Hon. Alvan Balent, Jr. (Ret.) was a magistrate for Probate Matters with the 11th Judicial Circuit Court of Florida in Miami-Dade County. He was appointed to the position by Chief Judge Bertila A. Soto in 2018. Balent retired in 2022 and became a senior attorney for the Florida Department of Business and Professional Regulation.
Balent attended Vassar College, where he received a bachelor’s degree. He went on to complete a J.D. at Florida State University College of Law in 2010.
Shortly after graduating from law school, Balent became an appeals referee for Florida’s Department of Economic Opportunity, where he adjudicated unemployment compensation cases. He held the position until joining the 11th Judicial Circuit in 2013, where he served as assistant general counsel, handling legal issues ranging from same-sex marriage and foreclosures to probate, judicial ethics, and mental health law, remaining in that capacity at the time of his appointment to the bench.
Balent is an active member of the Florida Bar, serving as a member of the Constitutional Judiciary Committee and chair of the Government Lawyers Section’s bylaws and publications committees. He is also credited with creating and administering a pro bono scholarship award, offered through the Bar’s Law School Division, which provides a free bar exam study course to law students. In addition, he successfully petitioned the Bar to create a special committee to review Florida’s mental health laws, which were later established in 2017.
Balent was also a member of the Florida Bar’s Leadership Academy Class III and Leadership Florida Connect, Class 9.
He has co-authored several bills with the intent to reform Florida’s civil commitment laws for mental health and substance abuse treatment. The bills are expected to be introduced in the 2021 session of the Florida Legislature.