RULE 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.