Writ of Possession Procedures

The plaintiff or plaintiff's agent will provide the Civil Unit with the following:

Original writ and two (2) copies for service;

Nonrefundable fee of $90.00, in cash, money order, cashiers check or local personal check if the personal information on the face of the check matches the plaintiff's driver license or identification card; and

A contact name and number the officer is to call with the date and time for the eviction.

Appointments will be made on a first come, first serve basis.

The Civil Unit clerk will provide the customer with a receipt for the payment of the fee and this receipt will have a Sheriff's control number.

The clerk will prepare the appropriate paper work and place the Writ of Possession package in the Writ of Possession box for the Eviction Officer. Please do not ask the clerk when the officer will complete your eviction because the clerk does not know this information. The assigned officer will usually post the premises the following day or shortly thereafter and will schedule the eviction with the plaintiff or plaintiff's agent as soon as possible, taking into consideration statute limitations and workload. The Sheriff of Duval County in providing its twenty-four (24) hour statutory notice uses Rule 1.090(a), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, for the eviction time computation:

'Computation. In computing any period of time prescribed or allowed by these rules, by order of court, or by any applicable statute, the day of the act, event, or default from which the designated period of time begins to run shall not be included. The last day of the period so computed shall be included unless it is a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday, in which event the period shall run until the end of the next day which is neither a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday. When the period of time prescribed or allowed is less than 7 days, intermediate Saturdays, Sundays, and legal holidays shall be excluded in the computation.'

NOTE: We DO NOT count the day of posting so the execution of the writ is actually accomplished after 48 hours or as soon thereafter as possible. Evictions are not posted or completed on weekends or holidays

On the scheduled day and time of eviction, the plaintiff or the plaintiff's agent will meet the officer at the premises and the officer will turn possession of the premises over to this person. The only responsibility the officer has is to remove persons from the premises and maintain the peace. If the officer is required to stand by, there may be additional fees required at a rate of $46.00 per hour or any part thereof after the first hour.

Upon delivering possession of the premises to the plaintiff or his agent, the officer will provide the plaintiff or his agent with a stamped true copy of the Writ of Possession with the date, time and the officer's signature. The officer will return the original Writ of Possession to the court with a Sheriff's Office Return.

Disclaimer: This is not to be considered as legal advice, but only to be used as a guideline.