Case Name: Maria E. MENDEZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellant, v. Jorge H. PEREZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellee
Court: Florida District Court of Appeal
Jurisdiction: Florida
Decision Date: 1993-11-23
Citations: 632 So. 2d 1047
Docket Number: No. 93-606
Parties: Maria E. MENDEZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellant, v. Jorge H. PEREZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellee.
Judges: Before NESBITT, BASKIN and GERSTEN, JJ.
Reporter: Southern Reporter, Second Series
Volume: 632
Pages: 1047–1050

Head Matter:
Maria E. MENDEZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellant, v. Jorge H. PEREZ-PEREZ, M.D., Appellee.
No. 93-606.
District Court of Appeal of Florida, Third District.
Nov. 23, 1993.
Order Denying Rehearing and Certifying Question March 1, 1994.
As Amended March 22, 1994.
Maurice Jay Kutner and Carolyn W. West, Miami, for appellant.
Michael A. Lipsky, Miami, for appellee.
Before NESBITT, BASKIN and GERSTEN, JJ.

Opinion:
PER CURIAM.
Appellant, Maria Mendez-Perez (wife), appeals from dismissal of her petition to set aside final judgment pursuant to Rule. 1.540(b), Florida Rules of Civil Procedure. We affirm.
The issue in this case is whether Rule 1.540(b), as amended effective January 1, 1993, can be retroactively applied to a final judgment entered on July 20, 1990. The amendment eliminated the one year restriction on the ability to set aside a judgment based upon fraudulent financial affidavits in marital cases.
The wife and Appellee, Jorge Perez-Perez (husband), entered into a property settlement and separation agreement. This agreement became part of them final judgment of dissolution of marriage. More than two years after the final judgment, although nothing was pending, and after Rule 1.540(b) was amended in 1993, the wife filed her petition to set aside final judgment. The petition alleged, among other things, that the final judgment should be set aside because it was induced by a false financial affidavit.
The husband moved to dismiss the petition, claiming it was time barred under Rule 1.540(b) The wife claimed that the amendment to Rule 1.540(b) , effective January 1, 1993, should apply to all actions filed after that date, regardless of when the final judgment under attack was signed. The trial court dismissed the petition because the case had not been pending for over two years; therefore, applying the recent amendment to Rule 1.540(b) would amount to retroactivity.
Wife contends that dismissal, based on untimeliness, was error as a matter of law and wholly inconsistent with the intent of the amendment to Rule 1.540(b), which retained a "reasonable time" requirement. Since the amendment involved a procedural remedy and not a substantive right, reliance on the "general rule" in favor of prospective application of new laws was misplaced.
Husband asserts that there is no language in the amendments to the rules effective January 1, 1993, indicating that amendments or changed rules take effect retroactively or to closed cases. See In re Amendments to the Florida Rides of Civil Procedure, 604 So.2d 1110 (Fla.1992).
Rules of procedure have prospective effect only, unless specifically provided otherwise. Pearlstein v. King, 610 So.2d 445 (Fla. 1992); Poyntz v. Reynolds, 37 Fla. 533, 19 So. 649 (1896); Blue v. Malone & Hyde, 575 So.2d 292 (Fla. 1st DCA 1991).
In 1992, the supreme court, prompted by a problem which required a remedy, amended Rule 1.540(b), whereby there is no time limit for motions based on fraudulent financial affidavits in marital cases.
When the supreme court created the remedy, it could have expressly stated that the change would apply retroactively to any and all cases. However, the court clearly specified that the amendment became effective at midnight on January 1, 1993. In re Amendments to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure, 604 So.2d at 1111. Thus, the amended rule applies to all marital cases based on fraudulent financial affidavits in which the final judgment was entered on or after January 1, 1992.
Public policy has always favored the termination of litigation after a party has had the opportunity for a trial and an appeal. DeClaire v. Yohanan, 453 So.2d 375 (Fla.1984). The amendment to Rule 1.540(b) broadened the grounds upon which final judgments may be attacked as of January 1, 1993, but we do not find it appropriate to further expand these grounds by decision of this court in a case that has been closed for over two years. If there is to be any further change, it should be achieved through the rule-making process. See DeClaire v. Yo-hanan, 453 So.2d at 381.
In this case, the wife had until July 20, 1991, to file a motion pursuant to the version of Rule 1.540(b) which was in effect at that time. Since this case does not fall within the window period, the trial court properly dismissed the motion.
Although the wife's claim for intrinsic fraud is time barred by Rule 1.540(b), she can seek, and already has sought, relief from the trial court by maintaining an independent action for extrinsic fraud. Accordingly, the order of dismissal entered below is affirmed.
Affirmed.
BASKIN and GERSTEN, JJ., concur.
. Rule 1.540(b) prior to its amendment, read: On motion and upon such terms as are just, the court may relieve a party or his legal representative from a final judgment, decree, order or proceeding for the following reasons: (1) . (2) . (3) fraud (whether heretofore denominated intrinsic or extrinsic), misrepresentation or other misconduct of an adverse party; . The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than one year after the judgment decree, order or proceeding was entered or taken.
. The applicable part of Rule 1.540(b) as amended reads:
The motion shall be made within a reasonable time, and for reasons (1), (2), and (3) not more than 1 year after the judgment, decree, order, or proceeding was entered or taken, except that there shall be no time limit for motions based on fraudulent financial affidavits in marital cases, (emphasis added).
. Although the amendment went into effect January 1, 1993, all pending cases would include cases in which the time to file a motion pursuant to Rule 1.540(b) had not yet expired.