida Supreme Court: discretionary or mandatory review of certain appeals.

Final orders are not the end of the road. Post-judgment motions, contempt, modification petitions, and enforcement actions can keep a case open for years. Family and probate matters often see post-judgment activity long after the first order.

Duval Circuit Specialty and Treatment Courts

The Fourth Judicial Circuit runs four well-known treatment-court tracks. They sit inside the Circuit Court but use different rules and a team-based model. Most sessions take place in Courtroom 212 at the Duval County Courthouse. The circuit's Treatment Courts page publishes schedules and presiding judges.

• Adult Drug Court since 1994. Eligible non-violent felony defendants meet every Friday at 9:00 a.m. The program runs at least 12 months across five phases.
• Family Treatment Court since 2003. Bi-weekly Tuesdays at 1:30 p.m. via Zoom for parents with substance-use issues in dependency cases.
• Mental Health Court since 2008. Alternating Tuesdays in Courtroom 212 for defendants with chronic mental-health diagnoses.
• Veterans Treatment Court since around 2013. Wednesdays at 9:00 a.m. for current and former service members tied to combat-related or service-related conditions.

The screenshot below comes from the Treatment Courts overview page. Proceedings in these tracks are confidential, so case data is treated differently than in the ordinary felony division.

The treatment courts also offer judicial monitoring, frequent testing, peer mentors, and a path back to dismissal or sentence reduction if all program steps are met.

Family Court Services and Treatment Court Contacts

Duval keeps family services and treatment-court intake in the same building as the Circuit bench. The two contact points below are the ones users call most often. Both lines sit inside the Duval County Courthouse at 501 West Adams Street.

The Guardian ad Litem office is nearby at 214 North Hogan Street, Suite 6004, with a phone line at (904) 255-8440. Guardian ad Litem volunteers are appointed in dependency cases to advocate for the child's best interests.

The Fourth Judicial Circuit Beyond Duval

The Fourth Judicial Circuit covers three counties. Duval is the biggest, but the circuit's judges, treatment courts, State Attorney, and Public Defender operate across all three. The circuit's main website at jud4.org is the authoritative source. A snapshot of the site is below.

Clay County cases are heard at the Clay County Courthouse in Green Cove Springs, and Nassau County cases at the Robert M. Foster Justice Center in Yulee. A case filed in one county does not move to another unless venue is changed by court order. The shared circuit identity matters for judge assignments, statewide rules, and treatment-court access.

Brief History of Duval Circuit Court

Duval County was created in 1822 and Jacksonville became the county seat. The county and city now share a consolidated government, which is why the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office handles county law-enforcement work. The current Duval County Courthouse opened in 2012 after a long planning and construction period tied to downtown civic redevelopment. It replaced older buildings that traced back through several courthouse eras of Jacksonville's growth.

The treatment-court history is well documented. Adult Drug Court started in 1994, Family Treatment Court in 2003, Mental Health Court in 2008, and Veterans Treatment Court around 2013. The Clerk has also pushed steady tech upgrades, from CORE for court records to eCertify, eRecording, and online payments. A Florida Supreme Court administrative order effective July 1, 2025 revised e-filing correction-queue rules; that is a recent procedural milestone affecting filers in Duval.

Related Duval Court Pages

The Circuit Court is one part of the Duval court picture. Other pages on this site cover the records and search tools tied to it.

• Court records: CORE walkthrough, search-field table, and what a Duval case record contains.
• Court dockets: what a docket entry shows and how to read it.
• Clerk of Court: the office that holds the files, certified copies, and fee schedule.
• County Court: the lower-jurisdiction court for misdemeanors, traffic, and small claims.
• Criminal records: felony case files, expunction, and sealed records.
• Probate records: estate, guardianship, and trust matters in the PR divisions.

Note: The Florida State Attorney for the Fourth Judicial Circuit prosecutes felony cases through the Circuit Court; the office is at 311 West Monroe Street, Jacksonville.