Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.015
FLORIDA SUPREME COURT APPROVED FAMILY LAW FORMS
Text — October 1, 2026 edition
(a) Incorporation and Redesignation. Effective October 1, 2026, the forms previously designated as the “Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Forms” are incorporated into and redesignated as the “Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms.”
(b) Advisory Workgroup. The Advisory Workgroup on the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms must provide input and recommendations to the Supreme Court of Florida, as directed by administrative order of the chief justice, regarding the creation, amendment, or abrogation of the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms.
(c) Creation, Amendment, and Abrogation of Forms. The Florida Supreme Court may, with or without notice, create, amend, or abrogate a Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form by order or opinion. Such creation, amendment, or abrogation is not subject to the rulemaking process in Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.140. If the Court adopts a form by order, the Court will attach an engrossed version of the form and include notice that any person may submit comments on the form to the Advisory Workgroup on the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms. If the Court adopts a form by opinion, the process for opinions in effect at the time applies.
(d) Publication. All Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms will be published and maintained on the Family Courts webpage of the Florida Courts website.
Notes and commentary — not rule text
Commentary
2000 Adoption. To help the many people in family law court cases who do not have attorneys to represent them (pro se litigants), the Florida Supreme Court added simplified forms and directions to the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure when adopting the rules in 1995. These forms initially had been adopted by the Court in In re Family Law Rules of Procedure, 663 So.2d 1049 (Fla. 1995); In re Petition for Approval of Forms Pursuant to Rule 10-1.1(b) of the Rules Regulating the Florida Bar—Stepparent Adoption Forms, 613 So.2d 900 (Fla. 1992), and Rules Regulating The Florida Bar—Approval of Forms, 581 So.2d 902 (Fla. 1991). In 1997, in an effort to fulfill the spirit of the Court’s directives to simplify the process of litigation in family law matters, the Family Court Steering Committee completely revised the existing forms and added new forms and instructions. The rules and forms then constituted more than 500 pages. Subdivision (b) of this rule was adopted in recognition that the forms would require continuous updating and that the rulemaking process was too cumbersome for such an undertaking.
2009 Amendment. In 2009, Subdivision (a)(20) was adopted to require the filing of a Cover Sheet for Family Court Cases, Form 12.928, in every proceeding to which the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure apply and to require the Family Law Rules Committee to be responsible for proposing amendments as necessary.
2026 Amendment. The rule was substantially amended to consolidate all of Florida’s family law forms under a single designation; to direct the Advisory Workgroup on the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms to provide input and recommendations to the Court regarding the creation, amendment, or abrogation of family law forms; to provide for the creation, amendment, or abrogation of family law forms by order or opinion of the Court; and to require the publication and maintenance of all family law forms on the Florida Courts website.
Source of truth
- Edition
- October 1, 2026 edition
- Official file
- https://www-media.floridabar.org/uploads/2026/09/2027_04-OCT-Family-Law-Rules-of-Procedure-10-1-2026.pdf (PDF pages 22–23)
- Text hash
- sha256 6c846e6957f0b8706a54ad505e8a3dd97ac0183b770674413b699108bdfc737b
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- compose_book.py 2026-10-03: pypdfium2 primary, PyMuPDF check, PDF bookmarks as the inventory
This rule cites
Provisions in this library that the text above cites, as it prints each citation. A range cited as “ss. 61.13-61.16” links its first and last provisions.
Florida Rules of General Practice and Judicial Administration
Procedural information only. Not legal advice and not a substitute for the advice of an attorney. Confirm the current text with the official publisher before relying on it.