Is Good Friday a Court Holiday? (2019 Edition)

You’ve calculated a deadline for a filing for Friday, April 19, 2019. That happens to be Good Friday. Is your filing due? It depends on if you’re in federal or state court.

Are you in a Florida state court? Then yes!

Good Friday is not one of the enumerated holidays in Florida Rule of Judicial Procedure 2.514(a)(6)(A) (.pdf) (defining “Legal Holiday”), but the rules also allow each clerk’s office or court’s chief judge to separately designate additional holidays. See Fla. R. Jud. P. 2.514(a)(6)(B) (defining a holiday as “any day observed as a holiday by the clerk’s office or as designated by the chief judge”). Using that latter rule, every Florida court has independently recognized Friday, April 19 as a Holiday in 2019 (and has historically closed on Good Friday, though you should check every year to be sure). So Happy Easter to those who celebrate!

Don’t just take our word for it, though. Here’s a handy list of links to each court’s holiday page:

Florida Appellate Courts

• Supreme Court: Yearly Court Schedule
• First District: Administrative Order 18-2 (.pdf)
• Second District: Court Holidays
• Third District: Court Holidays
• Fourth District: Court Holidays
• Fifth District: Holiday Calendar

Florida Circuit Courts

• 1st Circuit: Court Holidays
• 2nd Circuit: Court holidays (.pdf)
• 3rd Circuit: Holiday Calendar
• 4th Circuit: Court Holiday Schedule
• 5th Circuit: Court Holidays
• 6th Circuit: Court Holidays
• 7th Circuit: Courthouse Hours and Holidays
• 8th Circuit: Hours of Operation and Holidays
• 9th Circuit: Court Holidays
• 10th Circuit: Hours of Operation & Holidays
• 11th Circuit: Courthouse Holidays/Closings
• 12th Circuit: Holiday Calendar
• 13th Circuit: Court Holidays
• 14th Circuit: Court Holidays
• 15th Circuit: Court Hours and Holiday Schedule
• 16th Circuit: Court Calendar
• 17th Circuit: Court Closures
• 18th Circuit: Court Holiday Calendar
• 19th Circuit: Courthouse Holidays
• 20th Circuit: 2019 Holiday Schedule (.pdf)

Are you in federal court? Sorry to be the bearer of bad news…

Neither the Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals nor the federal district courts of Florida close on Good Friday.

• Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals: Federal Holidays (they have not updated for 2019)
• Northern District of Florida: Court Holidays
• Middle District of Florida: Holidays
• Southern District of Florida: Court Hours/Holidays

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This post is an update and expansion to our previous post,
https://floridaappellate.com/2014/04/18/is-good-friday-a-holiday-it-depends/.

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