8.160 Transfer of Cases

The court may transfer any case, after adjudication or when adjudication is withheld, to the circuit court for the county of the circuit in which is located the domicile or usual residence of the child or such other circuit court as the court may determine to be for the best interest of the child. No case shall be transferred to another county under this rule unless a plea of nolo contendere or guilty has been entered by the child on the charge being transferred, or until the transferring court has found the child committed the offense in question after an adjudicatory hearing in the county where the offense occurred. Any action challenging the entry of a plea or the adjudicatory hearing result must be brought in the transferring court’s county. The transferring court shall enter an order transferring its jurisdiction and certifying the case to the proper court. The transferring court shall furnish the following to the state attorney, the public defender, if counsel was previously appointed, and the clerk of the receiving court within 5 days:

(a) A certified copy of the order of transfer, which shall include, but not be limited to:

(1) specific offense that the child was found to have committed;

(2) degree of the offense;

(3) name of parent/custodian to be summoned;

(4) address at which the child should be summoned for disposition;

(5) name and address of victim;

(6) whether the child was represented by counsel; and

(7) findings of fact, after hearing or stipulation, regarding the amount of damages or loss caused directly or indirectly by the child’s offense, for purposes of restitution.

(b) A certified copy of the delinquency petition.

(c) A copy of the juvenile referral or complaint.

(d) Any reports and all previous orders including orders appointing counsel entered by the court in the interest of that child.

Committee Notes

1991 Amendment. This rule requires the transferring court to provide sufficient information to the receiving court when transferring the case to another jurisdiction to comply with the requirements of chapter 39, Florida Statutes.

1992 Amendment. The purpose of this amendment is to require the court hearing the substantive charge to determine the value of the victim’s damage or loss caused by the child’s offense. The victim and witnesses necessary to testify as to damage and loss are more often residents of the transferring court’s county, rather than the receiving court’s.