Florida Statutes
Fla. Stat. § 49.021 (2025)
Service of process by publication, upon whom.
✓ 2025 Florida Statutes — current through the 2025 Regular Session
Find cases:
SyfertCases citing this section
FL-LEGleg.state.fl.us
JustiaFla. Statutes
CornellLII Search
CasesGoogle Scholar
49.021 Service of process by publication, upon whom.—Where personal service of process or, if appropriate, service of process under s. 48.194 cannot be had, service of process by publication may be had upon any party, natural or corporate, known or unknown, including:
(1) Any known or unknown natural person, and, when described as such, the unknown spouse, heirs, devisees, grantees, creditors, or other parties claiming by, through, under, or against any known or unknown person who is known to be dead or is not known to be either dead or alive;
(2) Any corporation or other legal entity, whether its domicile be foreign, domestic, or unknown, and whether dissolved or existing, including corporations or other legal entities not known to be dissolved or existing, and, when described as such, the unknown assigns, successors in interest, trustees, or any other party claiming by, through, under, or against any named corporation or legal entity;
(3) Any group, firm, entity, or persons who operate or do business, or have operated or done business, in this state, under a name or title which includes the word “corporation,” “company,” “incorporated,” “inc.,” or any combination thereof, or under a name or title which indicates, tends to indicate or leads one to think that the same may be a corporation or other legal entity; and
(4) All claimants under any of such parties.
Unknown parties may be proceeded against exclusively or together with other parties.
Note.—Former s. 48.02.
Notes of Decisions
Cited in 41
cases (7 in the last 5 years), 1970–2025 · leading case: Mouzon v. Mouzon, 458 So. 2d 381 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984).
Mouzon v. Mouzon, 458 So. 2d 381 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). “Personal service has always been regarded as the preferred method of accomplishing this.”
Bedford Comput. Corp. v. Graphic Press, Inc., 484 So. 2d 1225 (Fla. 1986). “Section 49.021, Florida Statutes (1983), states: "Where personal service of process cannot be had, service of process by publication may be had upon any party .”
1321 Whitfield, LLC v. Silverman, 67 So. 3d 435 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “Whitfield relies upon the principle of statutory construction that a specific statute controls over a general statute concerning the same subject, to argue that section 48.”
Risman v. Whittaker, 326 So. 2d 213 (Fla. 4th DCA 1976). “Constructive service of process was duly perfected upon the defendants via Fla. Stat. § 49.021 (1973), which provides: "49.”
Shepheard v. Deutsche Bank Trust Co., 922 So. 2d 340 (Fla. 5th DCA 2006). “" § 49.021, Fla. Stat. (2005). For service by publication on a natural person, a mortgage holder must provide a sworn statement showing, inter alia, "[t]hat diligent search and inquiry have been made to discover the name and residence of such person.”
Gans v. Heathgate-Sunflower Homeowners Ass'n, Inc., 593 So. 2d 549 (Fla. 4th DCA 1992). “Section 49.021, Florida Statutes (1987) reads in pertinent part: Service of process by publication, upon whom.”
Est. of Bobinger v. Deltona Corp., 563 So. 2d 739 (Fla. 2d DCA 1990). “As the introductory paragraph of this subsection states, for the court to have the proper jurisdiction, the parties served by publication must also fit within the strictures of subsection 49.021. The appellants' factual allegations in the complaint showed that personal service…”
McCabe v. McCabe, 600 So. 2d 1181 (Fla. 5th DCA 1992). “We note that in McIntyre the court equated domicile with the necessary residency requirement to file a dissolution of marriage action.”
Greg Howard v. David Gualt, 259 So. 3d 119 (Fla. 4th DCA 2018). “4th DCA 2016) (citations omitted); Fla. Stat. § 49.021 (2014). The plaintiff’s affidavit of diligent search provided: A diligent search and inquiry has been made to locate the residence of [the guarantor] .”
Green Emerald Homes, LLC v. Bank of New York Mellon, 204 So. 3d 512 (Fla. 4th DCA 2016). “As section 49.021, Florida Statutes (2014), allows for constructive service’ on corporations and other legal entities, it authorizes such service on limited liability companies.”
Miller v. Partin, 31 So. 3d 224 (Fla. 5th DCA 2010). “As a condition precedent to service by publication, a statement must be filed in the action executed by the plaintiff, the plaintiffs agent or attorney, setting forth the matters contained in section 49.”
Redfield Invs. v. Vill. of Pinecrest, 990 So. 2d 1135 (Fla. 3d DCA 2008). “Because constructive service by publication may not be utilized where personal service can be had, see § 49.021, the use of such qualifying terminology, at a minimum, leaves open to question whether these averments are sufficient to constitute strict compliance with the service…”
— 49.021(1) — 4 cases
Mouzon v. Mouzon, 458 So. 2d 381 (Fla. 5th DCA 1984). “Personal service has always been regarded as the preferred method of accomplishing this.”
Palomino v. Fed. Nat'l Mortg. Ass'n, 504 So. 2d 445 (Fla. 3d DCA 1987).
James River Ins. Co. v. R.I.C., Inc. (S.D. Fla. 2023).
Kopecky v. Kopecka, 967 So. 2d 1109 (Fla. 4th DCA 2007).
— 49.021(2) — 4 cases
1321 Whitfield, LLC v. Silverman, 67 So. 3d 435 (Fla. 2d DCA 2011). “Whitfield relies upon the principle of statutory construction that a specific statute controls over a general statute concerning the same subject, to argue that section 48.”
Bedford Comput. Corp. v. Graphic Press, Inc., 484 So. 2d 1225 (Fla. 1986). “Section 49.021, Florida Statutes (1983), states: "Where personal service of process cannot be had, service of process by publication may be had upon any party .”
Annotations are extracted automatically from the opinions in the
Syfert caselaw corpus and ranked by authority, recency, and
treatment. Dots show Syfertize treatment of the citing case itself.