Osceola County Family Court: how, where and when to do each step

Where family cases are filed in Osceola

Osceola County is part of the Ninth Judicial Circuit with Orange, but it has its own courthouse, its own family judges and its own Clerk's office. If you live in Kissimmee, St. Cloud, Poinciana, Celebration or Buenaventura Lakes, your family case is handled here, not in Orlando.

• Jon B. Morgan Osceola County Courthouse, 2 Courthouse Square, Kissimmee, FL 34741. The Clerk's family office (Domestic Relations) is on the second floor. Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Phone (407) 742-3500, option 4. For questions about your case the Clerk asks you to call; they don't answer by email.
• Poinciana branch: 4547 Pleasant Hill Road, Kissimmee, FL 34759. Limited services; call before going there to file anything family-related.
• Online: with or without a lawyer, you can file through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (myflcourtaccess.com).
• The courthouse has security screening; give yourself 30 minutes and bring photo ID.

What it costs to open a case

Fees are the same across Florida: about $408 for a divorce, $300 for paternity, custody or child support without a divorce, $10 per summons, and about $50 to reopen a closed case for a modification. Protective injunctions are free. If you can't pay, ask the Clerk for the indigency application: if approved, you don't pay the filing fee or circuit mediation.

The basic steps of a family case

1. Petition with the cover sheet, notice of related cases, social security notice and, with children, the UCCJEA affidavit. To divorce you must prove six months of Florida residency.
2. Service by the sheriff or a private process server, unless the other side signs a voluntary acceptance. They have 20 days to answer.
3. Mandatory disclosure: financial affidavit and Rule 12.285 documents within 45 days of service.
4. Parenting course, mediation and hearings.
5. Final judgment, never sooner than 20 days after the divorce petition is filed.

No lawyer?

Osceola doesn't have a Clerk self-help center like Orange's. What does exist:

• The Ninth Circuit's Family Court Services office at the Kissimmee courthouse, which reviews self-represented parties' files and tells them what's missing to reach the final hearing. The Ninth Circuit has a specific administrative order (2023-01) with the procedures for self-represented litigants in Osceola's family division.
• The Florida Supreme Court approved forms, free at flcourts.gov, and the Florida Courts Help app.
• Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida serves Osceola with free legal help for low-income residents: (800) 405-1417.
• The Clerk sells printed form packets and notarizes, but doesn't give legal advice.

The parenting course

In every divorce with minor children and every paternity case where parental responsibility is decided, each parent must complete the Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course before the judgment. It's a minimum of 4 hours, can be taken online, in English or Spanish with any provider on the Department of Children and Families list (myflfamilies.com), and the certificate is filed in the case. Do it at the start so it doesn't hold you up.

Mediation: required, and how to schedule it

In the Ninth Circuit, mediation is mandatory in every contested family case, and in Osceola the judges require that you have mediated before giving hearing time for temporary matters.

• Office: Dispute Resolution Services, in the Osceola County Courthouse. Phone (407) 742-2451, email osceolamediation@ocnjcc.org.
• How to request it: after the answer is filed, either party files Form 50 and sends a copy to the other. After 48 business hours, call to pick a date from the Osceola calendar.
• Cost per person based on combined gross income: under $50,000, $60; $50,000 to $100,000, $120; over $100,000, private mediator. Indigent, free. Paid before the session (up to 3 hours).
• Cancelling with less than 10 days' notice costs the full fee.

How you get a hearing

In Osceola, as in Orange, you request the hearing; the judge doesn't call you.

• Before asking for time, there's a mandatory good-faith conference with the other side to try to resolve the issue. It applies to self-represented parties too. If it isn't resolved, a certificate of compliance is attached to the notice of hearing.
• Available dates are on the online JACS calendar, under Osceola's family division.
• You coordinate the date with the other side and then email the judicial assistant of the division, copying the other side: case number, names, the filed motion, requested date and length, whether it's evidentiary, and the mediation and conference dates. Hearings are not set by phone. The notice of hearing goes out only after the assistant confirms.
• Virtual or in person: hearings of 30 minutes or less are usually held on Webex without special permission; longer ones are in person at the Kissimmee courthouse. Contempt hearings are always in person.
• Exhibits are exchanged and emailed to the judicial assistant, as labeled PDFs, three or four business days before the hearing.

Interpreter: court is conducted in English and in family cases the court does not provide an interpreter; you must bring a certified one. In protective injunction cases it does.

Uncontested divorce: the final hearing

• With a lawyer: the 30-minute final hearing is scheduled directly with the judicial assistant. Three business days ahead you email the signed checklist, the proposed judgment and the agreements. Osceola also allows a written final hearing: if everything is in order, the judge signs without anyone appearing.
• Without a lawyer: once the file is complete (answer or waiver, both financial affidavits, disclosure certificates, parenting course certificates, agreement, parenting plan and child support worksheet), Family Court Services reviews it and notifies you of the final hearing date.
• The simplified dissolution (no minor children, no pregnancy, full agreement) is filed with both spouses present before the Clerk.

Child support

• Cases opened by the Department of Revenue (DOR) are heard by a child support hearing officer, not the family judge. DOR's statewide line: (850) 488-5437.
• In a divorce or paternity case, support is calculated with the Florida guidelines and decided by the judge.
• Payments go through the State Disbursement Unit, never cash between the parties.
• If you got a license suspension notice for arrears, the window to object is short.

Use our child support estimator to know what to expect, and read how Florida child support is calculated.

Protective injunctions (domestic violence)

• Where: the Injunction Processing Unit, second floor of the Osceola County Courthouse (Domestic Department), 2 Courthouse Square, Kissimmee. Monday to Friday, 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Phone (407) 742-2800.
• Cost: none. Unit staff help you fill out the petition and take it to the judge the same day.
• What happens next: if the judge finds merit, a temporary order is signed. The other person must be served personally. The hearing is set within 15 days, usually on Tuesday afternoons. If you don't show up, the order is dismissed; if you can't attend for medical reasons, you need a doctor's note before the hearing.
• After hours, weekends or holidays: call Osceola's domestic violence hotline, Help Now, (407) 847-8562, available 24 hours; they also provide shelter and counseling. If you're in immediate danger, call 911.

Practical tips for court day

• Check the courtroom on your notice of hearing; Osceola's family courtrooms are on the 4th and 5th floors and vary by division.
• For Webex hearings, use the link in the notice, log in 10 minutes early, camera on and microphone muted until you're called.
• Bring copies of any document you want to show; in Osceola, exhibits are sent ahead, not handed up on hearing day.
• Keep your address and email current with the Clerk; notices go to the address in the file.

How we can help

We handle family cases in Kissimmee and all of Osceola, in English and Spanish: family lawyer in Kissimmee, divorce, child custody, child support, mediation representation and other family law services. Start with a free 15-minute call; a longer or in-person consultation costs $150.

Luis A. Morales has been a lawyer since 2001, is admitted in Florida and Puerto Rico, and handles each case personally from Orlando, 20 minutes from the Kissimmee courthouse.

Frequently asked questions