The county courts are the lowest level of trial court in Florida and have limited jurisdiction. The majority of non-jury trials in Florida take place before one county court judge. Each of Florida's 67 counties has a county court.

County courts have jurisdiction in misdemeanor cases that cannot be heard by the circuit court, violations of local ordinances and traffic offenses, and civil actions in which the amount of controversy is not more than $30,000 if filed on or after January 1, 2020, and not to exceed $50,000 if filed on or after January 1, 2023.

In Fiscal Year 2018-19, there were 571,774 criminal filings and 759,952 criminal dispositions, and 2,220,444 civil filings and 2,186,008 civil dispositions in county courts. Additional information on county court filings and dispositions is available in Trial Court Statistical Reference Guide. 

There are 324 county judges. The number of county judges within each county ranged from 1 to 43, based on county population and caseload.

To be eligible for the office of county judge, a person must be able to vote in 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.

Judges are elected to a six-year term in nonpartisan, contested elections by voters in the county in which they are seeking to take office. County judges are subject to the same disciplinary standards, and to the jurisdiction of the Judicial Qualifications Commission, as all other judicial officers.

County judges are eligible for assignment to circuit court, and they are frequently assigned as such within the judicial circuit that includes their counties.

Increase to Civil Thresholds. Beginning in 2020, the limits for the amount in controversy for civil cases in county court will increase from $15,000 to $30,000. In 2023, that amount will increase again to $50,000. The last time the amounts were changed was in 1992, when the threshold was raised from $10,000 to $15,000. In 2018, the Supreme Court studied county court civil jurisdiction and its workgroup recommended raising the threshold to just over $27,000 and the court then endorsed its proposal to round that down to $25,000.

County Pretrial Release Programs: Calendar Year 2018, Report 19-17, December 2019

County Pretrial Release Programs: Calendar Year 2017, Report 18-06, November 2018

County Pretrial Release Programs: Calendar Year 2016, Report 17-12, December 2017

County Pretrial Release Programs: Calendar Year 2015, Report 16-10, December 2016

County Pretrial Release Programs: Calendar Year 2014, Report 15-15, December 2015

A Review of Florida Circuit Courts, Report 15-13, December 2015

Review of Florida's Judicial Qualifications Commission, Report 15-12, December 2015

Other Reports
Recommendations from the Judicial Management Council's Work Group on County Court Jurisdiction, January 2019.
Publications, Office of the State Court Administrator.
Statistics, Office of the State Court Administrator.
The Auditor General reports on the state courts system are available on its website.
Websites of Interest
Florida Rules of Court Procedure
National Center for State Courts
Court Statistics Project
The Conference of County Judges of Florida
Performance Information
Performance measures and standards for the department may be found in its Long Range Program Plan.

Article V, Constitution of the State of Florida, and Ch. 34, Florida Statutes.

Office of the State Courts Administrator, Supreme Court of Florida, 850-922-5081

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