Volusia County Circuit Court

What the Volusia County Circuit Court Handles

The Circuit Court is Florida's general jurisdiction trial court. That means it can hear almost any type of case, as long as it meets the threshold for circuit-level filing. In Volusia County, the Circuit Court takes felony criminal charges, all family law matters, probate and guardianship petitions, juvenile delinquency and dependency cases, mental health proceedings, and civil cases that exceed the County Court's jurisdictional ceiling. Larger civil claims, foreclosures, injunctions, and complex declaratory actions land here rather than in the more limited County Court.

People from other states sometimes look for a "district court" when they mean the main local trial court in Florida. That phrase creates real confusion. In Florida, "district court" nearly always refers to either the District Courts of Appeal, which are the intermediate appellate courts, or the federal U.S. District Court, which handles federal cases and is separate from the state system entirely. The local Florida trial court you want for felony charges, family law, probate, or larger civil cases is the Circuit Court, not a district court. For limited-jurisdiction cases like misdemeanors, small claims, and traffic tickets, the court is the County Court, which is a distinct level below the Circuit Court.

Case dockets and public filings for Circuit Court matters are kept by the Clerk of the Circuit Court. Searching those records starts at the Clerk's online portal or in person at the courthouse. The court records page covers the search process in detail.

The Seventh Judicial Circuit

Florida divides its 67 counties into 20 judicial circuits. Volusia County is in the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Three other counties share the circuit: Flagler, Putnam, and St. Johns. The circuit has a single administrative structure with judges assigned to divisions across all four counties. The Seventh Judicial Circuit website publishes the official judges overview, judicial assistant contact information, and division assignments for the circuit.

Forty-four judges serve residents of the Seventh Judicial Circuit. Of those, 27 are circuit judges and 17 are county court judges. Circuit judges handle the higher-tier cases described above. County court judges handle the limited-jurisdiction matters that go to County Court. Each judge is assigned one or more numbered divisions, and those divisions organize how cases move through the system. A felony case filed in Volusia does not go to the same docket as a family case, even if both are in the Circuit Court. Division assignments channel the case to the right judge and courtroom.

The circuit's chief judge oversees administrative operations across all four counties. For the current chief judge's contact information and the full roster of judicial assistant phone numbers by division, check the Circuit 7 judges overview directly, since assignments can change with court administration orders.

The Seventh Circuit is one of Florida's busier circuits. Volusia County alone generates substantial caseloads in felony criminal, family, and civil divisions given the county's population and the presence of Daytona Beach.

Volusia County Circuit Court Judges and Divisions

Circuit judges in Volusia are based primarily in Daytona Beach and DeLand, matching the county's two main courthouse locations. The S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach houses criminal felony operations. The DeLand courthouse at 101 North Alabama Avenue handles a broader mix of civil, family, and probate matters. The Seventh Circuit's judges overview provides judicial assistant names and phone numbers alongside each division assignment. The table below lists confirmed Volusia Circuit Court judges drawn from the Circuit 7 official source.

The judges overview page at circuit7.org/judges-overview is the authoritative source for current assignments. Judge rosters and division assignments are subject to administrative orders from the chief judge, so this table should be verified against the live Circuit 7 page before relying on it for scheduling or contact purposes.

The circuit also covers Flagler, Putnam, and St. Johns counties, so some judge pages on the Circuit 7 website will list divisions that serve those counties rather than Volusia. Filter by county or location when reviewing the full list.

The following image is from the Circuit 7 judges overview page, which lists each judge's division assignment, location, and judicial assistant contact information for Volusia and the other three counties in the circuit.

Judicial assistant phone numbers on the Circuit 7 page are the primary way to confirm a judge's availability, current division assignments, or courtroom scheduling for a Volusia County case.

Circuit Court vs. County Court vs. Fifth District Court of Appeal

Florida's state court structure has four levels. Understanding where each level sits helps when deciding where to file, where to search for records, or how to track an appeal. Florida does not have a Justice of the Peace court system, which is common in some other states. The comparison below maps each court to its actual role in Volusia County.

