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

Where family cases are filed in Polk

Polk County belongs to the Tenth Judicial Circuit (with Hardee and Highlands). The family judges and hearings are in Bartow, but the Clerk accepts documents at three offices:

• Polk County Courthouse, 255 N. Broadway Avenue, Bartow, FL 33830. The Clerk's Family Law office is on the first floor. The family courtrooms are here, and this is where protective injunctions are filed.
• Lakeland Government Center, 930 E. Parker Street, Lakeland, FL 33801.
• Northeast Government Center, 200 Government Center Blvd., Lake Alfred, FL 33850 (serves the Haines City, Davenport and Winter Haven area).
• Hours: Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Clerk's call center: (863) 534-4000.
• Online: with or without a lawyer, you can file through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (myflcourtaccess.com). The Polk Clerk also offers guided online forms (TurboCourt) for divorces with and without children and for protective injunctions.

What it costs to open a case

Fees are statewide: about $408 for a divorce, $300 for paternity, custody or child support without a divorce, $10 per summons and about $50 to reopen a case for a modification. Domestic violence injunctions are free. If you can't pay, ask the Clerk for the indigency application; if approved, you pay no filing fee, no circuit mediation and no fee for the circuit's parenting course.

The basic steps of a family case in Polk

1. Petition with the cover sheet, notice of related cases, social security notice and, with children, the UCCJEA affidavit. For a divorce you must prove six months of Florida residency. If you have no lawyer, Polk also requires the Notice of Limitation of Services form in every case.
2. Service by the sheriff (Polk County Sheriff, Court Process: (863) 534-6202) or a process server, or voluntary acceptance. You must prove service within 120 days; a case with no proof of service or no activity for 6 months can be dismissed. The other side has 20 days to answer.
3. Mandatory disclosure: financial affidavit and Rule 12.285 documents within 45 days.
4. Standing order: in contested Polk divorces, an automatic circuit order (AO 5-51.0) prohibits disposing of assets, changing insurance or taking the children out of state while the case is pending.
5. Parenting course, mediation and hearings.
6. Final judgment, never sooner than 20 days after the divorce petition is filed.

No lawyer? The Tenth Circuit's Self-Help Program

In Polk, self-help is a court program, and besides guidance, it's the office that sets your hearing:

• Phone: (863) 534-4015, Monday to Friday 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. If the line is busy, leave a message and they call back. Mail: P.O. Box 9000, Drawer J139, Bartow, FL 33831.
• What they do: explain the procedure, provide checklists for divorce, paternity, stepparent adoption, name changes, custody by relatives, modifications and enforcement, and review your file to confirm it meets the requirements before a hearing.
• What they don't do: legal advice, represent you or coach your testimony. What you tell them isn't confidential.
• Form packets are sold at any of the three Clerk offices; state forms are free at flcourts.gov. Polk uses its own model parenting plans (AO 5-20.7); ask for them.
• Free legal help: Florida Rural Legal Services and the Tenth Circuit Bar's legal assistance program serve Polk based on income.

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. You can take it online, in English or Spanish with any provider approved by the Department of Children and Families (myflfamilies.com), or take the Positive Co-Parenting course the circuit itself runs at the Bartow courthouse (information at (863) 534-4698); with a certificate of indigency it's free. The certificate is filed in the case.

Mediation: how it works in Polk

• Family mediation is coordinated by the Tenth Circuit's Family Mediation Services in Bartow: (863) 534-4698. It's scheduled when the judge orders it or both parties request it; in contested cases with children, the judge orders it practically always before trial.
• Cost: the circuit program charges per person based on combined income, on the state's usual scale ($60 per session under $50,000 combined income and $120 above); free with a certificate of indigency. Over $100,000 combined, a private mediator is usually required. Confirm the amount when scheduling.
• Bring your financial affidavit and a proposed parenting plan: mediation works better when you arrive with numbers.

How you get a hearing

• Without a lawyer: call the Self-Help Program, (863) 534-4015. A specialist reviews your file and, if it's complete, the court issues an Order Scheduling Hearing that's mailed to all parties. They don't give dates over the phone. If something is missing, they tell you what.
• With a lawyer or for motions: coordinated with the judicial assistant of the assigned family division, after conferring with the other side, following each judge's instructions published at jud10.flcourts.org.
• Virtual: the Tenth Circuit holds many hearings on Zoom or Microsoft Teams and publishes tutorials and rules for virtual hearings. Your notice says whether it's virtual or in person.
• Address: keep your address current with the Clerk using the designation form; the court doesn't rely on changes made through the post office.

Interpreter: in family cases the court normally does not provide a Spanish interpreter; bring a qualified one. In protective injunction cases it does.

Uncontested divorce: the final hearing

If both sides signed the marital settlement agreement (and the parenting plan if there are children): complete the file per the checklist (answer or waiver, financial affidavits, certificates of disclosure and of the parenting course, agreement, parenting plan and child support worksheet), call the Self-Help Program for review, and the court mails you the order with the final hearing date, short and often virtual. 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 regional office is at 115 S. Missouri Avenue, Suite 102, Lakeland; statewide line (850) 488-5437.
• In a divorce or paternity case, support is calculated with the Florida guidelines and decided by the judge. To have it deducted from wages, you request an income withholding order; the self-help program has the motion.
• Payments go through the State Disbursement Unit.
• If you got a license suspension or notice of delinquency, the self-help program has instructions for objecting; the window 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 Clerk's Family Law office, first floor of the Polk County Courthouse, 255 N. Broadway Ave., Bartow. Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. You can also start the petition online with the Clerk's guided form.
• Cost: none for domestic violence.
• What happens next: the Clerk helps you with the petition and takes it to the judge. If there's merit, a temporary order is signed; the sheriff serves the other person in hand. The hearing is set within 15 days and both parties must attend.
• Help: Peace River Center offers advocates, shelter and court accompaniment in Polk. After hours, on weekends or holidays, call 911.

Practical tips for court day

• In-person family hearings are in Bartow even if you filed in Lakeland or Lake Alfred; plan the trip.
• If it's on Zoom or Teams, log in 10 minutes early, from a quiet place, camera on and microphone muted until you're called.
• Bring copies of any document you want to show.
• You can check with the Clerk at any time that your documents were received and scanned into the file.

How we can help

We handle family cases in Bartow, Lakeland, Haines City, Davenport and all of Polk, in English and Spanish: 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; many Polk hearings are held by video conference.

Frequently asked questions