How to Complete Florida Small Claims Form 7.343: Deadlines and Disclosures

Florida Small Claims Form 7.343 is the Fact Information Sheet a judgment debtor completes after losing a small claims case, disclosing income, bank accounts, property, and other assets so the winning party can collect. The form has two versions — one for individuals (7.343(a)) and one for business entities (7.343(b)) — and the completed form goes to the judgment creditor within 45 days of the court’s order, not to the clerk.¹

How You Get the Form and When the Clock Starts

The obligation to fill out Form 7.343 comes from an enforcement paragraph in the final judgment. Under Rule 7.221, the judge includes that paragraph only if the prevailing party or their attorney asks for it. Once it’s in the judgment, you have 45 days to complete the form and serve it on the creditor.²

Some courts hand you a blank copy with the judgment itself. In the Eighth Judicial Circuit, for example, the court sends the form along with the judgment and orders the debtor to return it completed within 45 days.³ If nothing came with your judgment, download the form from the Florida Bar’s website or pick one up at your local Clerk of Court’s office.⁴

What Individual Debtors Must Disclose

Form 7.343(a) applies when you are being asked to pay as an individual. It goes well past a simple income summary. You’ll list your Social Security number, current employer’s name and address, and every bank, savings, credit union, or other financial account you hold or have any interest in.⁴

The form also asks about real property you own or are buying, all motor vehicles you own or are buying, any interest you hold in a business, and property transfers you made in the period leading up to the judgment. Fill every field. A blank section invites a challenge from the creditor or a finding that the form is incomplete.

Attachments You Have to Include

Text answers aren’t enough. Individuals must attach:

Your last pay stub from your current employer.
The last three statements for every bank, savings, credit union, or financial account you hold.
Motor vehicle registrations and titles for all vehicles you own.
Deeds, titles, or leases for any real or personal property you own, are buying, or are renting.
Federal tax returns for the past two years.

Missing attachments gives the creditor grounds to argue you haven’t fully complied, which carries the same enforcement risk as ignoring the form altogether.⁴

What Business Debtors Must Disclose

Form 7.343(b) applies when the debtor is a corporation, LLC, or partnership. The disclosure is broader than the individual version and reaches deeper into financial history. You’ll provide the entity’s federal taxpayer identification number, the names and addresses of all officers or members, and details on any interest the business holds in other entities.⁴

Attachments for Business Entities

The corporate version covers three years instead of two and demands a much longer paper trail:

State, federal, and tangible personal property tax returns for the past three years.
Statements for all bank and financial accounts in which the entity had any legal or equitable interest over the past three years.
Canceled checks for the 12 months before the judgment date.
Deeds, leases, and mortgages showing any real property interest within the 12 months before the judgment.
Bills of sale or transfer documents for any property transferred to or from the entity within the 12 months before the lawsuit was filed.
Motor vehicle titles and registrations.
Financial statements and business records, including accounts payable and accounts receivable, prepared within 12 months of the judgment.
Articles of incorporation, bylaws, partnership or operating agreements, and minutes of all shareholder, director, or member meetings held within two years of the judgment.
Resolutions passed within two years of the judgment.
An inventory and equipment list.

The scope reflects how easily entities can move value through transfers, distributions, and related-party dealings. The creditor is entitled to the full picture.⁴

Where to Send the Completed Form

This trips people up. The completed Fact Information Sheet goes to the judgment creditor, not the court. The form itself states in bold that it should not be filed with the clerk. Tax returns, bank statements, and Social Security numbers stay out of the public court file that way.⁴

Rule 7.221 requires service on the creditor under Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.516. Certified mail with return receipt requested is the common route because it creates proof the creditor received the package. Personal delivery through a process server or the county sheriff’s office works as well. Sheriff’s fees for service start around $40; private process servers typically charge $40 to $100 or more depending on the county.²

After serving the form, file a notice of service with the clerk showing the date and method of delivery. Keep your certified mail receipt or the process server’s affidavit. If the creditor later claims nothing arrived, that receipt is your only defense.

The 45-Day Deadline

The default deadline is 45 days from the date of the court’s order, though the judge can set a different reasonable time. Gathering two years of tax returns and three months of bank statements takes real time, so start the day you receive the order rather than the week it’s due.²

What Happens If You Don’t Comply

If you miss the 45-day deadline, submit a half-finished form, or skip attachments, Rule 7.221 lets the creditor file Florida Rule of Civil Procedure Form 1.982, a motion for contempt or an order to show cause. You’ll be summoned before the judge to explain the failure.²

A judge who finds a debtor in civil contempt can impose fines, award the creditor attorney’s fees and costs, and in extreme cases issue a writ of bodily attachment. That writ functions like an arrest warrant: law enforcement can take the debtor into custody and hold them until they comply or until a hearing is held. Courts do not reach for that remedy quickly, but debtors who refuse to respond to repeated orders do face it. Every enforcement motion the creditor files adds costs to the original judgment, so ignoring the form tends to grow the debt rather than shrink it.

What the Creditor Can Actually Reach

The Fact Information Sheet hands the creditor a map of your finances, but Florida law puts several categories of assets off limits. Knowing which is which before you disclose helps you understand what actually happens after you send the form back.

Wages

Florida’s wage protection is unusually strong. If you qualify as a head of family — meaning you provide more than half the support for a child or other dependent — all of your disposable earnings are exempt from garnishment when those earnings are $750 per week or less. Even above $750 per week, your wages can’t be garnished unless you’ve signed a specific written waiver meeting strict statutory formatting requirements.⁵

For debtors who are not heads of family, the federal Consumer Credit Protection Act sets the ceiling: the lesser of 25 percent of disposable earnings or the amount by which weekly disposable earnings exceed 30 times the federal minimum wage ($7.25 per hour, or $217.50 per week). Earnings deposited into a bank account keep their exemption for six months if they can be traced back to wages.⁶

Property

Florida’s constitutional homestead exemption protects a primary residence from forced sale by most judgment creditors regardless of the home’s value. Beyond that, statute protects:

Up to $5,000 of equity in a single motor vehicle.
Up to $4,000 in personal property if you do not claim the homestead exemption.
Professionally prescribed health aids for you or a dependent, fully exempt.
Any refund or credit under Section 32 of the Internal Revenue Code (the Earned Income Tax Credit), except for child or spousal support debts.

For medical debt specifically, the motor vehicle exemption doubles to $10,000 and the personal property exemption rises to $10,000.⁷

Federal Benefits

Social Security benefits generally cannot be garnished for a private judgment, though child support, alimony, and certain federal debts like taxes and student loans are exceptions. Supplemental Security Income is almost entirely exempt from any garnishment. If a bank account holds only Social Security deposits, those funds keep their protected status after deposit.⁸

Disclose exempt assets on the form anyway. The Fact Information Sheet asks what you have, not what can be seized; claiming an exemption is a separate step you or your attorney raise when the creditor tries to collect.

1
Florida Courts. Small Claims – Other Resources
2
The Florida Bar. Florida Small Claims Rules
3
Eighth Judicial Circuit. How to Collect a Judgment
4
The Florida Bar. Florida Small Claims Rule Form 7.343
5
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 222.11 – Exemption of Wages From Garnishment
6
U.S. Department of Labor. Fact Sheet #30: Wage Garnishment Protections of the Consumer Credit Protection Act
7
The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Chapter 222 – Exemptions
8
Central District of California, United States Bankruptcy Court. Automatic Stay – What Is It and Does It Protect a Debtor From All Creditors