When is a Florida defendant’s production response due for a request served with process?

Identify the actual production request, recipient and prescribed type of response.

Preserve actual service of the request together with process and the initial pleading on this defendant. Filing is a different event.

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

1. Identify the actual production 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 validly served with process and the initial pleading on this defendant. No different ordered time applies. 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 1.350(b)(3) 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.

Written response and actual production are different acts

Rule 1.350(b)(3) fixes the default written-response period while requiring the request to specify reasonable time, place and manner for inspection or related acts. Do not treat a thirty-day or forty-five-day response count as automatically establishing every document-production date.

Objections must identify reasons and withheld material

Paragraphs (b)(4)–(6) require specific grounds and reasons, identification of withheld responsive material and permission to inspect the unobjectionable remainder. An objection to part of a category does not permit withholding all other responsive material without explanation.

Production organization and ESI forms are prescribed

Paragraph (b)(7) requires production as kept in the usual course of business or identified to correspond to request categories. Paragraph (b)(8) addresses requested electronic-information forms, specific form objections and the intended form. With no specified form, use an ordinarily maintained or reasonably usable form.

The request must concern material within the stated control and scope

Rule 1.350(a) addresses documents, electronic information, things or property within its stated possession, custody or control and Rule 1.280(c) scope. Requests require reasonable particularity and service on all parties. A nonparty custodian ordinarily requires a distinct procedure.

Noncompliance requires its actual motion and order procedure

Rule 1.350(b)(9) permits a motion under Rule 1.380 concerning objections, failure to respond or failure to permit inspection. A request for a protective order or extension does not itself establish a changed response date.

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 production request, recipient and prescribed type of response.
• Preserve actual service of the request together with process and the initial pleading on this defendant. Filing is a different event.
• Read every order, applicable stipulation, service method and historical procedural edition.
• Rule 1.350(b)(3) 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 1.350(b)(3) fixes the default written-response period while requiring the request to specify reasonable time, place and manner for inspection or related acts. Do not treat a thirty-day or forty-five-day response count as automatically establishing every document-production date.
• Paragraphs (b)(4)–(6) require specific grounds and reasons, identification of withheld responsive material and permission to inspect the unobjectionable remainder. An objection to part of a category does not permit withholding all other responsive material without explanation.
• Paragraph (b)(7) requires production as kept in the usual course of business or identified to correspond to request categories. Paragraph (b)(8) addresses requested electronic-information forms, specific form objections and the intended form. With no specified form, use an ordinarily maintained or reasonably usable form.
• Rule 1.350(a) addresses documents, electronic information, things or property within its stated possession, custody or control and Rule 1.280(c) scope. Requests require reasonable particularity and service on all parties. A nonparty custodian ordinarily requires a distinct procedure.
• Rule 1.350(b)(9) permits a motion under Rule 1.380 concerning objections, failure to respond or failure to permit inspection. A request for a protective order or extension does not itself establish a changed response date.
• 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 item-by-item or category-by-category written response and preserve its service evidence. State any specific partial objection and permit inspection of the remainder. Complete the actual inspection or production at the established reasonable time or controlling order. Under Rule 1.350(d), do not file the produced documents or things with the response unless the court requires it. Rules 2.425 and 1.280(h) govern use of material that the court must consider. 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.