Fla. Stat. § 49.09

This is the official text of Fla. Stat. § 49.09, part of Florida’s Stat — part of the compiled statutory law of Florida, published by the state as "Stat." Browse the sections below, each linked to its official government source.

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49.09 Notice of action, return day.

Official statutory text

The notice of action, except in foreclosure proceedings as defined in s. 702.09, shall require the defendant to file written defenses with the clerk of the court and to serve a copy not later than the date fixed in said notice, which date shall be not less than 28 nor more than 60 days after the first publication of the notice on plaintiff or his or her attorney whose name and address shall appear in, or be annexed to, said notice. In foreclosure proceedings, the notice of action shall require the defendant to file written defenses with the clerk of the court and to serve a copy within 30 days after the first publication of the notice on plaintiff or his or her attorney whose name and address shall appear in, or be annexed to, said notice.

History: s. 9, ch. 20452, 1941; s. 4, ch. 28301, 1953; s. 2, ch. 29737, 1955; s. 5, ch. 67-254; s. 7, ch. 93-250; s. 290, ch. 95-147.

Status: in_force · Read it on the official government site

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About this page: Statute text is reproduced from official government publishers via the Open US Law dataset (Vaquill AI, snapshot v2026.08, CC BY 4.0). Primary legislative text like this is public domain under the government-edicts doctrine (Georgia v. Public.Resource.Org, 2020). We link every section back to its official source so you can verify it independently.