Florida Complaint Form PDF Details

When navigating the complexities of legal complaints in Florida, understanding the nuances of the Florida Complaint Form is crucial. Offered by The Florida Bar, this form represents a structured pathway for consumers to voice their concerns or complaints against attorneys operating within the state. Located at 651 E. Jefferson Street in Tallahassee, Florida, The Florida Bar provides clear instructions on how to correctly complete and submit this form, emphasizing the importance of detailed and factual information. The document outlines several parts, including the complainant’s information, attorney information, specific facts or allegations, any potential witnesses, and requires a signature under penalty of perjury to ensure the credibility of the submitted complaint. It is critically important to print or type in black ink and adhere to the limit of 25 pages, including all exhibits, to prevent any delay in processing. The Florida Bar also specifies that it does not intervene in civil or criminal cases directly, nor does it offer legal advice or consider complaints against judges and many officials. This form is exclusively designed for allegations against individual attorneys, not law firms, to evaluate potential violations of conduct rules and determine if disciplinary action is warranted. With its comprehensive approach, the form aims to facilitate a thorough investigation, while also setting clear expectations for the complainant regarding the submission process and potential outcomes of their complaint.

QuestionAnswer
Form NameFlorida Complaint Form
Form Length4 pages
Fillable?No
Fillable fields0
Avg. time to fill out1 min
Other namesflorida program complaint, florida bar association complaint form, complaint bar florida, florida attorney complaint

Form Preview Example

The Florida Bar

651 E. Jefferson Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300

Toll Free 1-866-352-0707 (ACAP)

IMPORTANT INSTRUCTIONS YOU MUST READ PRIOR TO FILLING OUT THE INQUIRY/COMPLAINT

FORM

Please read all instructions carefully before completing the inquiry/complaint form. If the form is not properly completed it may be returned for correction. You may submit up to 25 pages including the inquiry/complaint form. If you have not already done so, you should contact the Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP) at the above toll free number, to see if they can help resolve the matter about which you wish to complain. Please print or type in black ink only.

PLEASE NOTE: The Florida Bar cannot intervene on your behalf in a civil or criminal case, nor can we give you legal advice. We do not have jurisdiction to consider complaints against judges and many elected officials. Our lawyer regulation department considers whether an attorney has violated our rules of conduct and determines whether, under the totality of the circumstances, the attorney should receive some type of discipline. The level of investigation varies depending on the complexity of the allegations. If your inquiry/complaint is closed, you will receive a written explanation of the reasons why. There is no right to appeal a decision not to pursue an investigation.

PART ONE – Complainant Information. You must give your name, address and phone number. If you have an email address, please provide that information as well. If you have already contacted ACAP, please indicate your ACAP reference number in the space provided. If you have previously filed a complaint with our office against a member of The Florida Bar, please indicate how many complaints you have filed. If your inquiry/complaint pertains to a matter currently in litigation, please indicate that in the space provided.

PART TWO – Attorney Information. You must give the name, address and phone number of the subject attorney. The address of the attorney is particularly important as many lawyers have the same or similar names. List only one attorney per form (you may copy this form if you need additional copies). The Florida Bar processes inquiry/complaint forms only against individual attorneys, not against law firms.

PART THREE – Facts/Allegations. Describe each thing about which you are complaining. Recite all of the details, in chronological order, supplying dates where possible. Please number any additional pages you attach. If you have letters, documents or other evidence, you should attach photocopies (DO NOT SEND ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS). It is helpful if you mark your attachments as exhibits (A, B, C, etc.), and refer to them in your description of your complaint. Please be aware that simply alleging conclusions without setting out facts that support those conclusions will result in the need for the Bar to ask you for additional information and may delay a disposition of your complaint.

PART FOUR – Witnesses. Your inquiry/complaint will be considered even if there are no witnesses. If you have witnesses, attach an additional sheet, listing nothing but witnesses, with the name, address and telephone number for each witness, and include a brief description of the facts about which that witness would testify. If you do not attach a list of witnesses, we will presume that you have no witnesses, other than the attorney and yourself.

PART FIVE – Signature. You must sign the form and certify under penalty of perjury that your allegations are true.

Unsworn complaints are not considered. Submit the original inquiry/complaint form to our office via U.S. Mail. Photocopies of your signature are not accepted.

