With the Florida Supreme Court’s recent amendment to Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530, litigants statewide now must take an extra step in the trial court to preserve for appeal challenges to defects that appear on the face of final orders and judgments.

Effective Aug. 25, the Florida Supreme Court on its own motion amended Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.530, which addresses motions for rehearing. The court’s decision, which resolved a split among Florida’s district courts of appeal on whether a motion for rehearing is required to maintain certain challenges to a final order or judgment on appeal, has serious consequences for noncompliance: state appellate courts asked to consider these issues as a basis for reversal will likely deem them abandoned in the absence of a timely filed motion for rehearing.