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Supreme Court of Florida.
IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO the FLORIDA SUPREME COURT APPROVED FAMILY LAW FORMS—FORMS 12.948(A)-(E)
No. SC19-1897
July 9, 2020
Original Proceeding – Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms
Opinion
PER CURIAM.
This matter is before the Court for consideration of further amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms.1 Previously in this case, the Court adopted new Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms 12.948(a)-(e), to implement the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation Act, part IV of chapter 61, Florida Statutes (2018). In re Amendments to Fla. Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms—Forms 12.948(a)-(e), 44 Fla. L. Weekly S273, ––– So.3d ––––, 2019 WL 6598348 (Fla. Dec. 5, 2019). After adoption of the new forms, interested parties were permitted to file comments with the Court. Two comments were received: one from the Orange County Clerk of Courts; the other from the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar.
Upon consideration of the comments, and having received input from the Advisory Workgroup on the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms, we adopt many of the suggestions therein, amending forms 12.948(a)-(e) to clarify and correct the forms as necessary and to revise the notary certificates to reflect new procedures for online notarization in accordance with section 117.05(13), Florida Statutes (2019). However, with regard to several comments received, including that the instructions to the forms be amended to add the Space Force to the list of “uniformed services” and to expand the definition of deployment, we conclude that such comments address provisions in the forms that track the statutory language, and thus, we are unable to change those provisions without changes to the statutes.
The amended forms are adopted as set forth in the appendix to this opinion, fully engrossed and ready for use. The forms shall become effective immediately upon release of this opinion. The forms may be accessed and downloaded from the Florida State Courts’ website at http://www.flcourts.org/resources-andservices/court-improvement/family-courts/family-law-forms.stml. By adoption of the amended forms, we express no opinion as to their correctness or applicability.
It is so ordered.
