How to Fill Out and Serve a Florida Subpoena Form

A Florida subpoena form is the court-issued document that compels a witness to testify, produce records, or both, and the state uses four numbered versions — 1.910 through 1.913 — depending on whether you need testimony or documents and whether the appearance is at trial or at a deposition. Pick the wrong one and the other side has an easy challenge before the witness ever sets foot in a courtroom. Fill it in correctly, get it issued by someone with authority under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.410, have it personally served, and file the proof of service, and you have a document a judge can enforce.

Which Form You Need

Florida’s civil subpoena forms break down along two axes: testimony versus documents, and trial versus deposition.

Form 1.910 — Subpoena for Trial. Commands a person to appear in court or at a hearing and give testimony. Use it when you need a live witness on the stand but no records.
Form 1.911 — Subpoena Duces Tecum for Trial. Commands a person to appear at trial or a hearing and bring specified records. The form has a checkbox for whether the witness must bring originals or legible copies.
Form 1.912 — Subpoena for Deposition. Commands a person to appear at a deposition — a question-and-answer session outside of court, usually at an attorney’s office — and testify.
Form 1.913 — Subpoena Duces Tecum for Deposition. Commands a person to appear at a deposition and bring specified documents or records.

All four are published by The Florida Bar and are available through most circuit court clerks.¹ Sending a trial subpoena when you actually need deposition testimony (or vice versa) gives the recipient grounds to move to quash.

How to Fill Out the Form

The four forms share the same core fields. Work through them in order.

Court and case information. Enter the name of the court, the judicial circuit, the county, the case number assigned by the clerk, and the full case style (the plaintiff and defendant names).
Witness name. Use the full legal name of the person being subpoenaed. The form is addressed directly to that individual (“THE STATE OF FLORIDA: TO ___”).
Date, time, and location. Specify the exact date including the day of the week, the time with an AM or PM designation, and the full address where the witness must appear. For a trial subpoena, that means the courthouse name, courtroom number, street address, city, and zip code. For a deposition subpoena, it is the address of wherever the deposition will take place.
Judge’s name. On the two trial subpoenas (1.910 and 1.911), enter the name of the presiding judge.
Document description on duces tecum forms. On 1.911 and 1.913, describe the books, papers, electronically stored information, or other items the witness must produce. Be specific. “All records related to the plaintiff” invites a motion to quash; a list of record types, a date range, and any identifying account or file numbers does not.
Issuing party. Include the attorney’s name, address, phone number, email, and Florida Bar number. If the clerk is issuing the subpoena instead of an attorney, the clerk signs and seals it.

On Form 1.911, do not leave the originals-versus-copies checkbox blank. It tells the witness what to bring.¹

Who Can Sign and Issue It

Rule 1.410(a) recognizes two issuers: the clerk of court and an attorney of record in the action. A party representing themselves has to go through the clerk, who will sign and seal the subpoena. An attorney of record can issue it directly. On oral request, the clerk will also hand over a signed and sealed subpoena left blank for the attorney or party to fill in later, which is useful when you know you need one but have not locked down the witness details.

A subpoena missing the proper signature or the court’s seal is defective on its face and can be challenged before compliance is due.

Serving the Witness

Florida Statute 48.031(3)(a) requires witness subpoenas in both civil and criminal cases to be served the same way as original process: personal hand-delivery to the named witness, or leaving a copy at the witness’s usual home with any resident age 15 or older, while informing that person of the contents.²

Section 48.021 says service is made “by any person authorized by rules of civil procedure.”³ In practice, that means a certified process server or the county sheriff’s office.

There is a narrow mail option. A subpoena for a witness in a civil traffic, criminal traffic, misdemeanor, or second- or third-degree felony case may be sent by U.S. mail to the witness’s last known address at least seven days before the appearance date. The catch: a witness who ignores a subpoena served by regular (non-certified) mail cannot be held in contempt.² If you need contempt as a backstop, serve in person.

When Personal Delivery Fails

Beyond leaving the subpoena with a household member, Florida allows a few substituted options:

Service on the witness’s spouse anywhere in the county, as long as the spouses live together and the case is not an adversarial proceeding between them.²
For a witness who is a sole proprietor, service on the person in charge at the business during regular hours, but only after two prior failed attempts to serve the owner there.
For criminal cases only, posting at the witness’s residence after three failed attempts for a court appearance, or one failed attempt for a deposition, at least five days before the required appearance.

