Florida’s state courts compute time under Rule 2.514 of the Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration, which applies to every rule of procedure, local rule, court order and statute that does not set its own method. Since , the count begins on the next day that is not a weekend or legal holiday, so a period triggered on a Friday starts on Monday. The amendments made two more changes: the five mailing days apply only when service was made by mail alone, and the day ends at 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time.
How Rule 2.514 counts
| Step | What the rule says |
|---|---|
| Start | Begin counting from the next day that is not a Saturday, Sunday or legal holiday (counting back, the day before) |
| Periods of 7 days or more | Count every day, including weekends and legal holidays in between |
| Periods under 7 days | Saturdays, Sundays and legal holidays are not counted |
| Last day | If it is a weekend, a legal holiday or inside a chief justice’s extension order, the deadline is the next day that is none of those |
| End of the last day | 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time for e-filing or service; clerk’s closing time for paper filing |
The Eastern-time rule applies statewide, so a lawyer filing in a Panhandle county on Central time has until 10:59:59 p.m. local time.
Date of service: · 5 days · E-Portal or e-mail service
- Count 5 court days after , skipping 4 weekend days, Thanksgiving Day (), Friday after Thanksgiving (): . (Periods of 6 days or less exclude weekends and legal holidays.)
- E-Portal or e-mail service adds no extra days.
Deadline: — E-filed papers are due by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time (Rule 2.514(a)(4)).
Mail service: five days, but only by mail
Rule 2.514(b) adds five days “after the period that would otherwise expire” when a party must act within a set time after service and service was made only by mail. The days are added after the period is computed, and the result is checked again for a weekend or holiday. Service through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal is complete on filing and adds nothing, and since , a paper served by mail and also by e-mail or the Portal gets no extra days either.
Date of service: · 20 days · Mail only
- Counting starts on the first court day after , which is (day 1); day 20 is .
- Mail only adds time. Count 5 calendar days after (that day is not counted): .
- is not a court day (Saturday), so the deadline moves forward to , passing (Sunday).
Deadline: — E-filed papers are due by 11:59:59 p.m. Eastern time (Rule 2.514(a)(4)).
Florida legal holidays: statewide and circuit
The statewide floor is the list in Fla. Stat. § 110.117: New Year’s Day, Martin Luther King, Jr.‘s Birthday, Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Veterans’ Day, Thanksgiving, the Friday after Thanksgiving and Christmas, moved to Friday or Monday when they fall on a weekend. On top of that, Rule 2.514(a)(6)(B) counts any day the clerk’s office observes as a holiday or the chief judge designates, and Fla. Stat. § 683.19 lets each chief judge designate Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur and Good Friday. So the holiday list depends on the circuit.
| Extra court holiday | Sixth Circuit | Eighteenth Circuit | Nineteenth Circuit |
|---|---|---|---|
| Good Friday 2026 (Apr 3) | Closed | Closed | Closed |
| Rosh Hashanah 2026 (Sep 11) | Closed | Open | Open |
| Yom Kippur 2026 (Sep 21) | Closed | Closed | Closed |
| December 24 and 31, 2026 | Closed | Closed | Closed |
Choose your circuit under Which court? to apply its orders. The Second, Fifth, Sixth, Eighth, Ninth, Eleventh, Thirteenth, Eighteenth, Nineteenth and Twentieth Circuits have published closures loaded, but not every circuit has published 2027 dates yet, so check your circuit’s order for days we may not have. They differ more than you might expect: the Eleventh (Miami-Dade) closes on Presidents’ Day and Juneteenth but is open on December 24 and 31, 2026, while the Twentieth closes on December 24 but not December 31. For a circuit we have not loaded, the calculator uses the statewide list; enter your circuit’s extra closures as closed days. The longer list of legal holidays in Fla. Stat. § 683.01 — Lincoln’s Birthday, Flag Day, Pascua Florida Day and others — is not the courts’ list, and courts are open on most of those days.
Date the signed order was filed (rendition): · Florida Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas)
- Counting starts on the first court day after , which is (day 1); day 30 is .
- is not a court day (Florida Sixth Circuit holiday (Good Friday)), so the deadline moves forward to , passing (Saturday), (Sunday).
Deadline:
The answer: 20, 30 or 40 days
Under Rule 1.140(a), a defendant must answer within 20 days after service of the summons and complaint. The State of Florida, its agencies and officers sued in their official capacity have 40 days, except that a defendant sued under the sovereign-immunity waiver in § 768.28 has 30. Process is served under chapter 48, not by mail under Rule 2.516, so the five mailing days never apply to the answer. If a motion to dismiss or another Rule 1.140 motion is denied, the answer is due 10 days after the court’s order is filed — the filing date, not the date you received it, since a 2017 amendment.
Summary judgment since January 1, 2025
For motions filed on or after , Rule 1.510(c)(5) gives the nonmovant 40 days after service of the motion to serve a response, and Rule 1.510(c)(6) requires the hearing to be set at least 10 days after that deadline unless the parties stipulate or the court orders otherwise. Because the response runs from service, the five mail-only days of Rule 2.514(b) apply to it. The older rule — motion at least 40 days before the hearing, response at least 20 days before it — still governs motions filed earlier.
Date the summary judgment motion was served: · Mail only (5 more days)
- Counting starts on the first court day after , which is (day 1); day 40 is .
- is not a court day (Sunday), so the deadline moves forward to .
- Mail only (5 more days) adds time. Count 5 calendar days after (that day is not counted): .
- is not a court day (Saturday), so the deadline moves forward to , passing (Sunday), (Martin Luther King, Jr.'s Birthday).
Deadline:
Florida periods counted before a hearing
When a rule or order counts back from a hearing, Rule 2.514(a)(5) moves a weekend or holiday last day earlier, to the business day before, and a period under 7 days skips weekends and holidays as it counts. No mail days apply to a period counted backward. Florida’s rules require notice of a hearing only “a reasonable time” ahead (Rule 1.090(d)); many local rules and judges set a specific number of days.
Hearing date: · 20 days · Florida Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas)
- Counting starts on the last court day before , which is (day 1); day 20 is .
- is not a court day (Saturday), so the deadline moves back to , passing (Christmas Day), (Florida Sixth Circuit holiday (Christmas Eve)).
Deadline:
Appeals: 30 days from rendition
A notice of appeal must be filed with the clerk of the lower tribunal within 30 days of rendition, which is the filing of the signed, written order (Rules 9.110(b) and 9.020(h)). Nothing is added for mail, because the clock runs from filing, not service. A timely, authorized motion such as a motion for rehearing or new trial postpones rendition until the court files an order on the last of those motions. The holidays that count are those of the circuit whose clerk receives the notice.
Date the signed order was filed (rendition): · Florida Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pasco and Pinellas)
- Counting starts on the first court day after , which is (day 1); day 30 is .
- is not a court day (Florida Sixth Circuit holiday (New Year's Eve)), so the deadline moves forward to , passing (New Year's Day), (Saturday), (Sunday).
Deadline:
Not yet covered
Federal courts in Florida use the federal calculator; it does not yet apply Florida state holidays for those courts. Florida’s district courts of appeal and the Supreme Court publish their own holiday schedules, which we have not loaded. For the mailing rules of other states, see extra days for service by mail.