A. The Knox and Laurel Circuit Courts shall be composed of a Criminal Branch and Civil Branch. The Criminal Branch shall have exclusive jurisdiction of all criminal cases, and the Civil Branch shall have jurisdiction of all other cases within the jurisdiction of the Circuit Court. There is also a Family Court Division of the Knox and Laurel Circuit Courts, and that Division has promulgated its own local rules of practice and procedure. The rules promulgated herein shall only apply to the Criminal Branch and Civil Branch of the Knox and Laurel Circuit Courts.

B. The Knox and Laurel Circuit Courts are courts of continuous session, and consist of Divisions I and II.

C. The Judge of each Division shall hear cases in both the Criminal Branch and the Civil Branch of the Court.

D. Each Judge of a Division may preside and hear and determine any case or question in the other Division when the Judge of that Division is sick, absent from the county, or is not available.

E. After each case has been assigned to a Division, the Judge thereof may, for any reason, transfer it to the other Division. An order of transfer will be entered and, upon such transfer being made, the Clerk will make a proper endorsement upon the Docket and the record.

F. When two or more cases have been filed that may, as a matter of right or in the discretion of the Court, be consolidated and such actions arc pending in different divisions of the Court, any party to any of the actions, or the Court without motion, may have any of the actions transferred to that Division of the Court in which the first of the cases was filed. If it is determined that consolidation is not proper, the Judge of that division may transfer the case back to the original division.