Note: Florida has no Justice of the Peace or magistrate court at the county level. General magistrates and special magistrates in Florida are appointed within the Circuit Court to assist judges, not to serve as a separate lower court tier.

The Seventh Judicial Circuit website provides an overview of both Circuit Court and County Court operations across the four-county circuit, including administrative orders and judicial assignments.

The Circuit 7 site covers the administrative structure for both trial court levels, circuit-wide problem-solving court programs, and contact information for court administration in each of the four member counties.

Volusia Circuit Court Divisions

The Seventh Judicial Circuit organizes its caseload by assigning each judge one or more numbered divisions. Each division type routes a particular category of cases to the judge responsible for it. In Volusia County, the active division types visible from Circuit 7 assignment records include felony criminal, circuit civil, family law, unified family court, drug court, and probate. Not all division numbers are unique to Volusia; some numbers in the circuit may sit in Flagler, Putnam, or St. Johns counties.

Felony criminal divisions handle cases where the State Attorney has charged a defendant with a felony under Florida law. These cases are filed after arrest and booking, and they move through arraignment, pretrial motions, and, if not resolved earlier, trial. The S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach is the primary felony courthouse location in Volusia. Divisions 08, 40, and 41 are assigned to felony criminal matters, with Judge Foxman covering DeLand-area filings in Division 08 while Chief Judge Case and Judge Blackburn handle Daytona Beach assignments.

Circuit civil divisions take the larger and more complex civil cases that exceed County Court jurisdiction. Division 31, assigned to Judge Dennis Craig, is the circuit civil division for Volusia. Cases here include complex tort claims, large-dollar contract disputes, foreclosures, declaratory judgment actions, and civil injunctions. Family divisions handle dissolution of marriage, paternity, child support, custody, time-sharing, domestic violence injunctions, and enforcement proceedings. Division 35 is a standard family division, while Division 38, assigned to Judge Joan Anthony, is the Unified Family Court division. Unified Family Court coordinates overlapping family matters so one judge can handle related dissolution, dependency, and domestic issues without inconsistent rulings from multiple judges.

Drug Court sits in Division 21, assigned to Judge Elizabeth A. Blackburn. Volusia Drug Court began in 1997 and had 1,354 graduates as of the Circuit 7 problem-solving court summary. Drug Court is a supervised treatment program for eligible defendants whose charges are tied to substance use. It uses regular review hearings, testing, sanctions, and incentives as an alternative to standard criminal adjudication. Probate divisions handle estate administration, wills, trusts, guardianship, caveats, and related matters. The Clerk's Probate and Guardianship division is the records custodian for these files.

How a Case Moves Through Volusia Circuit Court

Case flow depends on the type of matter. Criminal and civil cases follow different tracks, and specialty court cases like Drug Court or Unified Family Court may follow modified paths. The flow lines below show the general sequence for the two main tracks. After the final step, the losing party may seek review by the Fifth District Court of Appeal, which reviews legal errors rather than re-trying the facts.

Criminal case flow (felony): Arrest › First Appearance / Bond Hearing › Information or Indictment Filed › Arraignment › Pretrial Motions › Trial or Plea › Sentencing › Appeal to Fifth District Court of Appeal

Civil case flow: Complaint Filed with Clerk › Summons Issued › Answer Filed › Discovery › Mediation (often required) › Pretrial Conference › Trial or Settlement › Judgment › Appeal to Fifth District Court of Appeal

In family law, the starting document is a petition rather than a complaint. Dissolution of marriage cases often go through financial disclosure, parenting plan negotiations, and mediation before any trial setting. Probate cases open with a petition for administration and proceed through inventory, notice to creditors, creditor claims, and final accounting before the estate closes. Juvenile cases follow a separate track with restricted public access under Florida law.

The Clerk's Case Inquiry portal is the public-facing tool for tracking where a case stands at any point in the flow. Court dockets in Volusia County are searched through the same Clerk system, with the Event Inquiry tool giving a schedule view while Case Inquiry gives a full file view.

