Sarasota, Florida Legal Overview The City of Sarasota is the county seat of Sarasota County, Florida. The Sarasota County Circuit Court is the main trial court, and has general jurisdiction over cases from the city and county of Sarasota. This circuit court comes under the 12th Judicial Circuit of Florida. The Sarasota County Court is a limited jurisdiction court that handles specific types of cases. Both courts are located in the county courthouse in Sarasota, and have an additional location in Venice. Misdemeanor cases come up for trial in front of a county criminal division judge, while felony case trials will be held in the circuit criminal division.
Top Sarasota areas for Legal Issues: Siesta Key lawyers
1. Civil cases may be filed in the circuit civil or county civil divisions. The circuit civil division handles civil lawsuits that exceed $15,000, along with family law cases such as divorce petitions and paternity lawsuits. The county civil division has jurisdiction over cases that do not exceed $15,000, along with small claims below $5,000. Evictions and other landlord-tenant cases are also handled by the county civil division. A traffic court has jurisdiction on non-criminal traffic infractions and citations. Traffic cases where criminal charges are filed will be handled by circuit criminal or the county criminal divisions.
Trending Sarasota, Florida Legal Topics: Appeals against the Sarasota County Court’s verdicts are heard by the appellate division of the Sarasota County Circuit Court. Appeals against the circuit court must in turn be filed with the Second District Court of Appeal, which is an intermediate appellate court with offices in Lakeland. The Florida Supreme Court is the court of last resort. The federal court for the City and County of Sarasota is the Tampa Division of the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. |