When must a Florida party file a motion to defer mediation or arbitration?

Read the entered referral order and actual scheduled session.

Prepare detailed supporting facts and set the motion hearing before that session.

File the motion and provide hearing notice to all interested parties and appointed neutrals.

1. Read the entered referral order and actual scheduled session.
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. An applicable referral order is entered. The required earlier hearing, detailed facts and full notice are separately established. The established event is August 2, 2027. No mail-only addition, further clerk closure or changed court period 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.

Referral entry and later service are different events

Rule 1.700(a) permits a presiding judge’s referral order or a filed written stipulation for contested civil matters, subject to legal exclusions. The fifteen-day motion periods use the actual order of referral. Preserve the entered order and its terms; later service, mediator designation and the first session are separate events.

An earlier hearing and complete notice are required

Set the motion for hearing before the scheduled mediation or arbitration. State supporting facts and circumstances in detail. Provide hearing notice to all interested parties, including any appointed mediator or arbitrator. An uncalendared motion is not a substitute for those requirements.

The specific motion determines tolling

Rule 1.700(c) expressly tolls mediation or arbitration until disposition of the motion to defer. Paragraph (d) tolls the period while a motion to disqualify is pending. Paragraph (b) does not expressly give a motion to dispense that same automatic tolling. Read the actual motion, hearing and court disposition before treating the schedule as suspended.

A timely date does not complete the motion

Rule 1.100(b) requires the written grounds and relief except its stated hearing or trial procedure. Rule 1.202 requires applicable conferral and its certificate before a non-dispositive motion, subject to its express exemptions, including an unrepresented movant or nonmovant. Preserve the actual filing, prescribed service and hearing notice.

• 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.

• Read the entered referral order and actual scheduled session.
• Prepare detailed supporting facts and set the motion hearing before that session.
• File the motion and provide hearing notice to all interested parties and appointed neutrals.
• Rule 1.700(a) permits a presiding judge’s referral order or a filed written stipulation for contested civil matters, subject to legal exclusions. The fifteen-day motion periods use the actual order of referral. Preserve the entered order and its terms; later service, mediator designation and the first session are separate events.
• Set the motion for hearing before the scheduled mediation or arbitration. State supporting facts and circumstances in detail. Provide hearing notice to all interested parties, including any appointed mediator or arbitrator. An uncalendared motion is not a substitute for those requirements.
• Rule 1.700(c) expressly tolls mediation or arbitration until disposition of the motion to defer. Paragraph (d) tolls the period while a motion to disqualify is pending. Paragraph (b) does not expressly give a motion to dispense that same automatic tolling. Read the actual motion, hearing and court disposition before treating the schedule as suspended.
• Rule 1.100(b) requires the written grounds and relief except its stated hearing or trial procedure. Rule 1.202 requires applicable conferral and its certificate before a non-dispositive motion, subject to its express exemptions, including an unrepresented movant or nonmovant. Preserve the actual filing, prescribed service and hearing notice.
• 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. Rule 1.700(c) also requires the earlier hearing and notice; filing alone does not complete those acts.