Specialty Courts and Problem-Solving Programs

The Seventh Judicial Circuit runs several problem-solving court programs, and Volusia County participates in two that are confirmed in official Circuit 7 sources: Drug Court and Unified Family Court. These programs operate within the Circuit Court structure, using assigned divisions and judges rather than standing as entirely separate courts.

Volusia Drug Court, started in 1997, is the county's longest-running problem-solving program. Eligible defendants agree to a supervised track that includes substance use treatment, regular judicial review hearings, drug testing, and compliance incentives. Successful completion can result in dismissal or reduced charges, depending on the agreement and the judge's order. Judge Elizabeth A. Blackburn, who also handles Division 40 felony criminal cases, is assigned to Division 21 Drug Court in Volusia.

Unified Family Court in Division 38 addresses the problem of related family cases being split among multiple judges. A family dealing with a dissolution, a domestic violence injunction, and a dependency case at the same time may have all three routed to the same Unified Family Court judge. This reduces the risk of conflicting orders and lets the judge see the full family picture. Judge Joan Anthony is assigned to Division 38 in Volusia.

Other specialty programs such as veterans treatment court, mental health court, and juvenile diversion may also operate through the circuit. The Circuit 7 website and court administration offices are the correct sources for current program availability, eligibility requirements, and referral procedures. The research supporting this page confirmed Drug Court and Unified Family Court assignments from official Circuit 7 sources; additional program details should be verified before relying on them.

Federal Court vs. Volusia County Circuit Court

Federal cases filed in the Volusia area go to a completely separate court system. Volusia County is in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Florida. Federal trial cases are searched through the PACER system and the Middle District's CM/ECF portal, not through the Volusia Clerk. Federal criminal cases, civil rights suits, bankruptcy matters, and cases raising federal questions do not appear in the Clerk's Case Inquiry tool.

Bankruptcy cases in the Volusia area go to the U.S. Bankruptcy Court for the Middle District of Florida. Appeals from the federal district court go to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit, not to the Florida Fifth District Court of Appeal. These are entirely separate appellate tracks.

If a search of the Volusia Clerk's system does not return a case, one possible reason is that the matter is in federal court rather than state circuit court. A free alternative for federal court opinions and some RECAP docket content is CourtListener, though it is not the official docket. The PACER system is the authoritative federal case search tool and charges per-page fees after a quarterly threshold.

The Fifth District Court of Appeal website provides access to opinions, case status, and e-filing information for state appellate matters that originate in Volusia County and the other counties in the Fifth District.

State appeals from Volusia County circuit court decisions go to the Fifth District Court of Appeal; federal appeals from the Middle District of Florida go to the Eleventh Circuit, a fully separate system.

Volusia Circuit Court Clerk and Courthouse Contact

The Clerk of the Circuit Court, Laura E. Roth, is the custodian of circuit court case files in Volusia County. The Clerk's office operates at three main locations. The DeLand courthouse is the central location for most civil, family, probate, and recording functions. The Steven C. Henderson Judicial Center in Daytona Beach serves child support, criminal misdemeanor, family law, civil, juvenile, marriage, probate, and traffic functions. The S. James Foxman Justice Center in Daytona Beach handles criminal felony, jury, and related functions. Felony case records and felony Clerk services are routed to the Foxman Center, not the main DeLand courthouse.

For Clerk fees, forms, and department contact details, see the Clerk of the Circuit Court page. Case dockets and the public case inquiry portal are covered on the court records page. The Clerk warns that the online case system runs a maintenance window on Thursday nights between 7 p.m. and 9 p.m., so plan searches around that window.

Related Volusia County Court Resources

For dockets and case lookup in the Volusia Clerk system, see court records and court dockets. For Clerk office contact and fees, see the Clerk of the Circuit Court page. For misdemeanors, small claims, and traffic matters handled at the limited-jurisdiction level, see County Court. Probate and guardianship cases filed in the Circuit Court are also covered on the probate records page.