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County Judge Raymond Forbess Jr., Division C

Hearings (with limited exceptions) will be held in person at the Clay County Courthouse in Green Cove Springs.

No parties shall be permitted to appear remotely without advance permission from Judge Forbess, the judge’s Judicial Assistant (JA) or by Order of the Court prior to the hearing. Any parties seeking special permission to appear remotely (by Zoom) may contact the JA for instructions via email at shellyh@clayclerk.com.

When rare exceptions are granted for remote hearing, the following links apply:

Small Claims (Judge Forbess Zoom ID# 470 263 6503)
Traffic (Judge Forbess Zoom ID# 470 263 6503)

We encourage those involved in cases to register for E-Notify, a free text/email alert system, to receive notice of court date changes.

PROCEDURES & FORMS

CALENDARS AND ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Remote Court Appearances & Hearings (General information about using Zoom)

SUBMITTING PROPOSED ORDERS AND FINAL JUDGMENTS

All proposed orders and Final Judgments will be submitted by email to Judicial Assistant Michele (Shelly) Hatalski at shellyh@clayclerk.com in Word format.

EX PARTE
Ex Parte matters must be scheduled by Judge Forbess’s Judicial Assistant (JA), Michele (Shelly) Hatalski. Please contact her by email at shellyh@clayclerk.com. Ex Parte matters include brief uncontested matters.

SCHEDULING
All scheduling is conducted by email. Motions must be docketed prior to requesting hearing date. Hearings over one hour require a motion to set. Potential dates will be provided for you to coordinate with opposing counsel. Please coordinate among yourselves and provide your final agreed upon date to the JA. Prospective dates are not held or guaranteed until a confirmation email is received. Once a date is agreed upon, the JA will coordinate your hearing and provide the Zoom link (for video hearing) or phone number (for telephonic hearing) at which time counsel may prepare a notice of hearing. Courtesy copies of Notices of Hearings should not be sent to the Court. They should be filed in advance so the Court may access them on the docket.

EXHIBITS
ALL documents intended to be used at trial must be filed with the Clerk ten (10) days prior to trial and listed as “Plaintiff’s (or Defendant’s) Trial Exhibits.” Accordingly, a paper copy of the documents must be mailed to the Court and the opposing party and post-marked ten (10) days prior to trial. Failure to comply will result in the documents being ruled inadmissible. Each exhibit must be marked Plaintiff’s A, B, C, etc. or Defendant’s A, B, C, etc. If introduced into evidence, the exhibit will be numbered by the Court.

EVICTION
The Clerk of Court sends matters directly to the judge’s Judicial Assistant when they are ready for court action. The Judge will sign eviction orders, and judgments, and set hearings when appropriate. Any Count II actions for money judgments will be referred directly to our Mediation Department only when proper Service of Process has been filed with the Clerk.

SMALL CLAIMS

When a defendant is served but fails to appear for Court Ordered Mediation, file the following: Disposition of Mediation Notice, Motion for Default Final Judgment and all supporting
documents.

Prepare a proposed Default Final Judgment as follows: This cause came before the Court after the Defendant was properly served with process and having thereafter failed to appear at the Court Ordered Mediation, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED.