Title: In Re: Amendments To The Florida Rules of Judicial Administration And The Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure
Citation: N/A
Docket Number: SC11-528
State: Florida
Issuer: Florida Supreme Court
Date: October 6, 2011

Supreme Court of Florida 
 
 
____________ 
 
No. SC11-528 
____________ 
 
 
IN RE:  AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES OF JUDICIAL 
ADMINISTRATION AND THE FLORIDA FAMILY LAW RULES OF 
PROCEDURE. 
 
[October 6, 2011] 
 
PER CURIAM. 
 
We have for consideration proposed amendments to Florida Rule of Judicial 
Administration 2.545(d)(2) (Related Cases; Family Cases) and Florida Family Law 
Rule of Procedure 12.010(a)(1) (Scope).  We have jurisdiction1 and adopt the 
amendments as proposed.  
 
At the request of the Court, the Rules of Judicial Administration Committee 
and the Family Law Rules Committee (rule committees) proposed the rule 
amendments to implement recommendations of the Steering Committee on 
Families and Children in the Court (Steering Committee) concerning the definition 
of family law cases.  See Steering Committee on Families and Children in the 
                                          
 
 
1.  See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.140(f). 
 
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Court, End of Term Report 2008-2010, 9-11 (2010) (recommending rule 
amendments to add actions for “temporary or concurrent custody of minor children 
by extended family,” under chapter 751, Fla. Stat. (2010), to definition of family 
law cases and scope of family law rules).  The proposed amendments were 
approved by the Executive Committee of The Florida Bar Board of Governors by a 
vote of 8-0.  The Court published the proposals for comment and no comments 
were filed. 
As proposed by the rules committees and consistent with the Steering 
Committee’s recommendations, we add “proceedings for temporary or concurrent 
custody of minor children by extended family” to the rule 2.545(d)(2) definition of 
“family cases.”  We also add that language to the rule 12.010(a)(1) list of actions to 
which the family law rules apply.  
Accordingly, we amend the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration and the 
Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure, as reflected in the appendix to this 
opinion.  New language is underscored.  These amendments shall become effective 
immediately upon the release of this opinion.    
It is so ordered.   
CANADY, C.J., and PARIENTE, LEWIS, QUINCE, POLSTON, LABARGA, 
and PERRY, JJ., concur. 
 
THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE 
EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS. 
 
 
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Original Proceeding – Rules of Judicial Administration Committee and Family 
Law Rules Committee 
 
Keith H. Park, Chair, Rules of Judicial Administration Committee, West Palm 
Beach, Florida; Ashley J. McCorvey Myers, Chair, Family Law Rules Committee, 
Jacksonville, Florida; and John F. Harkness, Jr., Executive Director, Ellen H. 
Sloyer Bar Liaison, and Jodi Beth Jennings, Bar Liaison, The Florida Bar, 
Tallahassee, Florida, 
 
 
for Petitioner 
 
 
 
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APPENDIX 
 
 
RULE 2.545.  
CASE MANAGEMENT 
 
 
(a) – (c) 
[No Change] 
 
 
(d) 
Related Cases. 
 
 
 
(1) 
[No Change]  
 
 
 
(2) 
“Family cases” include dissolution of marriage, annulment, 
support unconnected with dissolution of marriage, paternity, child support, UIFSA, 
custodial care of and access to children, proceedings for temporary or concurrent 
custody of minor children by extended family, adoption, name change, declaratory 
judgment actions related to premarital, marital, or postmarital agreements, civil 
domestic, repeat violence, dating violence, and sexual violence injunctions, 
juvenile dependency, termination of parental rights, juvenile delinquency, 
emancipation of a minor, CINS/FINS, truancy, and modification and enforcement 
of orders entered in these cases. 
 
 
 
(3) – (7) 
[No Change] 
 
 
(e) 
[No Change] 
 
Committee Notes 
 
[No Change] 
 
 
RULE 12.010. 
SCOPE, PURPOSE, AND TITLE 
 
 
(a) 
Scope. 
 
 
 
(1) 
These rules apply to all actions concerning family matters, 
including actions concerning domestic, repeat, dating, and sexual violence, except 
as otherwise provided by the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure or the Florida 
Probate Rules. “Family matters,” “family law matters,” or “family law cases” as 
used within these rules include, but are not limited to, matters arising from 
dissolution of marriage, annulment, support unconnected with dissolution of 
 
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marriage, paternity, child support, an action involving a parenting plan for a minor 
child or children (except as otherwise provided by the Florida Rules of Juvenile 
Procedure), proceedings for temporary or concurrent custody of minor children by 
extended family, adoption, proceedings for emancipation of a minor, declaratory 
judgment actions related to premarital, marital, or post-marital agreements (except 
as otherwise provided, when applicable, by the Florida Probate Rules), injunctions 
for domestic, repeat, dating, and sexual violence, and all proceedings for 
modification, enforcement, and civil contempt of these actions. 
 
 
 
(2) 
[No Change] 
  
 
(b) – (c) 
[No Change]