Rule Stack & Effective Dates

the act date picks the law

Rules are versioned, and the date of YOUR act — serving, filing, responding — selects which edition governs, never today's date. This tool shows the layered authority stack for your forum and date, which amendment duties are in force, what's coming but not yet law, and how removal to federal court swaps the whole stack.

ForumDate of the act (serving / filing / responding)

The 9-layer authority stack

Higher layers control. A lower layer departing from a higher one is surfaced with both texts — never silently applied, never silently ignored.

The rule stack for this document
1	Constitution	Art. V, Fla. Const. (state judicial power); U.S. Const. art. III + due process floors.	Nothing below varies it.
2	Statute	Jurisdiction/venue chapters, the evidence code (ch. 90 privileges), substantive gates (§ 768.72), UIDDA § 92.251.	Rules govern procedure; statutes govern substance — a procedural rule cannot enlarge substantive rights.
3	Procedural rules	The governing civil-procedure edition for this act date (see the temporal resolution).	Varied below only where the rule itself grants variance authority.
4	Specialized rules	Small claims (discovery NOT automatic — Rule 7.020 invocation required), probate, family — when the case type invokes them.	The specialized set displaces the general rule only within its own scope.
5	Local rules	Circuit local rules; federal district local rules (the resolved LR edition).	Must be consistent with the rules above; a local rule cannot abrogate a state/federal rule.
6	Administrative orders	Supreme Court AOSCs; chief-judge circuit administrative orders (divisions, case management).	Bind within their scope; still subordinate to the rules.
7	Assigned-judge procedures	Division/judge standing orders and preference sheets — REAL constraints on practice.	A judge preference is NOT law: it cannot override a rule. Follow it where lawful; flag it where it purports to bar what a rule guarantees.
8	Case-management order	This matter's CMO/scheduling order: track, deadlines, discovery cutoffs.	A court order may vary rule DEFAULTS where the rules grant case-management authority — the order controls the schedule.
9	Stipulation	Party agreements: ESI protocol, extensions the rules let parties grant, clawback terms.	Varies only what the rules permit parties to vary (e.g., Fed. R. Civ. P. 29's stipulation authority has exceptions for court-set dates). Court-controlled deadlines do NOT move by private agreement.

Test a lower-layer departure

Enter a judge procedure, CMO term, or stipulation — the engine surfaces any conflict with the rule-layer defaults.

LayerInstrumentIts number (optional)

e.g. "The parties stipulate to 60 requests for admission per side."

The removal / remand switch

A demo matter commenced in Florida on 2026-01-05. Add a removal (and optionally a remand) — then the act date above resolves against whichever forum held the case on that day. History is preserved either way.

Removed to MDFL onRemanded on (optional)

TrialVector is software, not a law firm — legal information, not legal advice, and nothing you enter leaves your browser. Effective dates carry provenance and amendments carry transition notes because transition language differs; verify an edition question that matters with the official source. Deadlines live in the Deadline Engine; the aggression governor lives in the Escalation Zone.