To reopen a case in Florida after a final judgment, you file a motion under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b) with the same judge who entered the ruling, arguing that your situation fits one of five specific grounds the rule allows. This is not an appeal. You are asking the trial court to undo its own order because something went wrong serious enough to justify setting it aside.
The Five Grounds Rule 1.540(b) Recognizes
Florida courts treat final judgments as settled. To get one reopened, your motion has to identify which subsection of the rule applies and tie your facts to it. Judges have little patience for motions that skip this step.
- Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect. This covers missed deadlines, failures to appear, or errors that kept you from participating. The neglect has to be the kind a reasonable person could have committed. Forgetting about a lawsuit you knew about rarely qualifies. A medical emergency that put you in the hospital on the day of trial might.
- Newly discovered evidence. You found something material that could change the outcome and could not have discovered it in time through reasonable effort. If a basic records request would have turned it up before trial, the court will deny the motion.
- Fraud, misrepresentation, or misconduct by the opposing party. The other side lied, hid evidence, or corrupted the proceeding. The rule covers both fraud that infected issues actually litigated and fraud that prevented you from getting a fair hearing at all.
- Void judgment. The court lacked jurisdiction over you or over the subject matter. A judgment from a court that never had authority over your case is legally meaningless regardless of its merits.
- Judgment satisfied, released, or no longer equitable. You already paid what was owed, the judgment was formally discharged, or circumstances changed so dramatically that continued enforcement would be unjust.
The rule also preserves the court’s power to hear a separate, independent lawsuit alleging fraud upon the court itself. That is reserved for misconduct severe enough to undermine the integrity of the judicial process, not just the fairness of one party’s result.
If You Are Trying to Undo a Default Judgment
Most people looking to reopen a Florida case are dealing with a default entered because they never responded to the lawsuit. Meeting one of the Rule 1.540(b) grounds is necessary but not enough. Florida courts apply a three-part test on top, and all three parts have to be satisfied.
First, excusable neglect for failing to respond. Courts describe this as the kind of mistake that comes from everyday human error: a clerical mix-up, a reasonable misunderstanding about the deadline, a breakdown in a system that normally works. You need a sworn affidavit or verified statement explaining what happened. A vague, unsworn assertion that you “didn’t know about the case” will not clear this bar.
Second, due diligence in seeking relief after you found out about the default. If you learned about the judgment six months ago and waited until the last minute to file, the delay counts against you.
Third, a meritorious defense to the underlying claims. You do not have to prove you would win at trial. You do have to show a real, substantive defense worth hearing. Attach a proposed answer to your motion laying out those defenses. A blanket denial of everything in the complaint is not enough, and any factual claims your defense relies on must appear in a sworn document.
Deadlines and Why the Judgment Keeps Running
The deadlines are firm. Missing them wipes out this route to relief.
Motions based on mistake, excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, or fraud by the opposing party have to be filed within one year of the date the judgment was entered. The clock starts the day the court enters the final order, not the day you learn about it. Inside that one-year window, the motion also has to be filed within a “reasonable time.” Unnecessary delay even within the year can sink your case.
Motions based on a void judgment or on a judgment that has been satisfied carry no one-year cutoff, but they still have to be filed within a reasonable time. Same for an independent action alleging fraud upon the court. What counts as reasonable depends on the facts, and courts look skeptically at long, unexplained gaps between learning about the problem and filing.
One point catches people off guard. Filing a Rule 1.540(b) motion does not pause the judgment. The rule says so directly: the motion does not affect the judgment’s finality or its operation. While your motion sits with the court, the other side can still enforce, garnish wages, or levy on property. If you need enforcement stopped, you have to file a separate request asking the court for a stay.
Drafting the Motion
A Rule 1.540(b) motion is a formal filing, not a letter to the judge. Start with the correct case caption: full names of all parties, the case number, and the court that entered the judgment. Identify the motion as one brought under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b) and name the subsection you are invoking. State clearly what you want the court to do, whether that is vacating the judgment, setting aside a default, or modifying the order.
The body has to connect your facts to the ground you selected. For excusable neglect, walk the court through exactly what happened, when, and why it was beyond your reasonable control. For newly discovered evidence, explain what it is, why it matters, and why you could not have found it before trial despite reasonable effort. Vague assertions will not overcome the strong presumption that a final judgment should stand.
Supporting documents often carry more weight than the motion itself. Attach affidavits from yourself and anyone who can verify what you allege. Include certified copies of any new evidence. For default cases, attach the proposed answer with defenses spelled out.
Filing, Fees, and Service
File the motion with the same court that entered the original judgment. Florida requires electronic filing through its statewide e-filing portal for nearly all court filings.
Florida law authorizes clerks to charge a reopen fee of up to $50 when a motion is filed at least 90 days after a final judgment in a civil case. The fee applies per motion and is separate from any other court costs.1Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 28.241 – Filing Fees for Trial and Appellate Proceedings If you cannot afford it, you can apply for a determination of indigent status. You qualify if your household income falls at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines. There is a presumption against indigency if you own property with a net equity value of $2,500 or more, excluding your homestead and one vehicle worth up to $5,000.2Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 57.082 – Determination of Civil Indigent Status
After filing, serve a copy of the motion and all attachments on every opposing party and their attorney. Florida’s service rules require email service for represented parties and attorneys. Include a certificate of service with your filing documenting when and how you served each party.
The Hearing and What Comes After
Once served, the opposing party gets time to file a written response. That response will argue your facts are wrong, that you picked the wrong ground, or that the judgment should stand anyway. If no response is filed, the court may treat the motion as unopposed, though that alone does not guarantee it will be granted.
The court schedules a hearing where both sides argue to the judge. It is not a full trial. You explain why the motion should be granted, the other side explains why not, and the judge asks questions. Where the facts are disputed, the judge may allow witness testimony or take additional evidence.
The judge either denies the motion, leaving the judgment in place, or grants it. If granted, the court vacates the prior judgment and puts the case back on the active docket. In a default case, that typically means you now get to file your answer and defend on the merits. The case resumes from the point where the problem occurred, not from scratch.
Winning the motion is not the end. Once the judgment is vacated, the case is alive again, with new deadlines and proceedings to participate in. Ignoring it a second time will almost certainly produce another default, and a court is unlikely to grant relief again on the same facts.