Supreme Court of Florida
                            ____________

                         No. SC2024-1778
                           ____________

    IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO FLORIDA RULES OF GENERAL
         PRACTICE AND JUDICIAL ADMINISTRATION.

                        September 11, 2025

PER CURIAM.

     The Florida Bar’s Rules of General Practice and Judicial

Administration Committee filed a report proposing amendments to

Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.215

(Trial Court Administration), 2.265 (Municipal Ordinance

Violations), and 2.430 (Retention of Court Records). 1 The

Committee published the proposal for comment, as did the Court.

The Court received one comment, and the Committee amended the

proposal in response to the comment.

     We amend rules 2.215, 2.265, and 2.430, as updated by the

Committee in response to the comment. For rule 2.215, we amend


     1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; see
also Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.140(b)(1).
subdivision (e) to require the circuit courts to keep the current local

court rules and administrative orders on their websites and to make

copies of current, rescinded, or vacated local court rules and

administrative orders available for inspection or available for

duplication upon payment.

     Next, we amend rule 2.265 to delete from subdivision (b) a

sentence discussing the assessment of court costs, and we delete

subdivision (c), which addresses collection of outstanding fines,

because both of these are set by statute.

     Finally, we amend rule 2.430 to change “permanently recorded

records” to “electronic records,” and “records not permanently

recorded” to “records retention schedule.” This ensures that

electronic records are made permanent, instead of being held under

the retention schedule, and makes clear that the retention schedule

applies to items that are digitally imaged.

     Additionally, changes are made throughout the rules in accord

with In re Guidelines for Rules Submissions, Florida Administrative

Order No. AOSC22-78 (Fla. Oct. 24, 2022).

     The Court hereby amends the Florida Rules of General

Practice and Judicial Administration as reflected in the appendix to


                                 -2-
this opinion. New language is indicated by underscoring; deletions

are indicated by struck-through type. The amendments to the rules

shall become effective December 1, 2025, at 12:01 a.m.

     It is so ordered.

MUÑIZ, C.J., and CANADY, LABARGA, COURIEL, GROSSHANS,
FRANCIS, and SASSO, JJ., concur.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER
THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

Original Proceeding – Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial
Administration

Michael Robert Ufferman, Chair, Rules of General Practice and
Judicial Administration Committee, Tallahassee, Florida, Hon.
Santo DiGangi, Past Chair, Rules of General Practice and Judicial
Administration Committee, West Palm Beach, Florida, Joshua E.
Doyle, Executive Director, The Florida Bar, and Kelly Noel Smith,
Staff Liaison, The Florida Bar, Tallahassee, Florida,

     for Petitioner

Chief Judge Shawn Crane, on behalf of the Sixth Judicial Circuit of
Florida, Clearwater, Florida, Chief Judge John L. Miller, on behalf of
the First Judicial Circuit of Florida, Pensacola, Florida, Chief Judge
Christopher C. Sabella, on behalf of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit
of Florida, Tampa, Florida, Chief Judge Bonnie Helms, on behalf of
the Sixteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Key West, Florida, Chief
Judge Jack Tuter, on behalf of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit of
Florida, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Chief Judge Charles Crawford, on
behalf of the Eighteenth Judicial Circuit of Florida, Viera, Florida,
and Chief Judge Charles A. Schwab, on behalf of the Nineteenth
Judicial Circuit of Florida, Fort Pierce, Florida,

     Responding with comments


                                -3-
                               APPENDIX

RULE 2.215.      TRIAL COURT ADMINISTRATION

     (a) – (d)   [No Change]

     (e)   Local Rules and Administrative Orders.

            (1) Local court rules as defined in rule 2.120 may be
proposed by a majority of the circuit and county judges in the
circuit. The judges must notify the local bar within the circuit of the
proposal, after which they must permit a representative of the local
bar, and may permit any other interested person, to be heard orally
or in writing on the proposal before submitting it to the supreme
court for approval. When a proposed local rule is submitted to the
supreme court for approval, the following procedure applies.

                 (A) – (E)   [No Change]

                 (F) The clerk of the circuit court where the local
court rules take effect must index and record a copy in each
applicable county of that circuit. A set of the recorded copies must
be readily available for inspection as a public record and copies
must be provided to any requesting party on payment of the cost of
duplication. The chief judge of the circuit must publish thecurrent
local court rules on the circuit court’s website and make copies of
the current, vacated, or rescinded local court rules available for
inspection as a public record and provide to any requesting party
on payment of the cost of duplication. The clerk of the supreme
court must furnish copies of each approved local court rule to the
executive director of The Florida Bar.

