When is a Florida government tort claim deemed denied through inaction?

Establish complete presentment and the actual filing event with the relevant recipient.

Identify whether the action is medical malpractice or wrongful death.

Preserve actual final disposition, written denial and any period of inaction.

1. Establish complete presentment and the actual filing event with the relevant recipient.
2. Do not convert statutory years or months into fixed day counts. Establish the governing computation provision for the actual presentment, denial or court-filing act. This conditional guide computes no date.
3. Check the observed statutory holidays, actual clerk calendar and chief-justice directions.
4. Complete the required act with the proper court or recipient.

A court clerk holiday does not by itself establish agency presentment or a statutory denial date. Establish the applicable computation provision and recipient procedure. 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.

The current six-month preset omits the ninety-day statutory branch and cannot establish earlier written disposition or complete filing. A single filing input cannot resolve the applicable denial and lawsuit history.

The statutory units must remain distinct

Six months is a calendar-month period. Ninety days is the expressly stated special branch. The DFS administrative page summarizes an investigation period as 180 days; this guide does not equate that summary with the statute’s six months.

An actual denial can precede deemed denial

Paragraph (6)(a) requires denial in writing, and paragraph (6)(d) supplies the inaction deeming rule. Preserve the actual final disposition instead of waiting automatically for an outer interval after an earlier written denial.

Express tolling is limited to the named categories

Paragraph (6)(d) expressly tolls medical-malpractice and wrongful-death limitations for the time taken by DFS or the agency to deny the claim. It does not state that every ordinary tort limitation stops for the general six-month wait. Establish any other applicable tolling separately.

Presentment and denial do not replace commencement

Paragraph (6)(b) separates the notice and denial conditions from accrual. Subsection (14) separately governs complaint commencement and its exceptions. Deemed denial is not an instruction to file on that date or a fresh four-year period.

The subsection has an express counterclaim exclusion

Paragraph (6)(d) excludes claims asserted by counterclaim pursuant to section 768.14. Establish that procedural classification before treating every claim as subject to the same presentment and wait.

• This guide does not establish accrual, a sovereign-immunity waiver, completed presentment, an applicable tolling period or permission to file suit.
• Check the governing historical edition, actual motions, orders, clerk holidays and filing receipts.

• Establish complete presentment and the actual filing event with the relevant recipient.
• Identify whether the action is medical malpractice or wrongful death.
• Preserve actual final disposition, written denial and any period of inaction.
• Six months is a calendar-month period. Ninety days is the expressly stated special branch. The DFS administrative page summarizes an investigation period as 180 days; this guide does not equate that summary with the statute’s six months.
• Paragraph (6)(a) requires denial in writing, and paragraph (6)(d) supplies the inaction deeming rule. Preserve the actual final disposition instead of waiting automatically for an outer interval after an earlier written denial.
• Paragraph (6)(d) expressly tolls medical-malpractice and wrongful-death limitations for the time taken by DFS or the agency to deny the claim. It does not state that every ordinary tort limitation stops for the general six-month wait. Establish any other applicable tolling separately.
• Paragraph (6)(b) separates the notice and denial conditions from accrual. Subsection (14) separately governs complaint commencement and its exceptions. Deemed denial is not an instruction to file on that date or a fresh four-year period.
• Paragraph (6)(d) excludes claims asserted by counterclaim pursuant to section 768.14. Establish that procedural classification before treating every claim as subject to the same presentment and wait.
• Preserve the actual written claim, each legally required recipient, delivery or filing evidence and the actual disposition. Presentment is not court filing or service of process. Section 768.28(7) separately requires process on the agency head and DFS, subject to its stated local-government and Space Authority exceptions. A compliant notice does not establish a waiver, timely suit or successful service.