Default Judgments in Florida

A default judgment is a court order entered against a defendant who fails to respond to a lawsuit within the required deadline. The plaintiff wins without a trial, and the defendant loses the right to contest liability. In many cases the defendant also loses the right to contest the amount owed.

Default judgments carry the same legal force as judgments entered after a full trial. The creditor can use every available collection tool to enforce the judgment, including wage garnishment, bank account levies, and judgment liens on real property. The judgment remains enforceable for 20 years.

How a Default Judgment Happens

A default judgment happens when the defendant lets the response deadline pass, and that deadline runs from the day of service rather than the day the case was filed. A Florida civil lawsuit begins when the plaintiff files a complaint and serves the defendant with a copy of it and a summons. Under the Rules of Civil Procedure, the summons gives the defendant 20 days from service to file a written response.

If the defendant does not file any paper within that 20-day window, the plaintiff can move for a “clerk’s default” under Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.500(a), and the clerk must enter it. The clerk’s default is not itself a judgment. It is a formal notation that the defendant failed to respond, and it admits the plaintiff’s allegations about liability. The defendant can no longer argue that the debt is not owed.

After the clerk’s default is entered, the plaintiff moves for a final default judgment. For claims involving a specific dollar amount (known as “liquidated damages”), the court can enter the judgment based on the complaint and supporting affidavits alone, without a hearing. A credit card lawsuit seeking a defined balance is the typical example.

For claims involving subjective or uncertain damages (known as “unliquidated damages”), the court must hold a hearing or jury trial to determine the amount. A personal injury claim seeking pain and suffering damages is unliquidated. The default establishes liability, but the plaintiff still bears the burden of proving how much the defendant owes. The defendant is still entitled to notice of the damages hearing and can appear to contest the amount.

Clerk’s Default vs. Judicial Default

Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.500 recognizes two paths to default. A clerk’s default applies when the defendant has filed nothing at all. A judicial default applies when the defendant has filed something with the court, but the filing does not constitute a legally sufficient response. A defendant who files a letter to the judge rather than a formal answer has filed a paper but has not “pleaded or otherwise defended” as required by the rules.

Rule 1.500 changed on January 1, 2026. The plaintiff must now file and serve a motion for default before either the clerk or the judge can enter one, whether or not the defendant has filed anything. Until a default is actually entered, the defendant is still a party entitled to service of everything filed in the case. A defendant who has never appeared and has no lawyer must still be served with that motion.

A defendant retains the right to plead or otherwise defend at any time before default is actually entered. An answer filed on day 21 is late, but it still blocks a default the clerk has not yet entered. Once the default is entered, a late answer no longer stops it.

Setting Aside a Default Judgment

Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.540(b) provides limited grounds for setting aside a default judgment after it has been entered. Florida courts prefer to decide cases on their merits rather than by default, but a defendant who simply missed the deadline must prove three separate things: excusable neglect, a meritorious defense, and prompt action. Failing any one of them defeats the motion. A defendant attacking the judgment as void does not have to prove any of the three.

1. Excusable neglect. The defendant must show that missing the deadline resulted from mistake, inadvertence, surprise, or excusable neglect, not from deliberate disregard. Florida courts have accepted clerical or secretarial error, a reasonable misunderstanding about settlement negotiations, a serious family illness that put the file at the bottom of a pile, and an office system that broke down. The facts must be set forth in a sworn affidavit, not just stated in an unsworn motion.

2. Meritorious defense. The defendant must show a colorable defense to the underlying claim, one strong enough that a trial could come out differently. A bare denial of the allegations is not enough. Common meritorious defenses include the statute of limitations, payment, and lack of standing. Arguing that the complaint fails to state a cause of action is another defense, and it is strongest before final judgment is entered. Afterward that defect makes the judgment voidable, not void, so the motion keeps the one-year deadline and still needs all three showings.

3. Due diligence. The defendant must show prompt action after learning of the default. There is no fixed deadline. The Second District held a seven-week delay unreasonable where the defendant offered no explanation for it. The Third District has treated an unexplained six-week delay as a lack of diligence as a matter of law. The same court excused a delay of more than two months where the defendant’s lawyer contacted the plaintiff’s lawyer immediately on learning of the default. A debtor who waits needs a reason on the record.

The motion must be filed within one year of the judgment on grounds of excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, or fraud. The one-year deadline does not apply when the judgment is void.

A judgment is void when the court never acquired jurisdiction over the defendant—most often because service of process was defective—or when the defendant was denied notice and a chance to be heard. If the defendant was never properly served with the lawsuit, the court lacked personal jurisdiction, and the resulting judgment can be challenged at any time. A damages judgment entered without notice of the hearing is void even if the default was proper. A judgment based on incorrect facts or inflated damages is voidable rather than void, so the one-year deadline applies.

Fraud, misrepresentation, or other misconduct by the plaintiff is a separate ground for relief under Rule 1.540(b)(3). The rule reaches fraud in the proof itself, such as a false affidavit of the amount owed, as well as conduct that kept the defendant out of court. The motion has to set out the specific facts of the fraud. A defendant who does that and shows a colorable entitlement to relief is entitled to an evidentiary hearing. The motion is still subject to the same one-year deadline.

