Starting July 1, 2025, a sweeping procedural change issued by the Florida Supreme Court in SC2023-1401 fundamentally alters how electronic filings are handled. Florida attorneys are no longer able to rely on Clerk’s Offices to catch routine filing errors. Pursuant to the revised Rule 2.525(f)(1), Clerks must accept all filings as they are, flawed or not, unless a filing contains one of the seven narrowly defined errors.
The revision strips away much of the informal quality control attorneys have long relied on when filing through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal. Traditionally, clerks acted as a buffer, placing problematic documents in a correction queue (commonly referred to as “set to pending”) to give filers a chance to fix errors before they hit the docket. That buffer has now been removed, except under very specific conditions.
The Seven Exceptions: When can a filing be set to pending?
Under the new rule, filings may only be “set to pending” in these limited situations:
- Incorrect or Missing Case Number — But only if the case number cannot be reliably or easily identified.
- Omitted or Incorrect Case Style — For example, missing party names or incorrect captions. An incorrect county name in the header does not qualify for the filing to be sent to pending.
- Multiple Documents Filed as One — Where separate documents are improperly filed together.
- Single Document Filed as Many — A multi-page document uploaded as multiple separate files or entries.
- Proposed Orders — May only be accepted by the clerk if submitted under a notice of filing meant to preserve the record.
- Illegible, Corrupted, or Blank Filings.
- Filings Barred by Court Order or Incompatible with the Clerk’s System.
Outside of these seven conditions, all filings must be docketed immediately and without intervention, even if they contain substantive or technical errors. This change underscores a significant shift in responsibility. Attorneys must now take full ownership of their filings, both in content and form. Incorrect case numbers that are close but not quite right, missing addenda, metadata oversights, or improper formatting that doesn’t affect readability are no longer reasons for rejection. Such errors will not trigger placing the filing in the correction queue. They will simply be accepted into the official court record, with all flaws. The court will enforce any consequences resulting from the errors. This policy change is not just about streamlining e-filing, it introduces new risks. If a document is filed late, misidentified, or submitted in the wrong format, and it doesn’t meet one of the seven carve-outs, it will still be docketed.
This can have serious implications:
- Delayed hearings
- Improper case management tracks
- Appropriate agencies not able to be notified when critical information is missing from documents (example, unable to load child support cases without full Social Security numbers and names and dates of birth of children)
- Official records potentially being recorded with invalid information
- Enforcement may be delayed when incorrect data is provided
- Duplicative filing fees when filed in wrong jurisdiction (filing fees are non-refundable)
- Incorrect case statistics (wrong case types) being reported ultimately leading to judicial and or county funding deficits
The Florida Supreme Court’s opinion in SC2023-1401 is available for public review by all attorneys and support staff. The rule change is now in full effect.