Marion County will get new circuit judge

Barbara Kissner Kwatkosky

Marion County resident, Barbara Kissner Kwatkosky defeated Ben Boylston for Group 20 Circuit Judge seat 105,690 votes to 97,737.

Her term will begin Jan. 1 upon the retirement of Judge Gary Sanders at the end of the year.

The judicial race was nonpartisan and all voters in the 5^th judicial circuit had the choice on their ballot.

The 5^th judicial circuit consists of Marion, Sumter, Lake, Citrus, and Hernando counties.

Of all the judicial races on the ballot, this was the only seat currently assigned to Marion County.

Kwatkosky, who has been practicing law since 2003 and has been a full-time magistrate in Marion & Sumter County since 2016. Prior to becoming a magistrate, Kwatkosky’s practice focused primarily on family law.

In 2018, while the general magistrate on the dependency drug docket, Kwatkosky restarted the specialty court known as Early Childhood Court (ECC) in Marion County and Sumter counties. “ECC focuses on babies in 0-3 year range with services to help them develop properly,” explained Kwatkosky by email.

Kwatkosky has also served on the faculty of the Florida Judicial College since 2017 helping newly elected and appointed judges and general magistrates prepare for their role on the bench.

According to the Florida Court Administrator, Circuit Court judges handle “civil disputes involving more than $50,000; controversies involving the estates of decedents, minors, and persons adjudicated as incapacitated; cases relating to juveniles; criminal prosecutions for all felonies; tax disputes; actions to determine the title and boundaries of real property; suits for declaratory judgments that is, to determine the legal rights or responsibilities of parties under the terms of written instruments, laws, or regulations before a dispute arises and leads to litigation; and requests for injunctions to prevent persons or entities from acting in a manner that is asserted to be unlawful.”

Circuit Court judges serve four-year terms and receive an annual salary of $196,898.