Hearing Officer Program

The Judicial Hearing Officer Program for the Eighth Judicial Circuit began operating in December, 1989, with one Hearing Officer covering all six counties. Currently, one full-time Judicial Hearing Officer conducts child support hearings for Alachua County, while a full-time Hearing Officer handles the needs of Baker, Bradford and Union Counties and a part-time Hearing Officer addresses the needs of Gilchrist and Levy Counties.

The Judicial Hearing Officer Program is the sole, circuit-wide mechanism for judicially addressing public assistance (Title IV-D), paternity and child support establishment, modification and enforcement cases for the State Department of Revenue. These hearings primarily involve three areas: establishment of paternity, modification, and enforcement through civil contempt. The enhanced hearings are held in each of the six counties throughout the circuit each week. They continue to provide an excellent mechanism for efficiently addressing and significantly reducing the number of family law cases in these important yet volatile areas. The Program's consistent approach has also resulted in a reduction in recidivism that continues to produce positive "PR" for the Bench, in addition to increasing child support collection totals throughout the circuit.

After the hearings, the Judicial Hearing Officer reviews, executes, and submits a Report-Recommendation and Order to the appropriate Circuit Judge on the Family Law Bench for review and subsequent execution. Since its inception, the Child Support Hearing Officer Program has addressed tens of thousands of cases, providing a timely judicial response to the paternity, financial, and support needs of the circuit's children. In 2004, the Eighth Circuit Judicial Hearing Officer Program helped collect over $31 million in child support.