Suing on an Unpaid Invoice: A Florida Business Owner’s Guide

Suing on an unpaid invoice makes sense when three things line up: the debt is documented, the filing deadline has not run, and the customer still has assets you can reach. Florida gives creditors a well-developed set of claims and collection tools, but it also sets hard limits on the calendar, the forum, and what you can recover.

Is Suing on an Unpaid Invoice Worth the Cost?

Sue when the amount justifies the effort and the defendant can actually pay. A judgment against a company with no assets, no receivables, and no real property is a piece of paper, so evaluate collectability before liability.

Three questions drive the claim, the forum, and the settlement value, and our business litigation team works through them first:

• Is there a signed contract, or only invoices and emails?
• Does the contract contain an attorney fee provision?
• Is the debtor operating, a shell, or dissolved?

How Long Do You Have to Sue in Florida?

Five years on a written contract, four years on everything else. Florida’s limitations statute gives five years for an action founded on a written instrument, and four years for one not founded on a written instrument, expressly including the sale and delivery of goods, wares, and merchandise, and store accounts. See Fla. Stat. § 95.11(2)(b) and (3)(j).

That distinction is why a signed contract, and not just an invoice, is the most valuable document in a collection file. On an installment obligation, the clock can also run separately from each missed payment. See when your breach of contract clock starts running.

Which Florida Court Hears the Case?

The amount in controversy decides it. Florida county courts have original jurisdiction over actions at law, except those within the exclusive jurisdiction of the circuit courts, in which the matter in controversy does not exceed $50,000 for cases filed on or after January 1, 2023, exclusive of interest, costs, and attorney fees, under Fla. Stat. § 34.01(1)(c)3. Above that line, the case belongs in circuit court, which holds exclusive original jurisdiction over actions at law not cognizable by the county courts. At $8,000 or less, exclusive of costs, interest, and attorney fees, the Small Claims Rules apply, with a pretrial conference set within 50 days of filing.

Venue is separate. Actions must be brought in the county where the defendant resides, where the cause of action accrued, or where the property in litigation is located, and that rule does not apply to actions against nonresidents.

What Claims Should the Complaint Plead?

Plead the theory your documents support, then plead alternatives. Florida recognizes several distinct counts for the same balance, with different burdens of proof.

Is It Breach of Contract, Open Account, or Account Stated?

• Breach of contract: a valid contract, a material breach, and damages.
• Open account: an unsettled running balance from a series of transactions. To state a valid claim on an open account, the claimant must attach an itemized copy of the account. See Farley v. Chase Bank, U.S.A., N.A., 37 So. 3d 936 (Fla. 4th DCA 2010).
• Account stated: an express or implied agreement that a specified balance is correct and due, plus an express or implied promise to pay it. Farley holds that no itemized statement of charges is required, and that a statement received without objection within a reasonable time makes a prima facie case.

The practical lesson from Farley is that a customer’s silence in the face of a monthly statement can be worth more than the invoices themselves.

Where no enforceable contract exists, unjust enrichment and quantum meruit can reach the value conferred, though Florida will not imply a contract where an express contract covers the same subject matter. Proof differs for sellers on open account and suppliers of materials or services.

What Must Be Attached to the Complaint?

Your documents. Under Fla. R. Civ. P. 1.130(a), all contracts, accounts, notes, and other documents on which action may be brought or defense made, or a copy of the portions material to the pleadings, must be incorporated in or attached to the pleading. Approved Forms 1.932 Open Account, 1.933 Account Stated, and 1.935 Goods Sold model the pleading.

What Happens in the First Four Months?

More than most owners expect. Florida’s recent procedural amendments front-load the work, so the case is largely scheduled before either side takes a deposition. For the wider arc, see how a Florida civil lawsuit proceeds.

• 20 days: unless a Florida statute prescribes a different time, the defendant must serve an answer within 20 days after service of original process and the initial pleading, under Rule 1.140(a)(1).
• No response: move for default. Under Rule 1.500(a) as amended effective January 1, 2026, a clerk’s default requires a filed and served motion, and the clerk enters default only where the party has failed to file or serve any document.
• 60 days: initial discovery disclosures are due within 60 days after service of the complaint or joinder unless the court sets a different time.
• 120 days: the court must issue a case management order no later than 120 days after commencement, or 30 days after service on the last named defendant, whichever comes first.

Actions under the Small Claims Rules are exempt from both requirements unless the court orders otherwise. A plaintiff’s demand for judgment under Florida’s proposal for settlement statute can also shift fees if the defendant does not accept within 30 days and you later recover a judgment at least 25 percent greater. It can be unavailable, though, where the complaint seeks equitable relief alongside damages.

Can You Reach Assets Before Judgment?

Sometimes, and only on specific proof. Florida allows prejudgment attachment on enumerated grounds, such as a debtor fraudulently disposing of property or removing it from the state, and requires a bond of at least double the debt demanded. Prejudgment garnishment requires a verified motion pleading specific facts. See prejudgment writs of attachment and replevin.

How Do You Turn a Judgment Into Money?

Winning the judgment is the halfway point, not the finish line.

• Real property lien: recording a certified copy in a county’s official records creates a lien only if the judgment states the lienholder’s address or a separate address affidavit is recorded at the same time. Without it, the judgment does not become a lien.
• Personal property lien: a judgment lien certificate filed with the Florida Department of State reaches personal property subject to execution and, since the 2023 Judgment Lien Improvement Act, accounts and payment intangibles, behind any prior filed secured party. It lapses five years after filing, and one second lien may be filed only in the window running from six months before to six months after that lapse. See new options for pursuing judgment liens.
• Garnishment: after judgment, a writ issues on an unverified motion stating the amount of the judgment, filable before or after return of execution. See garnishing a debtor’s bank account.
• Discovery and pursuit: proceedings supplementary bring third parties and transferred assets into the case, and on the creditor’s request the court must order the debtor to complete a Form 1.977 fact information sheet. Asset searches fill the gaps; a fraudulent transfer claim can unwind what moved first.

Where a verdict liquidates a plaintiff’s out-of-pocket pecuniary losses, the plaintiff is entitled as a matter of law to prejudgment interest at the statutory rate from the date of that loss. See Argonaut Insurance Co. v. May Plumbing Co., 474 So. 2d 212 (Fla. 1985). Postjudgment, the statutory rate is set when the judgment is obtained and adjusted each January 1 until it is paid, though a rate established by written contract can control instead.

Three Mistakes That Cost Florida Businesses Money

1. No fee provision. Absent a contract or statute, each side bears its own attorney fees. Where a contract entered into on or after October 1, 1988 gives one party its fees for enforcing the contract, a court may award reasonable fees to the prevailing other party as well, so draft deliberately. See attorneys’ fees provisions.
2. An unvetted late fee. Florida declares it usurious to charge more than the equivalent of 18 percent per annum simple interest on a loan, advance of money, line of credit, or forbearance of $500,000 or less. The criminal usury statute is narrower, reaching an extension of credit, meaning a loan of money or an agreement to forbear collecting such a loan. Whether an invoice finance charge is in scope is fact-specific, so have the rate reviewed.
3. Suing the wrong party. An officer who signs for the company is usually not personally liable. Recovery from an owner generally requires a valid personal guaranty.

Talk to a Florida Business Litigation Attorney

Jimerson Birr represents Florida businesses, banks, and private lenders in commercial collection litigation statewide. Our accounts receivable and judgment collections practice handles each stage, from demand and suit through liens, garnishment, and proceedings supplementary, and we assess collectability before recommending suit. If a customer is holding your money, contact us to review the file and the deadline that applies to it.