When does a Florida court issue the civil case-management order?

Establish the action’s actual commencement, applicability and court-assigned track.

Obtain the actual case-management order and its projected or actual trial period.

Preserve every later order amending deadlines and every historical transition or complex-case direction.

1. Establish the action’s actual commencement, applicability and court-assigned track.
2. The current 120 days describes the court’s streamlined or general issuance duty. It does not provide the dates for all deadlines within the order. Rule 1.090(a) and Rule 2.514 govern legally applicable computations; read each actual order’s wording, event and dates separately.
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.

This provision governs issuance of the court’s order, with separate complex-case and historical procedures. Individual deadlines require the actual order and later amendments. A commencement date cannot establish the complete party timetable or certify that the court has issued its order.

The listed exemptions and complex procedure matter

Rule 1.200(a) excludes its eighteen listed classes of actions and claims. These include specified summary proceedings, small claims with a stated civil-rules exception, probate and guardianship proceedings, administrative review, eminent domain, special divisions with case-management orders and expedited claims. Establish the full list and actual court classification. Complex cases follow Rule 1.201 for their case-management orders.

Commencement is an actual procedural event

Rule 1.050 ordinarily commences a civil action when the complaint or petition is filed, subject to its prescribed ancillary-proceeding events. Defendant service is a different event. Rule 1.200(a) separately exempts proceedings ancillary to another court proceeding. Preserve the actual commencement record before describing the court’s timetable.

Historical pending actions have a transition order

SC2023-0962, corrected January 23, 2025, preserves case-management orders already in effect January 1, 2025, with later extensions governed by amended Rules 1.200 or 1.201. For earlier actions without an order on that date, the transition specified issuance by April 4, 2025. Do not replace that historical direction or an existing order with a newly assumed 120 days.

An extension does not follow from a request or unavailability notice

Rule 1.200(e) strictly enforces actual case-management deadlines unless changed by court order. An agreed extension affecting later deadlines requires amendment of the order. Rule 1.200(f) makes an unavailability notice ineffective to modify its deadlines or set events. An actual trial-period change follows Rule 1.460; a projected-period change follows the stated Rule 1.200(e) procedure.

Current issuance does not use a last-defendant comparison

The October 1, 2026 compilation states 120 days after commencement in Rule 1.200(d)(4). The amendment appendix’s earlier thirty-day-after-last-defendant language is deleted text. Do not read an amendment markup or another time-standard rule as retaining that alternative in current paragraph (d)(4).

Complex cases have a separate conference and order sequence

Rule 1.201(b) requires the initial conference within sixty days of the actual order declaring the action complex. Paragraph (c) requires the case-management order within ten days after that conference’s completion. Its declarations, conference and resulting order are separate events from the ordinary commencement-based procedure.

• This page does not establish valid service, pleading sufficiency, waived defenses or permission to extend a period.
• Check the governing historical edition, actual motions, orders, clerk holidays and filing receipts.

• Establish the action’s actual commencement, applicability and court-assigned track.
• Obtain the actual case-management order and its projected or actual trial period.
• Preserve every later order amending deadlines and every historical transition or complex-case direction.
• Rule 1.200(a) excludes its eighteen listed classes of actions and claims. These include specified summary proceedings, small claims with a stated civil-rules exception, probate and guardianship proceedings, administrative review, eminent domain, special divisions with case-management orders and expedited claims. Establish the full list and actual court classification. Complex cases follow Rule 1.201 for their case-management orders.
• Rule 1.050 ordinarily commences a civil action when the complaint or petition is filed, subject to its prescribed ancillary-proceeding events. Defendant service is a different event. Rule 1.200(a) separately exempts proceedings ancillary to another court proceeding. Preserve the actual commencement record before describing the court’s timetable.
• SC2023-0962, corrected January 23, 2025, preserves case-management orders already in effect January 1, 2025, with later extensions governed by amended Rules 1.200 or 1.201. For earlier actions without an order on that date, the transition specified issuance by April 4, 2025. Do not replace that historical direction or an existing order with a newly assumed 120 days.
• Rule 1.200(e) strictly enforces actual case-management deadlines unless changed by court order. An agreed extension affecting later deadlines requires amendment of the order. Rule 1.200(f) makes an unavailability notice ineffective to modify its deadlines or set events. An actual trial-period change follows Rule 1.460; a projected-period change follows the stated Rule 1.200(e) procedure.
• The October 1, 2026 compilation states 120 days after commencement in Rule 1.200(d)(4). The amendment appendix’s earlier thirty-day-after-last-defendant language is deleted text. Do not read an amendment markup or another time-standard rule as retaining that alternative in current paragraph (d)(4).
• Rule 1.201(b) requires the initial conference within sixty days of the actual order declaring the action complex. Paragraph (c) requires the case-management order within ten days after that conference’s completion. Its declarations, conference and resulting order are separate events from the ordinary commencement-based procedure.
• Preserve the entered order and its service, all listed dates, later amendments and actual compliance receipts. Rule 1.200(d)(2) requires deadlines for complaint service and extensions, adding parties, fact and expert discovery, summary-judgment filing and service, pleading objections, pretrial motions and alternative dispute resolution. A party must follow its actual order rather than an assumed universal timetable. Rule 1.080(b) incorporates Rule 2.525 filing. 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 filing timestamp under Rule 2.525(e). Rule 2.514(a)(4) ordinarily sets 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern Time for electronic filing or service by any means, and scheduled clerk closing for nonelectronic filing. Complete filing and required service as separate acts. A computed date does not establish successful submission, valid original process or sufficient pleading.