A motion to set aside does not by itself stop the creditor from collecting while the motion is pending. Every argument for setting a judgment aside weakens as time passes, so a debtor who discovers a default judgment should move quickly. The first things to check are whether the damages were a fixed sum and whether notice of any damages hearing went to the right address.

Sample Motion to Set Aside a Default Judgment

A motion to set aside a default judgment asks the court to erase the default, erase the judgment entered on it, and let the case be decided on its merits. It has to carry three showings: why the deadline was missed, what defense the defendant would raise, and how fast the defendant moved after learning of the default. Missing any one of the three defeats the motion.

The rule the motion cites depends on how far the case has gone. Where a default has been entered and no judgment has followed, Rule 1.500(d) lets the court set the default aside, and Florida courts resolve a reasonable doubt at that stage in favor of a trial. Once a final judgment has been entered on the default, Rule 1.500(d) sends the motion to Rule 1.540(b), and that rule’s deadlines apply.

Relief for excusable neglect, newly discovered evidence, or fraud is capped at one year from the judgment. The rule separately requires that every motion be filed within a reasonable time. The one-year limit does not reach a judgment attacked as void. The sample below has a separate paragraph for the void ground, and a defendant relying on it deletes the excusable neglect and diligence paragraphs.

An unsworn motion fails even when the grounds it states are good ones. The facts showing excusable neglect have to come in by affidavit or sworn statement, and the facts behind a factual defense belong in a verified answer, a sworn motion, or an affidavit. A line asserting that a meritorious defense exists, with no facts behind it, is not enough. The sample is written to be verified under penalties of perjury and carries a bracketed affidavit page for a defendant who would rather file one separately.

The download also includes a short proposed order that grants the motion, vacates the default and the judgment, and gives the defendant a set number of days to serve an answer. Everything in brackets is a blank for the case information. Filing runs through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, and service on the plaintiff’s lawyer should go out the same day, because the diligence showing is measured from the day the defendant learned of the default.

Can You Go to Jail for a Default Judgment?

A default judgment in a civil case does not carry jail time. Civil judgments are about money. They authorize the creditor to collect through garnishment, levies, and liens, but they do not create criminal liability. No one goes to jail for failing to answer a lawsuit or owing money on a civil judgment.

The one exception involves contempt of court. If a court orders a judgment debtor to appear for a deposition or produce financial records, and the debtor ignores that order, the court can hold the debtor in contempt. Contempt can carry jail time, but the incarceration is for disobeying the court order, not for owing the debt.

How to Find Out If You Have a Default Judgment

Florida court records are public, and most county clerks maintain a case search portal on their website showing filings, defaults, and judgments. A person who suspects a default judgment can search the clerk’s site in the county where they live and in any county where a creditor might have sued.

Default judgments can also surface through credit reports, collection calls, or unexpected wage garnishments. A person who receives a fact information sheet or a garnishment notice should check the court file immediately. The file shows whether the judgment was entered by default and the date it was entered, which is the date the deadline for setting it aside starts to run.

What a Default Judgment Means for the Debtor

Once a default judgment is entered, the court will order the debtor, at the creditor’s request, to complete a fact information sheet disclosing all assets, income, and financial accounts, normally within 45 days. The creditor can also record a judgment lien against non-homestead real estate and levy on personal property.

The default judgment includes the principal amount claimed in the complaint, and it usually adds pre-judgment interest and court costs. Attorney’s fees are included where a contract or a statute allows them. Post-judgment interest accrues automatically at the statutory rate from the date of entry.

While the judgment itself is extremely difficult to undo, the debtor’s ability to protect assets from collection is a separate question. Florida law provides exemptions from creditors that apply regardless of whether a judgment was entered after a trial or by default. Homestead property, head of household earnings, retirement accounts, and assets held as tenants by the entireties are among the categories a judgment creditor cannot reach.

Entireties property carries one exception: it is protected from a judgment against one spouse, but a single judgment against both spouses on a joint debt reaches it. A debtor whose assets are exempt is in a strong position to settle. A creditor facing a debtor with protected assets may accept a fraction of the judgment rather than spend years pursuing collection that yields little.

Avoiding a Default Judgment

The only reliable way to prevent a default judgment is to respond by the deadline the summons gives. That deadline is 20 days in a case governed by the Rules of Civil Procedure. The response does not need to be a full legal brief. A simple answer denying the allegations preserves the defendant’s right to participate in the case and prevents the entry of a clerk’s default.

Florida county court cases for $8,000 or less run under the small claims rules, and those rules work differently. No written answer is required. The summons is a notice to appear at a pretrial conference. The clerk sets that conference no more than 50 days after the case is filed, and a defendant who does not appear is defaulted. A credit card suit for a modest balance is often on this track, so the summons itself is what tells the defendant which deadline applies.

Defendants who are served with a lawsuit on a time-barred debt have a particularly strong reason to respond. The statute of limitations is an affirmative defense that the court will not raise on its own. If the defendant fails to respond, the court will enter a default judgment even if the underlying debt is years past the limitations period. That time-barred debt then converts into a judgment enforceable for 20 years.

A defendant who cannot afford an attorney can still file a pro se answer. The cost of filing a written response is small measured against two decades of judgment enforcement.