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

Where family cases are filed in Sumter

Sumter County belongs to the Fifth Judicial Circuit (with Lake, Marion, Citrus and Hernando). It's a small county with one courthouse, and everything family-related goes through it, whether you live in The Villages, Wildwood, Bushnell or Webster:

• Sumter County Courthouse, 215 E. McCollum Avenue, Bushnell, FL 33513. Family cases are filed at the Clerk's office on the second floor. Monday to Friday, 8:30 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (confirm before going). Phone (352) 569-6600.
• The Villages Annex (8033 E. CR-466) and the Sumterville center: limited services; to open a family case, go to Bushnell or file online.
• Online: with or without a lawyer, you can file through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (myflcourtaccess.com).

What it costs to open a case

The Sumter Clerk publishes its family court fee schedule. The main ones:

• Divorce or annulment: $408 total (the filing fee plus the judgment fee).
• Paternity, custody, child support or grandparent visitation without a divorce: $300.
• Adoption, name change or termination of parental rights: $400.
• Counter-petition for divorce: $392.50; counter-petition in other family cases: $295.
• Each summons: $10. Reopening a case: $50.
• Circuit mediation, per session: $60 with family income under $50,000, $120 above.
• Protective injunctions: free.

If you can't pay, ask the Clerk for the indigency application; if approved, you pay no filing fee or circuit mediation. Printed form packets are sold by the Clerk for a small fee; online they're free at flcourts.gov.

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. For a divorce you must prove six months of Florida residency.
2. Service by the sheriff or a process server, or voluntary acceptance. The other side has 20 days to answer.
3. Mandatory disclosure: financial affidavit and Rule 12.285 documents within 45 days.
4. Standing orders: when the case is opened, both parties are bound by the Fifth Circuit's automatic order (one version for cases with children, another without) prohibiting taking the children out of state, disposing of assets or cancelling insurance 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? Remote self-help

In Sumter, the Fifth Circuit's Family Court Case Management office works by phone and email only, not in person:

• Phone (352) 569-6949, email SumterFamilySelfHelp@circuit5.org, Monday to Friday 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. (closed 12:00 to 1:00). There's also an online inquiry form at circuit5.org.
• How it works: you fill out and file your forms with the second-floor Clerk (or online) and then call or email the office so it can review your file and tell you what's missing for the final hearing. They have checklists for divorce, paternity, name change, stepparent adoption and temporary custody by relatives.
• No legal advice.
• Free legal help: Community Legal Services of Mid-Florida serves Sumter: (800) 405-1417.

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 final judgment. It's a minimum of 4 hours, can be taken online, in English or Spanish with any provider approved by the Department of Children and Families (myflfamilies.com), and the certificate is filed in the case.

Mediation: how it works in Sumter

In the Fifth Circuit, family mediation requires a judge's order:

• Requirements: an open case, a financial affidavit from both parties filed within the last 12 months, and the Order for Mediation (requested by motion; the order form is at circuit5.org).
• Court program: available if combined annual income is under $100,000. With the signed order, the self-help office or the Clerk tells you how to schedule with the circuit's mediation coordinator; many sessions are by video conference.
• Cost per person per session: $60 with combined income under $50,000 and $120 above; free if indigent.
• Over $100,000 combined, you must hire a certified private mediator.

How you get a hearing

• Without a lawyer: once the file is complete, the Family Court Case Management office reviews it and the case moves to the final hearing; the court mails you the notice with date, time and how to appear.
• With a lawyer or for motions: hearings are coordinated with the division's judicial assistant, by email, after conferring with the other side. Check the Sumter judge's instructions at circuit5.org.
• By phone or Zoom: Sumter has a specific administrative order on telephonic hearings, and the Fifth Circuit holds many family hearings on Zoom. Your notice says how to appear and includes the link or number.
• Magistrates: child support, contempt and temporary matters may go before a general magistrate; you'll receive an order of referral and can object.

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), ask the self-help office to review it, and the court sets a short final hearing, often on Zoom or by phone. The simplified dissolution (no minor children, no pregnancy, full agreement) is filed with both spouses present before the Clerk in Bushnell.

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 or magistrate.
• Payments go through the State Disbursement Unit; the Clerk charges a small fee on payments it processes.
• If you got a notice of delinquency or a license suspension notice, you have only days to object (the Clerk charges $25 for the objection).

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 office, Sumter County Courthouse, 215 E. McCollum Avenue, Bushnell, during office hours. Phone (352) 569-6600.
• Cost: none. Staff help you with the petition and take it to the judge the same day.
• What happens next: if there's merit, the judge signs a temporary order; the sheriff serves the other person in hand. The hearing is set within 15 days; if you don't show up, the order is dismissed.
• Help: Haven of Lake & Sumter Counties offers advocates, shelter and court accompaniment. If you're in immediate danger, call 911.

Practical tips for court day

• Bushnell is 20 to 30 minutes from The Villages and Wildwood; plan the trip and 15 minutes for building security.
• If the hearing is on Zoom or by phone, log in 10 minutes early, from a quiet place, and have your ID and documents at hand.
• Bring, or send ahead, copies of any document you want to show.
• Keep your address current with the Clerk; notices go to the address in the file.

How we can help

We handle family cases in Bushnell, The Villages, Wildwood and all of Sumter County, 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 Sumter hearings are held on Zoom or by phone.

Frequently asked questions