The robe is coming off. Judy Sheindlin, the former prosecutor and Manhattan family court judge who turned televised small claims squabbles into a daytime institution, is leaving the courtroom set that made her a star. Her Amazon Prime Video series “Judy Justice” finishes its run with a finale on October 22, 2026, and with it the on-camera judging career of the 83-year-old known to generations of viewers as Judge Judy — nearly three decades of rulings delivered from a TV bench.
Retirement is not a word her team will use. “She is not retiring, just rewiring,” a representative said. What she is surrendering is the visible part of the job: the robe, the gavel and the daily grind of sitting in front of a camera. She keeps her producer credit, and she is developing “Judyverse,” an animated project built around the AI-generated “Baby Judge Judy” clips that have circulated online.
The job stays in the family. Her son, Judge Adam Levy, launched his own syndicated courtroom series, “Adam’s Law,” on Monday, September 14, 2026, almost exactly three decades after “Judge Judy” first aired. Sheindlin created the show and serves as its executive producer, and it works the same territory as “Judy Justice” — small claims cases.
In a new interview with PEOPLE, Sheindlin explained the calculation behind the decision. “I don’t want to do hair and makeup anymore, but I still want my message to get out there,” she said.
From Family Court to Daytime Dominance
Sheindlin took her first job as a prosecutor in New York’s family court system in 1972. Mayor Ed Koch appointed her a criminal court judge in 1982, and four years later she became supervising judge of the family court’s Manhattan division. She heard more than 20,000 cases before she retired from the bench in 1996.
“Judge Judy” premiered that September and ran 25 seasons, ending in July 2021. The syndicated half-hour owned daytime ratings, regularly pulling nine to 10 million viewers a day, and it made Sheindlin a household name — as much for her willingness to cut a litigant off mid-excuse as for her rulings. She became the highest-paid woman on television.
She did not stay away long. The same year the original show signed off, she launched “Judy Justice” that November. Streaming brought a new format; the personality was unchanged, the same unvarnished manner that had carried her through syndication.
Passing the Gavel to Her Son
Levy has built a career in courtrooms and, lately, in television studios. He took his law degree at Hofstra Law School in 1992 and served two terms as district attorney in Putnam County, New York, from 2008 through 2015. Since 2023 he has been one of the judges on Prime Video’s panel-based court show “Tribunal Justice,” where he spent three seasons before landing a bench of his own.
His mother has made the case for him in public. “There aren’t a lot of people who can carry a half hour on their own unscripted,” she told PEOPLE. “He has what it takes.” To her, the handoff came down to timing: “Maybe eight years ago he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”
Off camera, mother and son remain close. Levy calls her a “tough cookie,” and dinner in Connecticut is a standing arrangement whenever filming brings him to town. He describes his own philosophy on the bench simply: “Everyone has their chance to speak, but you better be able to back up your position.”
Naps, Family and an Animated Judge
“I have a lot of other things of interest,” Sheindlin said. For someone who gave three decades to television, the list runs refreshingly unglamorous: more time with family, and afternoon naps.
The producing does not stop. Alongside “Adam’s Law” sits “Judyverse,” the animated project drawn from the AI-created clips that spread across social media, in which a toddler Sheindlin presides over a courtroom in a New York accent and fires off the kind of pointed remarks long associated with her adult counterpart. No network and no release date have been announced.
Not all of her public life has stayed on the courtroom set. She endorsed Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley in 2024 and campaigned on her behalf. “I’m proud to endorse Nikki Haley because she is whip smart, has executive credentials and was a superb governor,” she said at the time. Haley answered: “Judge Judy is a no-nonsense lady who has earned the respect of millions of Americans from her courtroom by being thoughtful, fair, and honest. I’m honored to have her support.”
Network television gave the career a formal send-off ahead of “Judy Justice” ending its run. CBS aired a 30th anniversary special, “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable,” on September 22, 2026, looking back at her career and her cultural footprint across decades of daytime television.
It makes for a tidy changeover, with the family name on both ends: one Sheindlin production premieres as another heads for its finish. The last episodes of “Judy Justice” arrive October 22. “I don’t think that I’ve ever been this content before,” Sheindlin told PEOPLE.