A Florida motion for rehearing asks the trial judge to reconsider a final order or judgment because of a legal or factual error the court missed. Under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530, you have 15 days from the date the clerk files the judgment to serve the motion. That is one of the shortest deadlines in Florida civil practice, and meeting it does two things at once: it gives the judge a chance to fix the ruling, and it stops the 30-day clock on your right to appeal.
When a Motion for Rehearing Is the Right Motion
Rule 1.530 covers two separate motions that get mixed up constantly. A motion for rehearing is for matters a judge decided without a jury: bench trials, summary judgments, family law hearings, probate rulings. A motion for new trial is for jury verdicts and asks the court to throw out the result and empanel a new jury.
Both carry the same 15-day service deadline, and both can preserve issues for appeal, but your motion has to match the proceeding. Asking for a “new trial” after a summary judgment aims at the wrong mechanism and invites denial on that basis alone.
Grounds the Court Will Consider
Courts do not grant rehearings because the losing party is unhappy. The motion has to identify a specific, correctable error. Reargument of points the judge already weighed and rejected goes nowhere.
Three grounds carry weight.
The first is that the court overlooked a controlling statute or binding precedent. If a ruling in a contract case runs against a Florida statute governing that contract, rehearing is the right vehicle to put the statute in front of the judge.
The second is that the court misunderstood a key fact already in the record. If a final judgment in a divorce case lists the marital home as purchased in 2015 but bank records in evidence show 2010, a rehearing motion can correct that. The fact has to already be in the record. Rehearing is not a chance to introduce evidence you could have offered earlier.
The third is the court’s failure to make required findings of fact. This one has a trap built in: if you want to challenge missing findings on appeal, you generally have to raise the issue in a rehearing motion first. Skip the motion and the appellate court may refuse to consider the argument.
The 15-Day Deadline
Service is due no later than 15 days after the date the final judgment or order is filed by the clerk. That filed date is the clerk’s stamp on the document. It is not the date the judge signed the order, and it is not the date a copy reached you. Several days can pass between signing and filing, and people lose the motion to that gap more often than they should.
The 15-day window is jurisdictional. The court cannot extend it for a late filer, whatever the reason. Missing it is effectively irreversible. The same deadline applies in family law proceedings and small claims cases under their corresponding rules.
One useful feature: a motion filed on time can be amended to add new grounds at any point before the court rules on it. If you file within 15 days and then spot another error, you can ask the court for leave to supplement. The court can also order a rehearing on its own within 15 days of entering the judgment, though that is uncommon.
What to Put in the Motion
Open by identifying the specific judgment or order you are challenging, including the date the clerk filed it. Then go straight to the error. Broad complaints about unfairness fail. Point to the exact statute, case, exhibit number, or transcript page the court got wrong or ignored.
A good motion does two things: it names the mistake, and it explains why fixing the mistake would change the outcome. A factual error with no bearing on the result rarely warrants rehearing. If the court used the wrong purchase date to calculate equitable distribution and the correct date shifts the numbers, that connection between error and result is what the motion needs to show.
Keep it short. Judges recognize a rehearing motion that is really an attempt to retry the case, and they deny those quickly. The ones that work read like a surgeon’s note: here is the problem, here is the record evidence of the problem, here is what should change.
Filing and Serving the Motion
All Florida court filings go through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal. You upload the motion as a PDF, and the portal files it with the clerk of the county where the case was heard.
Service happens at the same time. When the opposing party has an attorney of record, the portal serves the motion automatically by email with a link to the document. Nothing more is needed on your end for represented parties.
Service on an unrepresented party who has not designated an email address for electronic service takes more work. Under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.516, you serve by delivering a physical copy or mailing one to the party’s last known address. Service by mail is complete on the date of mailing. Hand delivery is complete when you hand the copy to the person, leave it at their office with someone in charge, or leave it at their home with a household member at least 15 years old.
What Happens After Filing
The other side can file a written response defending the original ruling. Rule 1.530 does not set a specific deadline for a response to a rehearing motion, though the court can impose one.
The judge decides first whether a hearing is needed. Many rehearing motions are resolved on the papers, especially when the alleged error is clean. More complex issues, or ones where the factual record needs clarification, are more likely to get oral argument. Either way, the court issues a written order.
If the motion is denied, the original judgment stands. If it is granted, what happens next depends on the error:
- The court corrects the specific factual or legal error and issues an amended judgment.
- In non-jury matters, the court reopens the record, hears additional testimony on the disputed issue, and enters a new judgment.
- In more serious cases, the court sets aside the original judgment entirely and starts over on the affected issues.
Granting rehearing does not guarantee a different result. It means the judge agrees to take another look. The second look can land in the same place.
How Rehearing Affects Your Appeal Deadline
Normally you have 30 days from the date a final order is rendered to file a notice of appeal with the clerk of the lower tribunal. That 30-day deadline is jurisdictional. Miss it and the appellate court cannot hear your case.
A timely and authorized motion for rehearing suspends rendition of the final order. The appeal clock stops while the motion is pending and does not restart until the court files a written order resolving it. Once that order is entered, you have a fresh 30 days from its date to file the notice of appeal.
The weight is in the words “timely and authorized.” A motion served after the 15-day window pauses nothing. Neither does a motion directed at an order Rule 1.530 does not cover, such as a non-final order. In either case the original 30-day appeal clock keeps running quietly, and a litigant counting on the pause can discover the appeal deadline has already passed.
One older trap is gone. Under the current Florida Rule of Appellate Procedure 9.020(i), filing a notice of appeal while a rehearing motion is still pending does not abandon the motion. The appeal is held in abeyance until the trial court files a written order on the motion. Advice written before 2015 on this point is out of date.
If you plan to appeal and also want rehearing, make sure the motion is served within 15 days and targets a final order. Get either wrong and you can lose both.