Witness Fees

Florida law entitles every subpoenaed witness to $5 per day of attendance and 6 cents per mile for the round-trip distance between the witness’s home and the court or deposition location.⁴ Those figures are set by statute and have not been adjusted in years.

The current Form 1.910 tells the witness: “You are entitled to a witness fee, as provided by Florida law, if you request it before your scheduled appearance from the party/attorney named above.”¹ The Proof of Service form also tracks whether fees were offered or demanded and paid at the time of service, so having a check ready when the process server arrives is a practical step even where tender at the moment of delivery is not strictly required.

Filing the Proof of Service

Once the subpoena is delivered, the person who served it completes Form 1.9135, Proof of Service of Subpoena. Filed with the clerk of court, it creates the official record that the witness received notice. Without it on file, a judge has no basis to enforce compliance or find the witness in contempt.¹

The server records:

Their name, whether they are a sheriff’s deputy or certified process server, and their ID number.
The manner of service, whether personal delivery or substituted.
The full name and physical description of the person served, the relationship to the witness for substituted service, and the address, date, and time of service.
Whether witness fees were offered or demanded and paid, and the amount, or that fees were not demanded or paid.

The server signs under penalty of perjury. Section 48.031(5) puts the filing obligation on the server or the party who requested service.² File it promptly. If the witness balks, you want the proof already on record well before the appearance date.

If the Recipient Wants to Push Back

Rule 1.410(c) lets a court quash or modify a subpoena that is unreasonable and oppressive. The motion has to be filed promptly, and no later than the date and time the subpoena requires compliance. Missing that deadline generally waives the objection.

Grounds that Florida courts commonly credit:

Overbroad or vague requests, such as demands for “all documents” across many years with no further description.
Privileged material, including attorney-client communications and work product prepared in anticipation of litigation.
Undue burden on a nonparty, where the time or cost of compliance is unreasonable.
Procedural defects on the face of the subpoena, such as a missing court seal, a signature from someone who is not an attorney of record or the clerk, or improper service.

Rather than quashing outright, a court may condition enforcement on the requesting party paying the reasonable cost of producing the records. That compromise is common when the request is legitimate but expensive to fulfill.

If the Witness Ignores the Subpoena

Rule 1.410(f) authorizes contempt against a person who fails to obey a properly served subpoena without adequate excuse. Contempt sanctions in Florida can include fines, compensatory damages for the harm caused by the delay, and in some cases jail time until the witness agrees to comply. The court will not reach the contempt question unless the proof-of-service form is on file.

The mail-service limit still applies. A witness served by regular U.S. mail, in the narrow categories of cases where that method is allowed, cannot be found in contempt for failing to appear.² Personal service is the only method that preserves the full enforcement remedy.

Getting a Florida Witness for an Out-of-State Case

If your case is pending in another state and you need testimony or documents from someone in Florida, you do not file a new Florida lawsuit. Florida has adopted the Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act at Section 92.251, which provides a streamlined path.⁵

Get the foreign subpoena issued by the court where your case is pending, with the case caption, docket number, and contact information for all counsel of record.
Submit it to the clerk of court in the Florida county where the witness or records are located.
The clerk promptly issues a Florida subpoena that incorporates the terms of the foreign subpoena and lists the names, addresses, and phone numbers of all counsel and any unrepresented parties.
Serve the Florida subpoena under Florida rules, meaning the same personal-service requirements described above apply.

Medical Records Add a HIPAA Step

A duces tecum subpoena for medical records will not work like a subpoena to a bank. Under federal privacy regulations at 45 CFR 164.512, a HIPAA-covered provider may disclose protected health information in a judicial proceeding only on a court order signed by a judge, or on satisfactory assurances that the patient has been notified and given an opportunity to object, or on a signed patient authorization. Without one of those, expect the provider to send a letter explaining the requirement instead of records. Building patient notice or authorization into your subpoena package from the start saves weeks.

1
The Florida Bar. Proposed Rule Amendments Regarding Forms 1.902, 1.910, 1.911, 1.912, 1.913, 1.9135
2
Florida Statutes. Florida Code 48031 – Service of Process Generally; Service of Witness Subpoenas
3
Florida Statutes. Florida Code 48021 – Process; By Whom Served
4
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 92142 – Witnesses Pay
5
Florida Legislature. Florida Code 92251 – Uniform Interstate Depositions and Discovery Act