Judy Sheindlin is walking away from the courtroom set that made her a household name. The 83-year-old prosecutor-turned-jurist, who sat on the Manhattan family court bench before turning televised small claims squabbles into a daytime institution, will end her on-camera courtroom career when “Judy Justice,” her Amazon Prime Video series, finishes its run in October. That closes out nearly three decades of ruling from a TV bench for the woman generations of viewers know as Judge Judy.

Retirement is not the word her camp 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 slog of sitting in front of a camera. She remains a producer, and she is developing “Judyverse,” an animated project built around the AI-generated “Baby Judge Judy” clips that have circulated online.

The job is staying 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 reasoning. “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

Her legal career started in 1972, when she became a prosecutor in New York’s family court system. Mayor Ed Koch appointed her a criminal court judge in 1982, and four years later she took over as supervising judge of the family court’s Manhattan division. She heard more than 20,000 cases before retiring from the bench in 1996.

“Judge Judy” premiered that September and ran 25 seasons before ending in July 2021. The syndicated half-hour dominated daytime ratings, regularly drawing 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 off the bench long. The same year the original show signed off, she launched “Judy Justice” that November. Streaming brought a new format, but the same unvarnished manner that carried her through syndication came along intact.

Passing the Gavel to Her Son

Levy has built his working life in courtrooms and, lately, in television studios. He earned 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 “Tribunal Justice,” a panel-based court show, where he spent three seasons before landing a bench of his own.

His mother has vouched for him publicly. “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, it came down to timing: “Maybe eight years ago he wasn’t ready. He’s ready now.”

Off camera, the two remain close. Levy calls his mother a “tough cookie,” and dinner in Connecticut is a standing habit when filming brings him to town. He describes his own approach to the bench in plain terms: “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 — and for a woman who spent three decades on television, the list is refreshingly unglamorous: more time with family, and afternoon naps.

The producing does not stop. Alongside “Adam’s Law” sits “Judyverse,” the animated project inspired by those AI-created clips that spread across social media. The videos feature a toddler version of Sheindlin running a courtroom in a New York accent and firing off the kind of pointed remarks long associated with her adult counterpart. Neither a network nor a release date has been announced.

Her public life has wandered beyond the courtroom set from time to time. Sheindlin 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 is giving her a formal send-off before “Judy Justice” signs off. CBS is scheduled to air a 30th anniversary special, “Judge Judy: Unfiltered, Unforgettable,” 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 while another heads toward its finish. The final episodes of “Judy Justice” arrive in October. “I don’t think that I’ve ever been this content before,” Sheindlin told PEOPLE.