When is a Florida complaint response due after a timely service waiver?

Preserve the actual Rule 1.070(i)(2) notice, complaint copy and compliant mailed request.

Establish the defendant’s actual receipt and timely return of the waiver before process service.

Check the actual response procedure and preserve the filed waiver and any controlling order.

1. Preserve the actual Rule 1.070(i)(2) notice, complaint copy and compliant mailed request.
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 defendant actually receives a compliant waiver request and timely returns the waiver before process service. 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.

The request has prescribed delivery and contents

Rule 1.070(i)(2) requires the written request to the prescribed recipient, U.S. certified mail with return receipt or the defined registered mail, the complaint copy and court identity, consequences, sending date, return allowance and prepaid written compliance method. A casual emailed request does not establish this procedure.

Waiver return is distinct from the complaint response

Paragraph (i)(2)(F) allows twenty days after request receipt to return the waiver, or thirty days for a defendant address outside the United States. Paragraph (i)(4) separately gives the qualifying defendant sixty days after actual receipt to respond. The return allowance does not become the answer period.

The waiver must precede service of process

Paragraph (i)(4) requires timely return before process service. A waiver returned after valid process service does not automatically establish the sixty-day branch. Confirm both actual return and process-service chronology.

Filing the waiver and deemed service have prescribed effects

Paragraph (i)(4) deems service effected twenty days before the response time for computation under the rules. Paragraph (i)(5) addresses proceeding after the plaintiff files the waiver while preserving paragraph (i)(4). Do not restart sixty days from waiver filing.

Waiving the summons does not waive venue or jurisdiction objections

Paragraph (i)(1) preserves objections to venue and jurisdiction over the defendant when accepting complaint service by mail. Establish the actual defense and applicable pleading or motion procedure rather than treating a timely waiver as consent to every substantive allegation.

• 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.

• Preserve the actual Rule 1.070(i)(2) notice, complaint copy and compliant mailed request.
• Establish the defendant’s actual receipt and timely return of the waiver before process service.
• Check the actual response procedure and preserve the filed waiver and any controlling order.
• Rule 1.070(i)(2) requires the written request to the prescribed recipient, U.S. certified mail with return receipt or the defined registered mail, the complaint copy and court identity, consequences, sending date, return allowance and prepaid written compliance method. A casual emailed request does not establish this procedure.
• Paragraph (i)(2)(F) allows twenty days after request receipt to return the waiver, or thirty days for a defendant address outside the United States. Paragraph (i)(4) separately gives the qualifying defendant sixty days after actual receipt to respond. The return allowance does not become the answer period.
• Paragraph (i)(4) requires timely return before process service. A waiver returned after valid process service does not automatically establish the sixty-day branch. Confirm both actual return and process-service chronology.
• Paragraph (i)(4) deems service effected twenty days before the response time for computation under the rules. Paragraph (i)(5) addresses proceeding after the plaintiff files the waiver while preserving paragraph (i)(4). Do not restart sixty days from waiver filing.
• Paragraph (i)(1) preserves objections to venue and jurisdiction over the defendant when accepting complaint service by mail. Establish the actual defense and applicable pleading or motion procedure rather than treating a timely waiver as consent to every substantive allegation.
• Serve the response required for the actual complaint and file it with the court. Preserve the original request, receipt evidence, timely returned waiver, process-service status and response 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.