A Broward magistrate worked for two months with an inactive law license, presiding over dozens of cases involving people whose family members were challenging their ability to make their own decisions because of mental health or substance abuse issues.
Yves Laventure, a respected magistrate who has held the position for nearly seven years, had his license renewal held up by the Florida Bar because he failed to check a box on his renewal application signifying that he did not have any financial trust accounts, said Chief Administrative Judge Jack Tuter.
A magistrate is not a judge but is empowered to make some decisions in different types of cases. Those decisions have to be reviewed and a county or circuit judge has to sign off on them, but magistrates generally reduce the judges’ workloads. Laventure held as many as 50 hearings during the time his law license was inactive, from last Oct. 17 through Dec. 16, when he became aware of the oversight and reported it to court administration.
Participants in those hearings were notified and given the opportunity to request a rehearing. It was unclear late Monday whether anyone had requested a new hearing.
Laventure’s oversight, first reported on the courthouse news and gossip site JAABlog, has been corrected, and he is currently a member in good standing of the Florida Bar.
