Case ID: so2d_839/html/0876-01.html
Source: Caselaw Access Project
Author: {"author": "PER CURIAM.", "license": "Public Domain", "url": "https://static.case.law/"}
Date Created: 2024-08-24T03:29:51.129683

S.K., the father, Appellant, v. DEPARTMENT OF CHILDREN AND FAMILIES, STATE OF FLORIDA, Appellee.
    No. 4D01-5027.
    District Court of Appeal of Florida, Fourth District.
    March 12, 2003.
    Gary L. Pickett, West Palm Beach, for appellant.
    Jeffrey Dana Gillen, West Palm Beach, for appellee.
   PER CURIAM.

We find that the entry of a default and the trial court’s denial of the father’s motion to vacate the default judgment terminating his parental rights was an abuse of discretion. Rule 8.270 provides that “[o]n motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or the party’s legal representative from an order, judgment, or proceeding for the following reasons: Mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect.” Fla. R. Juv. P. 8.270(1). We find that the father demonstrated at least one of these reasons.

REVERSED.

FARMER, STEVENSON and HAZOURI, JJ., concur.