Florida Florida Statutes

§ 49.021 — Service of process by publication, upon whom

FS § 49.021Ch. 49

Statute text

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 ceserve" class="Text Intro Justify">To determine paternity, but only as to:(a) The legal father in a paternity action in which another man is alleged to be the biological father, in which case it is necessary to serve process on the legal father in order to establish paternity with regard to the alleged biological father; or

(b)The legal mother when there is no legal father.

Legislative history

s. 1, ch. 20452, 1941; s. 5, ch. 67-254; s. 15, ch. 71-355; s. 1, ch. 73-5; s. 1, ch. 73-300; s. 13, ch. 84-311; s. 7, ch. 93-104; s. 45, ch. 94-164; s. 14, ch. 98-280; s. 20, ch. 99-2; s. 1, ch. 2007-85; s. 2, ch. 2008-151; s. 8, ch. 2010-30; s. 44, ch. 2011-213; s. 16, ch. 2022-190.