Florida Rules of Civil Procedure — 2025 Amendments

Effective January 1, 2025, the Florida Supreme Court issued two orders: SC2023-0962 amended 12 existing rules and created Rule 1.202; SC2024-0662 further amended Rules 1.202 and 1.510. The six changes every Florida civil litigator must know:

1. Initial disclosures are now mandatory (Rule 1.280) Within 60 days of service of the complaint, every party must serve initial disclosures: (1) persons with knowledge; (2) documents you may use; (3) damages computation with supporting docs; (4) insurance policies. You cannot delay because you haven't finished investigating. If you fail to disclose, you may lose the right to use that witness or document at trial (Rule 1.380 exclusion sanction).

2. Meet and confer before most motions (Rule 1.202 — new rule) Brand new statewide rule. Before filing most non-dispositive motions, you must confer with opposing counsel and attach a Certificate of Conferral to the motion stating: how you conferred, when, whether they agreed, and your efforts to reach agreement. Exempt motions include: summary judgment, injunctive relief, default, dismissal for failure to state a claim, and others (see Rule 1.202 guide for full list).

3. Summary judgment response: 40 days from service (Rule 1.510) NOTE: Some published summaries say 60 days — that is wrong. The original SC2024-0662 opinion (May 23, 2024) set the deadline at 60 days. The further amendment to SC2024-0662 (December 5, 2024) changed it to 40 days. The correct deadline is 40 days after service of the motion. The hearing must be set at least 10 days after the response deadline.

4. Discovery objections must be specific (Rules 1.340 and 1.350) Proportionality objections must state specific grounds and reasons — boilerplate objections are waivable. For document production: if you are withholding on an objection, you must say so.

5. Case management deadlines are strictly enforced (Rule 1.200) Within 120 days of filing, the court must issue a case management order assigning the case to a track (Streamlined, General, or Complex). CMO deadlines must be strictly enforced unless changed by court order.

6. Continuances are now hard to get (Rule 1.460) Continuances 'should rarely be granted.' Lack of diligence is not good cause. Successive continuances are 'highly disfavored.'

All rules amended effective January 1, 2025. Ordered by rule number.

Effective January 1, 2025, Florida Rule 1.280 requires mandatory initial disclosures for the first time in Florida state court practice.

What you must disclose — within 60 days of service of the complaint:

1. Persons with knowledge: the name and, if known, address and telephone number of each individual likely to have discoverable information you may use to support your claims or defenses — along with the subjects of that information
2. Documents: a copy, or description by category and location, of all documents, ESI, and tangible things in your possession, custody, or control that you may use to support your claims or defenses
3. Damages: a computation of each category of damages claimed, together with the documents or other evidentiary material on which each computation is based
4. Insurance: any insurance agreement under which an insurer may be liable to satisfy all or part of a possible judgment

What cannot excuse late or no disclosure: You are not excused because: (a) you have not fully investigated the case; (b) you challenge the sufficiency of another party's disclosures; or (c) another party has not disclosed yet.

The sequencing rule: A party may not seek discovery from any source before it has made its own initial disclosures, except when authorized by stipulation or by court order.

Enforcement — exclusion sanction (Rule 1.380): If you fail to disclose a person or document, you may not use that person or document as evidence at hearing or trial — unless the failure was substantially justified or harmless. Available sanctions also include attorney's fees and jury notification of the failure.

Supplementation duty: Parties must supplement or correct disclosures in a timely manner when they learn a prior response was materially incomplete or incorrect.

Rule 1.202 is a brand new Florida statewide rule effective January 1, 2025. Before 2025, there was no uniform meet-and-confer requirement in Florida state court — some circuits had local rules, most didn't.

The default rule: conferral is required. Before filing most non-dispositive motions, the moving party must confer with opposing counsel in good faith to try to resolve the issue.

What 'conferral' means: A good-faith communication about the issues in the motion — by phone, video, email, or in person. The Certificate of Conferral must state the method of communication and the date. Sending a motion draft without any accompanying discussion of the issues is not conferral. The rule requires a genuine effort to resolve the issue, not just notification.

If opposing counsel refuses to confer: You are not blocked from filing. Document the attempt in the Certificate and proceed. The rule expressly provides for cases where 'the opposing party did not respond' — you describe with particularity all efforts made to initiate dialogue before filing.

The Certificate of Conferral: Must appear at the end of the motion, above the signature block. Required contents:

1. The method of communication used
2. The date of conferral
3. Whether opposing counsel agreed to the relief sought
4. The efforts made to obtain agreement (if no response)

Alternatively, if the motion is exempt: 'I certify that conferral prior to filing is not required under rule 1.202.'

Consequence of non-compliance: Rule 1.202 expressly provides: 'Failure to comply with the requirements of this rule may result in an appropriate sanction, including denial of a motion without prejudice.' Purposeful evasion of conferral communication may also result in an appropriate sanction.

Note on Rule 1.201(c)(4): In complex cases, Rule 1.201 requires a separate conferral closer to the hearing date. That obligation is distinct from Rule 1.202 conferral before filing. Satisfying one does not satisfy the other.

The correct deadline is 40 days. Here is why there is confusion.

Two different numbers appear in published summaries of the 2025 Florida civil procedure amendments:

• 60 days — from the original SC2024-0662 opinion dated May 23, 2024
• 40 days — from the further amendment to SC2024-0662, issued December 5, 2024

The December further amendment superseded the May original on the response deadline. Published summaries written before December 5, 2024, or based on the original May opinion, say 60 days. Those summaries are outdated. The correct deadline is 40 days.

The full timing framework under Rule 1.510:

• The nonmoving party's response is due no later than 40 days after service of the motion
• The hearing must be scheduled for a date at least 10 days after the response deadline (Rule 1.510(c)(6))
• The motion must be filed consistent with any court-ordered deadlines

Before vs. after: Before 2025: response was due 20 days before the scheduled hearing date. The hearing date was the trigger — meaning a non-movant could indirectly delay by not agreeing to a hearing date. After January 1, 2025: the 40-day clock starts the day the motion is served, regardless of when a hearing is scheduled.

What this means in practice: Defendants cannot slow-walk summary judgment responses by delaying the hearing schedule. The response deadline is fixed at service + 40 days.