To file a Notice of Related Cases in a Florida family law matter, complete Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.900(h) and submit it through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal with your initial pleading, listing every pending or prior proceeding that shares parties, children, or issues with your new case. The duty comes from Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545(d), and it continues for the life of the case: any related proceeding you learn about later has to be disclosed through a supplemental notice.
What Counts as a Related Case
Rule 2.545(d) treats a proceeding as related when any one of four things is true: it involves the same parties, children, or issues and is currently pending; it could affect the court’s jurisdiction over your new filing; an existing order in it could conflict with an order in your new case; or an order in your new case could conflict with an order already entered in it.
That definition sweeps in more than most people expect. Divorce cases, paternity disputes, domestic violence injunctions, juvenile dependency actions, delinquency proceedings, adoptions, child support enforcement actions, and termination of parental rights cases all qualify when they share parties or children with your filing.1Florida Courts. Supreme Court of Florida – Form 12.900(h) Instructions Criminal cases involving the same family members can qualify too if they could produce orders that conflict with the family law matter.
Geography does not limit the rule. Rule 2.545(d)(5) requires you to inform the court of any qualifying proceeding “in this or any other state.”2Florida Courts. Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.900(h) – Notice of Related Cases An old custody order from the state you moved from counts. A grandparent’s visitation petition filed in the next county counts. The test is whether an order in one case could clash with an order in the other.
When to File
The petitioner — the person starting the new family law case — files the Notice of Related Cases with the initial pleading, at the same time as the petition for dissolution, paternity, or whatever family law request opens the case.1Florida Courts. Supreme Court of Florida – Form 12.900(h) Instructions You cannot save the disclosure for a later hearing. Some circuits want the form filed even when nothing qualifies; in that case you check the box indicating no known related cases.
The duty keeps running after that first filing. Rule 2.545(d)(4) requires a supplemental notice whenever a related case “becomes known or reasonably ascertainable.” If the other party files a domestic violence injunction two months into your divorce, or a dependency investigation opens involving your children, an updated notice goes in promptly. Subsection (d)(5) extends the continuing disclosure duty to each party, so a respondent who knows about a related proceeding the petitioner missed has an independent obligation to raise it.
What Form 12.900(h) Asks For
The form is available on the Florida Courts website under the family law forms section and must be typed or printed in black ink.3Florida Courts. Notice of Related Cases For each related case you list, the form asks for:
- The full names of the petitioner and respondent in the related matter.
- The exact case number and the court division handling it.
- The type of proceeding (dissolution, paternity, custody, child support, adoption, dependency, delinquency, criminal, injunction, or other).
- The name of the court and its location, including the state if out-of-state.
- The title and date of the most recent order or judgment entered.
- A brief statement of how the cases relate — same children, same parties, potential conflicting orders, or jurisdictional overlap.
- Whether assigning the cases to a single judge, or coordinating them another way, would save court resources.
That last item carries more weight than it looks like it should. Rule 2.545(d)(3) requires a statement about whether single-judge assignment would “conserve judicial resources and promote an efficient determination of the actions.”1Florida Courts. Supreme Court of Florida – Form 12.900(h) Instructions A generic “these cases are related” will not do. Explain briefly why coordination makes sense, such as both cases involving the same custody dispute where one judge needs the complete history to avoid contradictory parenting schedules.
If You Cannot Find Case Details
When you know a related case exists but cannot track down the case number or status, start with the online court records on the clerk of court website for the county where the case was filed. Most Florida counties maintain searchable public dockets. For older cases that do not appear online, contact the clerk’s office directly. File the notice on time with whatever information you have, and include a note describing what you could not locate and what you did to try. An incomplete notice filed on time beats a missed deadline.
Redacting Sensitive Information
The Notice of Related Cases becomes part of the public court file, so Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.425 limits what personal data you can put in it. Use only a minor child’s initials, never the full name.4Florida Courts. Florida Rule 2.425 – Minimization of the Filing of Sensitive Information For birth dates, include only the year. Leave out social security numbers, bank account numbers, and credit card numbers entirely. Truncate driver’s license numbers, taxpayer identification numbers, and insurance policy numbers to the last four digits.
The filer is responsible for these redactions. The clerk will not review your document and strip sensitive information for you.4Florida Courts. Florida Rule 2.425 – Minimization of the Filing of Sensitive Information If a related case is itself confidential or exempt from public access, attach a Notice of Confidential Information Within Court Filing under Rule 2.420.
Where to File and How to Serve It
Submit the completed form through the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, which is the required method for court filings statewide. File the notice in your new case and in every related case that is currently open and pending. A pending divorce and a related child support enforcement case means the notice goes into both files.
After filing, serve a copy on all other parties in each of the related cases, and on the presiding judge, chief judge, or family law administrative judge as directed by local procedure.1Florida Courts. Supreme Court of Florida – Form 12.900(h) Instructions Parties who agree on the related case information may file joint notices.
Service follows Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.516. Filing through the E-Filing Portal uses the portal’s built-in e-service function, which counts as valid service on anyone registered with an email address in the system.5Florida Courts. Florida Rule 2.516 – Service of Pleadings and Documents Unrepresented parties who have not registered for e-service may need service by mail or hand delivery. Include a certificate of service on the form, listing each person served, their address or email, and the date of service.
One point worth knowing: filing a Notice of Related Cases in someone else’s pending case does not enter you as a party to that proceeding or subject you to its jurisdiction. Rule 2.545(d)(4) says so expressly.
What Happens After You File
Once the clerk processes the notice, the court decides whether the related cases should be handled together. Florida’s Unified Family Court model, sometimes called “One Family, One Judge,” aims to assign a single judicial officer to all proceedings involving the same family.6Eleventh Judicial Circuit of Florida. Unified Family Court When the notice reveals overlapping cases, judges may order a transfer or consolidation so one judge sees the complete picture. Internal transfers between divisions often happen quickly once the relationship is confirmed.
If you believe pending cases share common facts and would benefit from coordination, Rule 2.545(d)(6) lets you file a notice specifically requesting assignment to one judge. Use it to explain how coordination would avoid inconsistent results and spare the same parties from appearing in multiple courtrooms on the same issues.