When must a Florida party move to strike a legally insufficient defense?

Identify the particular legal defense and the Rule 1.140(b) insufficiency objection.

Obtain actual service of the answer or reply containing that defense.

Distinguish paragraph (f) and check applicable conferral, preservation and court directions.

1. Identify the particular legal defense and the Rule 1.140(b) insufficiency objection.
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 answer containing the challenged insufficient legal defense is actually served electronically. The objection belongs to Rule 1.140(b). The established triggering event is August 2, 2027. No mail-only addition, further clerk closure, actual extension or different court 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.

Paragraph (f) is a separate motion category

Rule 1.140(f) permits the party or court to strike redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous matter at any time. Paragraph (b) supplies the specified twenty-day insufficient-legal-defense objection. The common motion name does not establish the same period or response-tolling effect.

Defenses and objections have preservation requirements

Rules 1.140(g),(h) govern consolidation and waiver, with the stated later treatment of failure to state a cause of action or legal defense, indispensable parties and subject-matter jurisdiction. The arithmetic does not decide whether a defense or objection remains available.

Applicable conferral must precede motion filing

Rule 1.202 requires good-faith conferral before a covered nondispositive motion and the prescribed certificate. Its pro se and listed exemptions require actual classification. A desire to file a strike motion does not itself establish an exemption.

An extension requires its actual legal basis

Rule 1.090(b)(1) permits the court to extend an ordinary covered period for good cause before expiry, or on a motion after expiry upon excusable neglect. A request does not itself grant relief. Case-management deadlines follow Rules 1.200 or 1.201, and paragraph (b)(2) excludes its listed procedures. This base calculator assumes no granted extension or other controlling time.

• 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 particular legal defense and the Rule 1.140(b) insufficiency objection.
• Obtain actual service of the answer or reply containing that defense.
• Distinguish paragraph (f) and check applicable conferral, preservation and court directions.
• Rule 1.140(f) permits the party or court to strike redundant, immaterial, impertinent or scandalous matter at any time. Paragraph (b) supplies the specified twenty-day insufficient-legal-defense objection. The common motion name does not establish the same period or response-tolling effect.
• Rules 1.140(g),(h) govern consolidation and waiver, with the stated later treatment of failure to state a cause of action or legal defense, indispensable parties and subject-matter jurisdiction. The arithmetic does not decide whether a defense or objection remains available.
• Rule 1.202 requires good-faith conferral before a covered nondispositive motion and the prescribed certificate. Its pro se and listed exemptions require actual classification. A desire to file a strike motion does not itself establish an exemption.
• Rule 1.090(b)(1) permits the court to extend an ordinary covered period for good cause before expiry, or on a motion after expiry upon excusable neglect. A request does not itself grant relief. Case-management deadlines follow Rules 1.200 or 1.201, and paragraph (b)(2) excludes its listed procedures. This base calculator assumes no granted extension or other controlling time.
• Serve and file the motion identifying the challenged defense and the specific legal grounds. Check Rule 1.202 conferral and its certificate or applicable exemption. Preserve the answer or reply, service, motion and receipts. 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 1.080(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.