Jennifer Bass

This office is NOT permitted to give legal advice.

• Please refer to Administrative Order M-2010-23-G, Sixth Amended Standing Family Law Court Order for additional information regarding procedures, courtroom conduct and emergency motions.
• COUNSEL AND PARTIES SHALL HAVE THE EXPECTATION TO ATTEND HEARINGS IN-PERSON. Attorneys, parties, witnesses, etc. should not assume a zoom and/or telephonic appearance will occur. If counsel or a party is not local, electronic appearance is not guaranteed and a motion will need to be filed to allow electronic appearance.
• Hearings are NOT recorded. If you wish to have your hearing recorded, you can do so at your own expense.
• If you need an interpreter, please click here to request one.
• If any party telephones the Assistant to the Judge, General Magistrate, and Child Support Hearing Officer and persists in talking about unauthorized subjects after being warned, the Assistants are instructed to hang up the phone. All requests to speak to the Judge, General Magistrate, and Child Support Hearing Officer on the telephone or have a private conference will be refused.” (Administrative Order M-2010-23-G, Sixth Amended Standing Family Law Court Order)
• Proposed Orders shall be submitted in Word format to Megan Soltis at msoltis@circuit5.org. See more information under the Proposed Orders drop-down.

If you are a person with a disability who needs any accommodation in order to participate in this proceeding, you are entitled, at no cost to you, to the provision of certain assistance. Please contact ADA Coordinator at the Office of the Trial Court Administrator, Marion County Judicial Center, 110 NW First Avenue, Ocala, FL 34475, Telephone: (352) 401-6710, or email: ADAMarion@circuit5.org, at least 7 days before your scheduled court appearance, or immediately on receiving this notification if the time before the scheduled appearance is less than 7 days; if you are hearing or voice impaired, call 711.

If BOTH PARTIES are Pro Se (self-represented) hearings will be set by the Family Court Case Management office. For any questions regarding pro se cases, please contact 352-401-6717 or marionfamilyselfhelp@circuit5.org. Any inquiries for pro se cases made to the judge’s office will be sent to Family Court Case Management.

Please check your Order Setting Hearing. Your hearing may be set before the General Magistrate and NOT Judge Bass.

Pursuant to the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration, we cannot accept documents by email for filing in court cases.  Additionally, we neither accept nor forward email communications to an attorney’s office.

Pleadings can be filed using the following methods:

1. In-Person:  Monday through Friday, from 8:00am until 5:00pm at the Marion County Courthouse, Family Civil Division, Room 103, 110 N.W. 1^st Avenue, Ocala, Florida, 34475. If filing a new case, please arrive before 4:30pm.
2. By Mail:  Marion County Clerk of Court and Comptroller, Family Civil Division, Room 103, P.O. Box 1030, Ocala, Florida, 34478.
3. By electronic filing through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal:  Using the E-Filing Portal is fast, easy, and free. To register for an account, please visit www.myflcourtaccess.com/.  To access the E-Filing Portal user manual, which includes links to video tutorials for self-represented litigants, please visit myflcourtaccess.com/authority/.

Parties and counsel should expect to appear IN-PERSON. If a party, attorney, or witness would like to request to appear by Zoom, a proper motion must be filed in the court file.

To help facilitate this process, ZOOM training information and recommended best practices are provided on the Fifth Judicial Circuit website at: https://www.circuit5.org/zoom/.

When appearing by Zoom, the parties shall have adequate internet connection where there will be no interruption in service and shall conduct themselves as if they were physically present in the courtroom.

All evidentiary hearings are held in-person, Courtroom 5B, at the Marion County Judicial Center, located at 110 N.W. 1st Avenue, Ocala, FL 34475, except as otherwise set forth herein.  Requests to appear at a hearing via audio/video communication platform(s), such as telephone or Zoom, must generally be made by the filing of a motion and will only be allowed by court order.  Hearings on motions to withdraw and uncontested final hearings will be held exclusively by Zoom unless otherwise expressly ordered.

Please make your requests to schedule a hearing by e-mail.

If you are a self-represented party, please contact the Family Court Case Management office at 352-401-6717 or marionfamilyselfhelp@circuit5.org.

If one party is pro se and the hearing can be scheduled with sufficient notice to the pro se party, the hearing will not need to be coordinated with the pro se party.

FINAL HEARINGS: Please be sure that proof of residency (Petitioner’s copy of their FL Driver’s License OR an Affidavit of Corroborating Witness) is in the court file prior to asking to schedule a final hearing. In addition, for cases involving children, the child support guidelines worksheet(s) must also be filed before a final hearing will be set.

TEMPORARY RELIEF: Motions for Temporary Relief will be scheduled for 45-minutes or less per direction from Family Law Administrative Judge Ann Melinda Craggs in January 2020. A total of 90 minutes will be set for cases that have a pending request for temporary relief from both sides.

Proposed orders must be submitted to the Judicial Assistant via e-mail at msoltis@circuit5.org in Microsoft Word format.  Orders on routine motions including, but not limited to, motions to compel discovery and motions for leave to amend shall be accompanied by a proposed order which shall be submitted by e-mail to msoltis@circuit5.org for consideration by the Court. All proposed orders shall be submitted in Microsoft Word format.

If a matter has already gone to mediation, at least one party has an attorney, and parties have reached an agreement, pursuant to A.O. M-2010-03 a proposed Final Judgment may be e-mailed in Word format by counsel for consideration by the Court. If the matter includes children, please be sure the child support guidelines worksheet(s) are either attached to the agreement or filed in the court file. If there is property but no children, please be sure an equitable distribution schedule is attached to the agreement or sent via e-mail in Microsoft Excel format.

If both parties are represented a proposed final judgment may be submitted via e-mail to Megan Soltis (msoltis@circuit5.org) for consideration by the Court. Please be sure proof of residency has been filed and be sure to include child support guidelines worksheet(s) and/or an equitable distribution schedule where applicable. Failure to include the child support guidelines worksheet(s) and/or equitable distribution schedule will result in the Final Judgment NOT being entered.

Motions for Contempt & Order to Show Cause hearings will be held in-person.

Motions for Temporary Relief will be scheduled for 45-minutes or less per direction from Family Law Administrative Judge Ann Melinda Craggs in January 2020.

Pretrial Conferences will be scheduled AFTER a mediation conference without agreement has occurred. Trials will be scheduled during the pretrial conference. Please do not attempt to schedule a Pretrial Conference if mediation has not occurred.

Pretrial statements shall be filed no later than 10 days (excluding weekends and holidays) before the Pretrial Conference. Failure to timely file the pretrial statement may result in cancellation of the pretrial conference.

All matters resolved and agreed upon by the parties shall be noted on the pretrial statement or in a subsequent pretrial stipulation if agreed after the pretrial conference.

Please check the Order Setting Hearing or Order Ahead of Hearing for exchange of evidence language. The order will indicate when exhibits are due.

Attorneys and self-represented parties shall mark all exhibits in numerical sequence and no later than two (2) business days before the hearing shall furnish a physical copy to the court with an index of the exhibits.

Exchange of exhibits shall be in the form of a physical copy to the court and opposing counsel/party, not by electronic means and shall be bound in a trial notebook.

Evidence/Exhibits should NOT be filed in the court file. Any exhibits filed in the court file will be stricken.

If you intend to introduce video/audio there are connections for laptops (or similar devices) in the courtroom at the tables OR the podium. The external drive (usb/flash drive, etc) can later be admitted into evidence. If you use a cell phone to display, and wish to introduce as evidence, the cell phone (or other device) itself will be taken as evidence and will not be returned.