Amendments to Family Law Forms

The Florida Supreme Court recently ruled on the Family Law Rules Committee’s recommended rule amendments. In adopting the amendments, it amended the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Forms and the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms, which will “become effective on January 1, 2012, at 12:01a.m.”

The Forms amended were 12.913(a) (Notice of Action for Dissolution of Marriage), 12.913(b) (Affidavit of Diligent Search and Inquiry), and 12.913(c) (Affidavit of Diligent Search) as proposed by the Committee and a new form 12.913(a)(2) (Notice of Action for Family Cases With Minor Child). However, due to substantial concerns, the Supreme Court declined to adopt the proposed amendment to rule 12.070 (Process).

Of particular interest to us here at The Johnston Law Firm and those in the community trained in Collaborative law, the Court declined to adopt the proposed new rule 12.745 (Collaborative Process Rule), which set forth a protocol for participation in the “collaborative law process.” In its
report, the Committee explains that the collaborative law process is a contractual, voluntary, non-adversarial dispute resolution process used in
dissolution of marriage cases. The Court cited concerns about “the possibility of legislative action addressing the use of the collaborative law
process in Florida and the fact that certain foundations, such as training or certification of attorneys for participation in the process, have not yet been laid, we conclude that the adoption of a court rule on the subject at this time would be premature.”

You can see the full opinion by cutting and pasting the following link into your browser:

http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/2011/sc11-40.pdf

As always, if there is anything we can do to assist you here at The Johnston Law Firm with any legal issues please don’t hesitate to let us know!

Abigail