HB 157 revises Florida’s laws governing service of process, with a focus on registered agents, dissolved entities, entities in receivership, and substituted service through the Secretary of State. The bill expands the required hours that a registered agent’s office must be open for service, clarifies that process may be served on employees present at the registered office in certain circumstances, and authorizes service on a receiver for certain domestic business entities during a receivership. It also updates procedures for serving dissolved corporations, LLCs, and other business entities by adding or clarifying service on court-appointed trustees, custodians, liquidators, or receivers.
The bill makes substantial changes to substituted service on nonresidents and foreign business entities. It requires process sent to the Secretary of State to be issued in the name of the party to be served, allows service by several delivery methods including electronic transmission, and requires notice and copies of process to be sent to the party’s last known physical and, if applicable, electronic address. It also revises the affidavit of compliance requirements, clarifies when service is deemed complete, and states that the Secretary of State and Department of State are not parties to the lawsuit and need not receive additional filings after substituted service is completed. The bill further amends the statute governing substituted service on nonresidents and foreign business entities doing business in Florida, including persons who conceal their whereabouts and former Florida residents who later become nonresidents.
The bill’s impact on state law is primarily procedural: it updates chapter 48, Florida Statutes, to make service of process rules more detailed, more flexible, and in some respects easier to complete when a defendant is difficult to locate or when a business entity is dissolved or in receivership. It also includes retroactivity and applicability provisions, stating that the amendments apply to service of process made on or after October 1, 2025, and preserving the validity of certain service completed between January 2, 2023, and October 1, 2025, if it complied with either the prior or amended law. The changes affect litigants, registered agents, business entities, the Secretary of State, and the Department of State.
The general sentiment around the bill appears favorable and technical rather than controversial, based on its enactment and lack of recorded committee debate or votes in the provided materials. The measure was ultimately enacted as Chapter No. 2025-13, suggesting legislative support for modernizing and clarifying service-of-process procedures. The bill’s structure and language indicate an effort to reduce disputes over service validity and improve efficiency in litigation.
The main points of potential contention are the expanded ability to serve process on employees at a registered office, the broadened use of substituted service through the Secretary of State, and the retroactive validation of certain service completed under prior law. Those provisions may be of concern to defendants and registered agents who prefer stricter service requirements, while plaintiffs and litigants seeking to effectuate service are likely to support the added flexibility. The bill also narrows uncertainty by specifying that state agencies are not parties to lawsuits solely because they receive substituted service, which may reduce administrative burden on the state.
HB 157 amends chapter 48, Florida Statutes, to update service-of-process rules for registered agents, dissolved entities, entities in receivership, and substituted service through the Secretary of State. It expands registered office availability requirements, authorizes service on employees in certain circumstances, clarifies service on receivers and court-appointed representatives, and revises notice, affidavit, and completion requirements for substituted service. The act also includes retroactive and applicability provisions that preserve certain service completed under prior law and apply the new rules to service made on or after October 1, 2025.
The overall sentiment appears positive and pragmatic. The bill was enacted without any recorded opposition in the provided materials, and the absence of committee transcript debate suggests it was treated as a technical modernization of civil procedure rather than a highly contested policy change. Its final passage as Chapter No. 2025-13 indicates legislative approval of the clarified and expanded service mechanisms.
The most notable areas of contention are procedural fairness and ease of service. Plaintiffs and process servers may favor the bill’s broader options for serving registered agents, employees, receivers, and the Secretary of State, while business entities, registered agents, and defendants may view the changes as making it easier to obtain valid service with less direct notice. The retroactive validation of some service completed between January 2, 2023, and October 1, 2025, could also be controversial because it limits challenges to service defects and may affect pending or previously disputed cases.