Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.560 — Discovery in Aid of Execution

(a) In General. In aid of a judgment, decree, or execution the judgment creditor or the successor in interest, when the interest appears of record, may obtain discovery from any person, including the judgment debtor, in the manner provided in these rules.

(b) Fact Information Sheet. In addition to any other discovery available to a judgment creditor under this rule, the court, at the request of the judgment creditor, shall order the judgment debtor or debtors to complete Florida Rules of Civil Procedure Form 1.977 (Fact Information Sheet), including all required attachments, within 45 days of the order or such other reasonable time as determined by the court.

(c) Final Judgment Enforcement Paragraph. In any final judgment which awards money damages, the judge shall include the following enforcement paragraph if requested at the final hearing or a subsequently noticed hearing by the prevailing party or attorney:

“It is further ordered and adjudged that the judgment debtor(s) shall complete under oath Florida Rule of Civil Procedure Form 1.977 (Fact Information Sheet), including all required attachments, and serve it on the judgment creditor’s attorney, or the judgment creditor if the judgment creditor is not represented by an attorney, within 45 days from the date of this final judgment, unless the final judgment is satisfied or post-judgment discovery is stayed. “Jurisdiction of this case is retained to enter further orders that are proper to compel the judgment debtor(s) to complete form 1.977, including all required attachments, and serve it on the judgment creditor’s attorney, or the judgment creditor if the judgment creditor is not represented by an attorney.”

(d) Information Regarding Assets of Judgment Debtor’s Spouse. In any final judgment which awards money damages, if requested by the judgment creditor at a duly noticed hearing, the court shall require all or part of the additional Spouse Related Portion of the fact information sheet to be filled out by the judgment debtor only upon a showing that a proper predicate exists for discovery of separate income and assets of the judgment debtor’s spouse.

Committee Notes

2000 Amendment. Subdivisions (b)–(e) were added to the Florida Rules of Civil Procedure and adopted with amendments into the Family Law Rules of Procedure. The amendments to the Civil Rules were patterned after Florida Small Claims Rule 7.221(a) and Form 7.343. Although the judgment creditor is entitled to broad discovery into the judgment debtor’s finances (Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.280(b); Jim Appley’s Tru-Arc, Inc. v. Liquid Extraction Systems, 526 So.2d 177, 179 (Fla. 2d DCA 1988)), in family law cases inquiry into the individual assets of the judgment debtor’s spouse must be precluded until a proper predicate has been shown. Tru-Arc, Inc., 526 So.2d at 179; Rose Printing Co. v. D’Amato, 338 So.2d 212 (Fla. 3d DCA 1976). 2015 Amendment. Subdivision (e) was deleted because the filing of a notice of compliance is unnecessary for the judgment creditor to seek relief from the court for noncompliance with this rule and because the Fact Information Sheet should not be filed with the clerk of the court.