Changes to Family Law Rules

On September 7, 2023, the Supreme Court of Florida amended several provisions of the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure.

These three changes are effective October 1, 2023:

·??????? Rule 12.070(l) is amended to include supplemental pleadings. Under the amended rule, if service of process is not effectuated on the respondent within 120 days after filing a supplemental pleading directed at the respondent, the court must direct that service be effected within a specified time, dismiss the action without prejudice, or drop the respondent as a party. Before the amendment, the rule applied only to initial pleadings.

·??????? Rule 12.280(b) is amended to clarify that the requirement to redact personal information from all discovery information only applies to discovery information filed with the clerk of the court.

·??????? Rule 12.340 now requires that “answers to interrogatories must be served on the party originally propounding the interrogatories and a copy must be served on all other parties by the answering party.”

Changes to Rule 12.285(c) are effective November 1, 2023.

·??????? Rule 12.285(c) is amended to allow the parties, by agreement and through the filing of a notice of joint verified waiver, to waive the filing of financial affidavits. Under these circumstances, a court shall not require the parties to file affidavits. This rule is an exception to the required disclosures for temporary financial relief (12.285(d)) and the disclosure requirement for initial or supplemental proceedings (12.285(e)) and applies if the parties are “seeking a simplified dissolution of marriage under rule 12.105, they have no minor children, have no support issues, and have filed a written settlement agreement disposing of all financial issues, or if the court lacks jurisdiction to determine any financial issues.” Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.285(c)(1) (emphasis added).

In the notice, the parties must acknowledge that (A) evidence of their current or past financial circumstances may be necessary for future court proceedings; (B) they each have provided the other with a fully executed and sworn financial affidavit; (C) the responsibility to retain copies of all affidavits exchanged rests solely with the parties; (D) the waiver only applies to the current filing and does not automatically apply to any future filings; and (E) the waiver may be revoked by either party at any time.

Although the rule allows the parties to waive the filing of affidavits, the parties must still exchange affidavits. The amendment follows caselaw holding that the filing of affidavits may be waived in simplified dissolution proceedings. See, e.g., Kelner v. Kelner, 970 So. 2d 933 (Fla. 4th DCA 2008).

What about evidence of the parties’ income for appellate purposes? First, note that either party may revoke the waiver at any time. Second, a written settlement agreement is a prerequisite to waiver—if the parties are “seeking a simplified dissolution . . . and have filed a written settlement agreement,” they need not file affidavits. So, if it looks like the case is headed for trial, either party can revoke the waiver. And the written settlement agreement is no longer in play since the case is going to trial. Under these circumstances, the court can order the parties to file financial affidavits. See Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.285(c)(1) (“The parties are not required to file or serve a financial affidavit . . . if they are seeking a simplified dissolution . . . and have filed a written settlement agreement disposing of all financial issues.”).