Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Family Law Procedure
Parties usually have 30 days to file a notice of appealing a Florida family law judgment. If a Florida family law final judgment is entered, and then an amended final judgment is later entered, does the time run from the original judgment or the amended judgment? This was an issue in the case A.B. v. DCF, 3D23-1790 (Fla. 3d DCA May 29, 2024).
The final judgment in this termination of parental rights case was rendered on August 25, 2023. Five days later, the court entered an amended final judgment which corrected scrivener’s errors. On September 29, 2023, the appellant filed a notice of appealing the amended final judgment.
The appellate court dismissed the appeal holding “Appellant did not invoke this Court’s jurisdiction because he did not file a timely notice of appeal from the original Final Judgment. See Bade v. Nationstar Mortg., LLC, 180 So. 3d 163, 164 (Fla. 4th DCA 2015) (dismissing for lack of jurisdiction an appeal from an amended final judgment that ‘did not materially change the original final judgment’ but ‘only corrected a scrivener’s error’); Gold King Apts., LLC v. Dumornay, 190 So. 3d 650, 650 (Fla. 3d DCA 2016) (dismissing appeal for lack of jurisdiction where there was no ‘material change’ between the original and amended final judgments, and the notice of appeal was filed more than thirty days after the original final judgment’s rendition). Accordingly, this appeal is dismissed for lack of jurisdiction. Dismissal is without prejudice to Appellant’s right to seek a belated appeal by filing a petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the trial court.”
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