When is a Florida party’s physical examination response due?

Identify the actual physical-examination request, recipient and prescribed type of response.

Preserve actual request service and prior process service. Classify the ordinary branch before ignoring a defendant’s initial protection.

Read every order, applicable stipulation, service method and historical procedural edition.

1. Identify the actual physical-examination request, recipient and prescribed type of response.
2. Rule 1.090(a) 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 properly signed identified request is served electronically within the ordinary thirty-day procedure. No later initial defendant process floor controls. The established event occurs August 2, 2027. No mail-only addition, additional clerk holiday or different actual 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.

An actual court-allowed period controls

Rule 1.360(a)(1)(A) preserves court authority to shorten or extend the stated time. Read the actual order and its triggering event. A requested extension, agreement lacking the required legal effect or pending motion does not itself establish a different response date.

A physical condition request differs from a nonphysical motion

Rule 1.360(a)(1)(A) supplies this request-and-response procedure for a physical condition. Paragraph (a)(1)(B) requires a motion and court order for a nonphysical condition after notice to the examined person and all parties. Do not replace that ordered procedure with an automatic thirty-day response.

The condition must be in controversy and good cause shown

Paragraph (a)(1) concerns a party or a person in that party’s custody or legal control whose condition is in controversy, examined by a qualified expert. Paragraph (a)(2) requires good cause, with the requesting party’s burden at a hearing. A date does not establish those substantive conditions.

Recording, observers and minors have specified protections

Paragraph (a)(1)(A) requires the number of people, role and recording method when requesting third-party attendance or recording. Paragraph (a)(1)(C) permits a minor’s parent or guardian to remain except on the stated showing of material negative impact. Paragraph (a)(3) addresses protective arrangements on request.

Reports and privilege follow later distinct events

Rule 1.360(b) governs requested detailed examiner reports, reciprocal reports, court relief and exclusion for failure. Obtaining the report or deposing the examiner can waive the stated privilege for other examinations of the same condition in the same controversy. The response period is not a made-up thirty-day deadline for every report.

The defendant’s initial process protection may control

Paragraph (a)(1)(A) ordinarily uses thirty days after request service, but a defendant need not respond until forty-five days after service of process and the initial pleading, subject to court shortening or extension. A later request requires comparing actual events; this forty-five-day route is limited to a physical request served with process.

Current disclosure sequencing concerns seeking discovery

Rule 1.280(f)(1), effective June 19, 2025, requires this party to serve initial disclosures on the other party before seeking discovery, except as authorized by stipulation or court order. It does not itself replace a served request’s response period with sixty days or permit a recipient to ignore the request. Check the actual covered proceeding, historical initial-disclosure exception, stipulation, protective order and request separately.

Signing, supplementation and court filing are separate duties

Rule 1.280(k) requires the prescribed attorney or unrepresented-party signature and certification after reasonable inquiry. Rule 1.280(g) requires timely supplementation or correction when its stated conditions arise. Rule 1.280(h) generally withholds discovery information from court filing without good cause established by another rule or order. The current rule imposes no duty to act on an unsigned disclosure, request, response or objection until signed. SC2025-1053, issued October 1, 2026 and effective January 1, 2027 at 12:01 a.m., adds mandatory striking unless the missing signature is promptly supplied after the omission is brought to the attorney’s or party’s attention. The 2027 examples assume properly signed requests. A completed date does not establish complete answers or proper filing.

• 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.

• Identify the actual physical-examination request, recipient and prescribed type of response.
• Preserve actual request service and prior process service. Classify the ordinary branch before ignoring a defendant’s initial protection.
• Read every order, applicable stipulation, service method and historical procedural edition.
• Rule 1.360(a)(1)(A) preserves court authority to shorten or extend the stated time. Read the actual order and its triggering event. A requested extension, agreement lacking the required legal effect or pending motion does not itself establish a different response date.
• Rule 1.360(a)(1)(A) supplies this request-and-response procedure for a physical condition. Paragraph (a)(1)(B) requires a motion and court order for a nonphysical condition after notice to the examined person and all parties. Do not replace that ordered procedure with an automatic thirty-day response.
• Paragraph (a)(1) concerns a party or a person in that party’s custody or legal control whose condition is in controversy, examined by a qualified expert. Paragraph (a)(2) requires good cause, with the requesting party’s burden at a hearing. A date does not establish those substantive conditions.
• Paragraph (a)(1)(A) requires the number of people, role and recording method when requesting third-party attendance or recording. Paragraph (a)(1)(C) permits a minor’s parent or guardian to remain except on the stated showing of material negative impact. Paragraph (a)(3) addresses protective arrangements on request.
• Rule 1.360(b) governs requested detailed examiner reports, reciprocal reports, court relief and exclusion for failure. Obtaining the report or deposing the examiner can waive the stated privilege for other examinations of the same condition in the same controversy. The response period is not a made-up thirty-day deadline for every report.
• Paragraph (a)(1)(A) ordinarily uses thirty days after request service, but a defendant need not respond until forty-five days after service of process and the initial pleading, subject to court shortening or extension. A later request requires comparing actual events; this forty-five-day route is limited to a physical request served with process.
• Rule 1.280(f)(1), effective June 19, 2025, requires this party to serve initial disclosures on the other party before seeking discovery, except as authorized by stipulation or court order. It does not itself replace a served request’s response period with sixty days or permit a recipient to ignore the request. Check the actual covered proceeding, historical initial-disclosure exception, stipulation, protective order and request separately.
• Rule 1.280(k) requires the prescribed attorney or unrepresented-party signature and certification after reasonable inquiry. Rule 1.280(g) requires timely supplementation or correction when its stated conditions arise. Rule 1.280(h) generally withholds discovery information from court filing without good cause established by another rule or order. The current rule imposes no duty to act on an unsigned disclosure, request, response or objection until signed. SC2025-1053, issued October 1, 2026 and effective January 1, 2027 at 12:01 a.m., adds mandatory striking unless the missing signature is promptly supplied after the omission is brought to the attorney’s or party’s attention. The 2027 examples assume properly signed requests. A completed date does not establish complete answers or proper filing.
• Serve the actual written response permitting the physical examination or stating the reasons for objection. Include the prescribed proposed recording or observer information when seeking those arrangements. Preserve the request, response, service evidence and any protective or examination order. A response date does not schedule the actual examination, establish good cause, compel a minor’s attendance conditions or decide privilege concerning later reports. Rule 1.080(a) applies Rule 2.516 to pleadings after the initial pleading and other prescribed documents. Establish each required recipient and service method. Email service is complete when sent. Portal service is complete on filing for listed recipients, subject to promptly serving a recipient known not to have received the document. Permitted mail service is complete on mailing and delivery 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. Original process, actual receipt and court-order filing are distinct events. The service-based calculator examples exclude mail-only service.