Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.900(h), Notice of Related Cases

Start with the free official Form 12.900(h)

Florida Courts currently publishes Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.900(h), Notice of Related Cases, revised February 2024. The official PDF is five pages: one page of instructions followed by the four-page form. Read the complete packet before entering case information.

Source checked September 30, 2026. Confirm the revision on the current Florida Courts forms index ↗ before starting.

What the official instructions say this form is for

The instructions state that Florida Rule of General Practice and Judicial Administration 2.545(d) requires a petitioner in a family-law case to file a notice of related cases, if any. They also warn that a circuit may require the form even when there are no related cases.

The packet lists four circumstances in which a case is considered related: a pending case involving the same parties, children, or issues; a case affecting the court's jurisdiction; a related-case order that may conflict with an order on the same issues in the new case; or a new-case order that may conflict with an earlier order.

What information appears on Form 12.900(h)?

1. Match the new family-law case caption

Organize the judicial circuit, county, case number, division, petitioner, and respondent exactly as they appear in the family-law case for which the notice is being prepared.

Sun State cannot identify the correct court or case, decide how the parties should be labeled, or resolve a conflict between the filer's information and the clerk's records.

2. Review the one-choice related-case statement

The form says to check one statement only: either there are no related cases, or the cases identified below are related. The official instructions note that a circuit may require the notice even when no related cases exist.

Do not select an answer merely because a case is open, closed, civil, criminal, guardianship, domestic-violence, juvenile, or domestic-relations. The form lists those as possible case types, but the printed related-case criteria still must be considered. Sun State cannot make that determination.

3. Organize each related case separately

The official form provides three repeated related-case sections and says to add pages if necessary. Each section asks for the case name, petitioner, respondent, case number, division, type of proceeding, state, court name, and the title and date of the last order or judgment, if any.

Each section also repeats the four printed relationship choices and provides lines for a statement describing the relationship between the cases. Copying docket information accurately is different from deciding what the relationship means. Use official case records for factual details and obtain legal help if you are unsure what to disclose or how to describe it.

4. Treat the coordination section as a separate decision

After the related-case sections, the form asks the filer to state whether coordination of litigation is requested. If coordination is requested, it provides space to identify cases and includes choices about assignment to one judge and conserving judicial resources.

Listing a related case does not let Sun State infer which coordination choice should be made. In Sun State's technical review, the official PDF encodes the visible “Assignment to one judge” line as a signature field, so the self-service filler leaves that control for manual completion. Sun State does not recommend coordination, select cases to coordinate, or draft a reason.

5. Review the continuing-duty, signature, and service sections

The form states that the petitioner has a continuing duty to inform the court about cases in Florida or another state that could affect the current proceeding. It then provides the petitioner's date, signature, printed name, address, telephone, fax, and email fields.

The certificate of service asks about actual delivery to the sheriff or a certified process server and service by email, mail, or hand delivery on identified judges and parties. The official instructions separately state that a copy must be served on the presiding judge, either the chief judge or family-law administrative judge, and all parties in the related cases, in accordance with Rule 2.516.

Filing and service remain separate steps

The instructions say the form must be filed with the clerk of the circuit court with the initial pleading in the family-law case, and that the filer should keep a copy. Local procedures can differ, and the same instructions say a circuit may require the form when there are no related cases.

Completing a PDF does not file it, serve it, notify a judge or party, confirm receipt, or satisfy the continuing duty printed on the form. Confirm current administrative procedures with the clerk or court-connected self-help program.

Common factual questions

Complete the notice already selected

The official blank PDF is free. Sun State's optional $9 self-service software transfers customer-supplied case information and selections into its configured Form 12.900(h) and delivers editable, print, and unchanged blank PDFs. It does not search court records, decide whether cases are related, recommend coordination, complete the service certificate from assumptions, add signatures, file, or serve the notice.

Official information and independent help

Prepared by Sun State Legal Forms. Published and substantively reviewed September 30, 2026 using the complete official Florida Courts packet. Read our content and source-review standards.