When must a party seek Florida appellate attorney fees after early dismissal?

Independently establish the otherwise applicable fee deadline for the actual appeal, original proceeding or discretionary-review stage.

Confirm the dismissal was rendered before that deadline expired.

Establish actual completed dismissal rendition and the legal grounds for requested fees.

1. Independently establish the otherwise applicable fee deadline for the actual appeal, original proceeding or discretionary-review stage.
2. Rule 9.420(e) incorporates Rule 2.514(a). Exclude the established event. For seven days or longer, begin with the next day that is not Saturday, Sunday or a legal holiday. Count intermediate calendar days. For fewer than seven days, omit intermediate Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays. Do not treat a seven-day period as seven business days.
3. Check the observed statutory holidays, actual clerk calendar and chief-justice directions.
4. Complete the required act with the proper court or recipient.

Apply the observed New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King Jr. birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving Day, Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas Day holidays. Section 110.117 observes Saturday holidays on the preceding Friday and Sunday holidays on the following Monday. Rule 2.514 also includes clerk-observed holidays and days designated by the chief justice or chief judge. An ineligible final day moves in the counting direction. The bundled Florida calendar covers 2026 through 2028. Verify additional closures and chief-justice extensions separately.

Fictitious example

Fictitious facts. The appeal is dismissed before its independently established ordinary fee deadline expired, with completed rendition and no different direction. The independently established event is August 2, 2027. No additional holiday, mail-only addition, tolling or different order applies.

Fictitious facts. Establish the stated procedure and actual event separately. No mail-only addition, further clerk holiday, tolling motion, chief-justice extension or different actual court order is assumed.

Use appellate rendition, not later delivery

Rule 9.020(i) defines appellate rendition by entry in the court docket, with postponement for its stated authorized and timely postdecision motions. Establish the actual completed rendition applicable to this act. Service, receipt and mandate issuance are separate events.

The ordinary deadline must still have been open at dismissal

Rule 9.400(b)(1)–(4) ties ordinary timing to the appeal reply, original-proceeding petitioner reply, or discretionary-review jurisdiction or accepted-merits reply stage. Paragraph (4) applies only if dismissal is rendered before the otherwise applicable deadline expires. Do not use seven days to revive a late fee request.

The motion must state grounds for recovery

Rule 9.400(b) requires stated recovery grounds and excludes Rule 9.410(b) sanctions motions. Timely service alone does not establish substantive fee entitlement, assessment or enforcement.

Seven days does not mean seven business days

Rule 2.514(a) begins a seven-day period on the next eligible counted day and includes intermediate calendar days. The final ineligible day moves as prescribed. The shorter-than-seven-day intermediate exclusion does not apply.

An appellate fee motion does not automatically toll the schedule

Rule 9.300(d)(6) excludes appellate attorney-fee motions from ordinary motion tolling. Preserve any actual court direction instead of assuming service pauses other appellate deadlines.

Rendition does not gain a mail-only service addition

Rule 2.514(b) applies when a party’s act runs from service made only by mail. Paragraph (b)(4) uses dismissal rendition. Mailing the dismissal does not automatically add five days.

• This page does not establish appealability, jurisdiction, disputed facts, sufficiency or an extension.
• Check the governing historical edition, actual motions, orders, clerk holidays and filing receipts.

• Independently establish the otherwise applicable fee deadline for the actual appeal, original proceeding or discretionary-review stage.
• Confirm the dismissal was rendered before that deadline expired.
• Establish actual completed dismissal rendition and the legal grounds for requested fees.
• Rule 9.020(i) defines appellate rendition by entry in the court docket, with postponement for its stated authorized and timely postdecision motions. Establish the actual completed rendition applicable to this act. Service, receipt and mandate issuance are separate events.
• Rule 9.400(b)(1)–(4) ties ordinary timing to the appeal reply, original-proceeding petitioner reply, or discretionary-review jurisdiction or accepted-merits reply stage. Paragraph (4) applies only if dismissal is rendered before the otherwise applicable deadline expires. Do not use seven days to revive a late fee request.
• Rule 9.400(b) requires stated recovery grounds and excludes Rule 9.410(b) sanctions motions. Timely service alone does not establish substantive fee entitlement, assessment or enforcement.
• Rule 2.514(a) begins a seven-day period on the next eligible counted day and includes intermediate calendar days. The final ineligible day moves as prescribed. The shorter-than-seven-day intermediate exclusion does not apply.
• Rule 9.300(d)(6) excludes appellate attorney-fee motions from ordinary motion tolling. Preserve any actual court direction instead of assuming service pauses other appellate deadlines.
• Rule 2.514(b) applies when a party’s act runs from service made only by mail. Paragraph (b)(4) uses dismissal rendition. Mailing the dismissal does not automatically add five days.
• Serve the attorney-fee motion stating recovery grounds within the eligible seven-day period and complete required appellate filing. Preserve the original fee deadline analysis, dismissal rendition, recovery authority and service and filing receipts. Identify the proper clerk and complete filing and service as separate acts. Rule 9.420(a) incorporates Rule 2.525. Attorneys ordinarily file through the portal or designated electronic facility. An eligible unrepresented party may elect electronic filing; prescribed paper exceptions remain. Preserve the successful portal or clerk filing timestamp under Rule 2.525(e). Unless another controlling time applies, Rule 2.514(a)(4) sets 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time for electronic filing or service by any means, and scheduled clerk closing for nonelectronic filing. Rule 9.420(a)(2) separately addresses qualifying unrepresented inmate filings and their proof. This calculator does not establish successful submission, sufficiency, a tolling motion or permission to extend a jurisdictional period. Rule 9.420(b)–(d) incorporates Rule 2.516 service and proof. Portal service is complete on filing for listed recipients, subject to promptly serving a recipient known not to have received the document. Email service is complete when sent. Permitted paper mail service is complete on mailing; delivery is complete on delivery. Rule 2.514(b) adds five days after the otherwise computed expiration only when the act is measured after service and service was made only by mail. Email or portal service does not automatically add five days. A filing-based or rendition-based period does not gain five days because another document was mailed. Establish the actual applicable service before choosing a service-based period.