When must Florida mediation be completed?

Establish when the first mediation conference actually occurred.

Preserve any court extension, party stipulation and actual interruption pending relief.

Read adjournment and reconvening directions and identify whether mediation produced an agreement.

1. Establish when the first mediation conference actually occurred.
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.

The ordinary forty-five-day component cannot account for actual court or stipulated extensions, interruption tolling and adjournment history from one input. Completion and the reporting of a signed or transcribed agreement are separate acts.

Court orders and party stipulations can extend completion

Rule 1.710(a) expressly permits both forms of extension. Establish their actual terms and validity. A proposed extension is not a court order or party stipulation.

A pending emergency motion alone does not stop mediation

Rule 1.720(a) permits interim or emergency relief at any time. Mediation continues unless the court orders otherwise or the mediator adjourns pending disposition. Completion time is tolled during an actual interruption pending resolution. Rule 1.710(c) leaves discovery running unless the parties stipulate or the court orders otherwise.

Adjournment does not establish the original endpoint as final

Rule 1.720(g) permits the mediator to adjourn and set reconvening times notwithstanding Rule 1.710(a). Parties present at the adjourned conference need no further notification under that provision. Preserve the actual adjournment and reconvening history.

Agreement reporting differs from completion

Rule 1.730(a) requires reporting the lack of an agreement without comment or recommendation. Paragraph (b) addresses the prescribed signed or transcribed agreement and its ten-day mediator report. Neither is proof of judicial enforcement.

• This page does not establish a valid referral, actual court setting, sufficient good cause, settlement authority or court enforcement.
• Check the operative edition, actual notice, record activity, motions, interruptions, orders and additional closures.

• Establish when the first mediation conference actually occurred.
• Preserve any court extension, party stipulation and actual interruption pending relief.
• Read adjournment and reconvening directions and identify whether mediation produced an agreement.
• Rule 1.710(a) expressly permits both forms of extension. Establish their actual terms and validity. A proposed extension is not a court order or party stipulation.
• Rule 1.720(a) permits interim or emergency relief at any time. Mediation continues unless the court orders otherwise or the mediator adjourns pending disposition. Completion time is tolled during an actual interruption pending resolution. Rule 1.710(c) leaves discovery running unless the parties stipulate or the court orders otherwise.
• Rule 1.720(g) permits the mediator to adjourn and set reconvening times notwithstanding Rule 1.710(a). Parties present at the adjourned conference need no further notification under that provision. Preserve the actual adjournment and reconvening history.
• Rule 1.730(a) requires reporting the lack of an agreement without comment or recommendation. Paragraph (b) addresses the prescribed signed or transcribed agreement and its ten-day mediator report. Neither is proof of judicial enforcement.
• Preserve the actual conference history, extensions, interruptions and completion report. Rule 1.730 distinguishes no-agreement reporting from a partial or final signed or transcribed agreement. A computed endpoint does not establish agreement, dismissal or enforcement. Discovery continues unless the parties stipulate or the court orders otherwise under Rule 1.710(c).