THE 20TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT OF FLORIDA

JACS in Lee Family Court

By Ken Kellum

The Twentieth Circuit recently purchased the JACS (Judicial Automated Calendaring System) Calendaring System. The vendor customized the JACS calendaring system to fit the needs of the growing Family Law Division. The JACS calendaring system integrates with the current Family Court case Management system and in the near future will interface with the Lee County Clerk's Odyssey system. This integration provides valuable information retrieval capabilities and an important communication link between departments such as the Magistrate, Judiciary, Family Court Services and Mediation. The JACS program offers many features such as docket reporting, case information, scheduling hearings, search capabilities and a work flow management piece. JACS enables each calendar owner to customize the appearance of their calendar on screen as well as create customized reports. The JACS system enables Family Court Services and the Magistrates to coordinate the next event in cases without the need to even pick up a phone. There is less manual intervention in creating weekly dockets as well as the ability to quickly search the calendar for the next available date for scheduling events. The JACS system provides users with multiple easy to read views such as weekly, monthly and a daily view of their calendar as well as other users calendars. Calendars may be color coded by users for ease of reading.

As the technology department continues to work with the Family Division to help and enhance their process we hope the JACS system can be deployed to the rest of the divisions and counties.