RETURN TO:

The Florida Bar

Attorney/Consumer Assistance Program (ACAP)

651 East Jefferson Street

Tallahassee, Florida 32399-2300

NOTICE

Mailing Instructions

The Florida Bar converts its disciplinary files to electronic media. All submissions are being scanned into an electronic record and hard copies are discarded. To help ensure the timely processing of your inquiry/complaint, please review the following guidelines prior to submitting it to our office.

1.Please limit your submission to no more than 25 pages including exhibits. If you have additional documents available, please make reference to them in your written submission as available upon request. Should Bar counsel need to obtain copies of any such documents, a subsequent request will be sent to you.

2.Please do not bind, or index your documents. You may underline but do not highlight documents under any circumstances. We scan documents for use in our disciplinary files and when scanned, your document highlighting will either not be picked up or may obscure any underlying text.

3.Please refrain from attaching media such as audio tapes or CDs, oversized documents, or photographs. We cannot process any media that cannot be scanned into the electronic record.

4.Please do not submit your original documents. All documents will be discarded after scanning and we will not be able to return any originals submitted to our office. The only original document that should be provided to our office is the inquiry/complaint form.

5.Please do not submit confidential or privileged information. Documents submitted to our office become public record. Confidential/privileged information should be redacted. Such information includes, but is not limited to, bank account numbers, social security numbers, credit card account numbers, medical records, dependency matters, termination of parental rights, guardian ad litem records, child abuse records, adoption records, documents containing names of minor children, original birth and death certificates, Baker Act records, grand jury records, and juvenile delinquency records. If information of this nature is important to your submission, please describe the nature of the information and indicate that it is available upon request. Bar counsel will contact you to make appropriate arrangements for the protection of any such information that is required as part of the investigation of the complaint.

Please be aware that materials received that do not meet these guidelines may be returned. Thank you for your consideration in this respect.

The Florida Bar

Inquiry/Complaint Form

PART ONE (See Page 1, PART ONE – Complainant Information.):

Your Name: _________________________________________________________________________

Organization: ________________________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code: __________________________________________________________________

Telephone: __________________________________________________________________________

E-mail: _____________________________________________________________________________

ACAP Reference No.: _________________________________________________________________

Have you ever filed a complaint against a member of The Florida Bar: Yes

No

If yes, how many complaints have you filed? ______

 

Does this complaint pertain to a matter currently in litigation? Yes

No

PART TWO (See Page 1, PART TWO – Attorney Information.):

Attorney’s Name: _____________________________________________________________________

Address: ____________________________________________________________________________

City, State, Zip Code: __________________________________________________________________

Telephone: __________________________________________________________________________

PART THREE (See Page 1, PART THREE – Facts/Allegations.): The specific thing or things I

am complaining about are: (attach additional sheets as necessary)

PART FOUR (See Page 1, PART FOUR – Witnesses.): The witnesses in support of my

allegations are: [see attached sheet].

PART FIVE (See Page 1, PART FIVE – Signature.): Under penalties of perjury, I declare that the foregoing facts are true, correct and complete.

_________________________________________________

Print Name

_________________________________________________

Signature

_________________________________________________

Date

How to Edit Florida Complaint Form Online for Free

Filling out the florida bar association complaint form form is not hard with this PDF editor. Keep up with these particular actions to get the document ready without delay.

Step 1: First of all, select the orange "Get form now" button.

Step 2: So, you are on the form editing page. You may add content, edit current information, highlight certain words or phrases, insert crosses or checks, add images, sign the form, erase unrequired fields, etc.

Feel free to enter the next details to prepare the florida bar association complaint form PDF:

writing fl attorney complaint part 1

Fill out the PART THREE See Page PART THREE fields with any data which may be asked by the platform.

part 2 to filling out fl attorney complaint

You need to provide some details within the box Print Name, Signature, and Date.

part 3 to completing fl attorney complaint

Step 3: Press "Done". Now you may export the PDF form.

Step 4: Just be sure to generate as many copies of your file as you can to keep away from potential misunderstandings.

Watch Florida Complaint Form Video Instruction

Please rate Florida Complaint Form

1 Votes
If you believe this page is infringing on your copyright, please familiarize yourself with and follow our DMCA notice and takedown process - click here to proceed .