When is a Florida appellee’s answer brief due?

Identify every authorized initial brief and whether the last was actually served.

Establish the last actual service or independently determine its last timely-service date if unserved.

Confirm the absence of a mail-only addition and review actual motions and briefing orders.

1. Identify every authorized initial brief and whether the last was actually served.
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 controlling authorized initial brief is electronically or personally served without a mail-only addition. 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.

Multiple authorized briefs change which service event controls

Rule 9.210(g) uses service of the last authorized initial or answer brief when more than one is authorized. If that last brief is not served, the responsive period starts from the last date it could have been timely served. Establish that date independently instead of using the first brief received.

This service-based calculator excludes the mail-only addition

Rule 2.514(b) adds five days after the otherwise computed expiration when service was made only by mail and the act is measured after service. This calculator covers an independently established electronic, personal or other service event without that addition. Mail-only facts need a separate computation; do not silently treat mail as email.

Actual motions and extension orders can change the briefing schedule

Rule 9.300(b) tolls the proceeding schedule on service of a motion unless paragraph (d) excepts it. Actual extension orders can change related acts and the next brief after record, index or transcript extensions. Establish the applicable motion, exception, disposition and order before using the ordinary unmodified period.

The answer may carry affirmative cross-issues

Rule 9.210(c) requires the answer to include the cross-appeal or identified cross-review issues and supporting argument when applicable. Its combined form and applicable limits differ from an ordinary standalone answer.

• 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.

• Identify every authorized initial brief and whether the last was actually served.
• Establish the last actual service or independently determine its last timely-service date if unserved.
• Confirm the absence of a mail-only addition and review actual motions and briefing orders.
• Rule 9.210(g) uses service of the last authorized initial or answer brief when more than one is authorized. If that last brief is not served, the responsive period starts from the last date it could have been timely served. Establish that date independently instead of using the first brief received.
• Rule 2.514(b) adds five days after the otherwise computed expiration when service was made only by mail and the act is measured after service. This calculator covers an independently established electronic, personal or other service event without that addition. Mail-only facts need a separate computation; do not silently treat mail as email.
• Rule 9.300(b) tolls the proceeding schedule on service of a motion unless paragraph (d) excepts it. Actual extension orders can change related acts and the next brief after record, index or transcript extensions. Establish the applicable motion, exception, disposition and order before using the ordinary unmodified period.
• Rule 9.210(c) requires the answer to include the cross-appeal or identified cross-review issues and supporting argument when applicable. Its combined form and applicable limits differ from an ordinary standalone answer.
• Prepare the Rule 9.210(c) answer, incorporating any required cross-appeal or cross-review issues and argument. Serve the authorized answer by the established deadline and complete filing with proof and compliance certificate. 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.