           (2)   [No Change]

           (3) The clerk of the circuit court where the
administrative order takes effect must index and record all
administrative orders of a general and continuing nature and other
orders designated by the chief judge in each county where the
orders are effective. A set of the recorded copies must be readily


                                  -4-
available for inspection as a public record and copies must be
provided to any requesting party on payment of the cost of
duplication. The chief judge of the circuit must publish allcurrent
administrative orders of a general and continuing nature on the
circuit’s court’s website and retain copies of the current, vacated, or
rescinded administrative orders to be available for inspection as a
public record and provided to any requesting party on payment of
the cost of duplication. The chief judge must direct a review of all
local administrative orders on an annual basis to ensure that the
set of copies maintained by the clerk remains current and does not
conflict with supreme court or local rules.

            (4)     [No Change]

     (f) – (j)      [No Change]

                            Committee Notes

                                  [No Change]

                           Court Commentary

                                  [No Change]

                 Criminal Court Steering Committee Note

                                  [No Change]



RULE 2.265. MUNICIPAL ORDINANCE VIOLATIONS

     (a) References to Abolished Municipal Courts. All references
to a municipal court or municipal judge in rules promulgated by the
supreme court, in the Florida Statutes, and in any municipal
ordinance shall be deemed to refer, respectively, to the county court
or county court judge.

     (b) Costs in County Courts. The chief judge of a circuit
shallmust by administrative order establish a schedule of court
costs, in conformity with any provisions of law,Florida law to be
assessed against a defendant in the county court and paid to the

                                     -5-
county for violations of municipal ordinances which are prosecuted
in county court. The costs shall be assessed as a set dollar amount
per conviction, not to exceed $50 excluding any other statutory
costs.

      (c) Collection of Outstanding Fines. All cases for which
outstanding fines, civil penalties, and costs are being collected by a
municipality shall be retained by the municipality until collected or
until the offender defaults on payment. If a default occurs, the
municipality may institute summary claims proceedings to collect
the outstanding fines.

     (dc) Style of Municipal Ordinance Cases. All prosecutions for
 violations of municipal ordinances in county court shallmust have
 the following style: City of .................... v. ....................



RULE 2.430.      RETENTION OF COURT RECORDS

     (a)   Definitions. The following definitions apply to this rule:.

           (1) – (2)   [No Change]

          (3) “Permanently recordedElectronic court records”
means that a document has been microfilmed, optically imaged, or
recordedrecords that have been placed onto an electronic record
keeping system in accordance with standards adopted by the
Supreme Court of Florida.

     (b)   Permanently RecordedElectronic Records.

           (1) After court records have been permanently
recordedconverted into electronic documents per rule 2.525(c)(4),
the clerk may destroy or otherwise dispose of them any time after a
judgment has become final, except exhibits or any record required
to be kept in another form by any other rule. The clerk must
maintain the recorded electronic court records under the retention
schedule in subdivision (c) below.

          (2) The clerk may destroy, retain, or dispose of any
physical media submitted to the clerk for the purpose of filing

                                   -6-
information contained in the media after the contents of the media
have been made a part of the court records. The clerk must
maintain the court records under the retention schedule in
subdivision (c) below.

      (c) Records Not Permanently RecordedRetention
Schedule. No court records under this subdivision may be
destroyed or disposed of until the final order, final docket entry, or
final judgment is permanently recorded for, or recorded in, the
public recordsCourt records, except exhibits, may be destroyed or
disposed of in accordance with the following schedule after a
judgment has become final. The time periods do not apply to any
action in which the court orders the court records to be kept until
the court orders otherwise. When an order is entered to that effect,
the progress docket and the court file must be marked by the clerk
with a legend showing that the court records are not to be destroyed
or disposed of without a further order of court. Any person may
apply for an order suspending or prohibiting destruction or
disposition of court records in any proceeding. Court records,
except exhibits, that are not permanently recorded may be
destroyed or disposed of by the clerk after a judgment has become
final in accordance with the following scheduleThe retention
schedule is as follows.

           (1) – (3)   [No Change]

     (d) – (k)   [No Change]




                                 -7-