Form 1.977 Florida: The Fact Information Sheet Explained

Before you spend money on garnishment or sheriff levies, you need to know what the debtor actually owns. Florida's Fact Information Sheet — Form 1.977 under the Rules of Civil Procedure, or Form 7.343 in small claims — is the tool that gets you that information.

It's a sworn financial disclosure that forces the judgment debtor to reveal their bank accounts, employment, income, real estate, vehicles, and other assets. Here's how to use it.

Getting the Court to Order It

The Fact Information Sheet is not automatic. You must ask the court to include the order in the final judgment or file a separate post-judgment motion requesting it.

In small claims, the standard approach is to request the enforcement paragraph at the time judgment is entered. If you didn't do that, you can file a motion afterward asking the court to order the debtor to complete Form 7.343 (the small claims version of Form 1.977).

What the Debtor Must Disclose

The form comes in two versions:

Form 1.977(a) — Individuals requires:

• Full name, address, Social Security number, date of birth
• Employer name, address, pay rate, and frequency
• Bank accounts (institution, account numbers, balances)
• Real property owned (legal descriptions, locations)
• Vehicles, boats, and other titled property
• Mandatory attachments: 3 months of pay stubs, 3 months of bank statements, vehicle titles or deeds, most recent federal tax return

Form 1.977(b) — Business entities requires the same core information plus:

• 3 years of tax returns
• 12 months of bank statements
• 12 months of canceled checks
• Corporate officer and member information

The 45-Day Deadline

The debtor has 45 calendar days from the date of the court order to complete the form under oath (notarized) and serve it directly on you.

Two critical details:

It goes to you, not the court. The completed Fact Information Sheet and all financial attachments are delivered privately to the judgment creditor. They are not filed with the clerk of court. This keeps Social Security numbers, bank account details, and tax returns out of public court records.

You file a Notice of Compliance. Once you receive the completed form, you file a Notice of Compliance with the clerk confirming the debtor complied. If the debtor doesn't comply, you don't file anything — you file a Motion to Compel instead.

When the Debtor Refuses

If 45 days pass with no completed form, you can't sanction the debtor yourself. The process requires court intervention:

1. File a Motion to Compel and Motion for Order to Show Cause
2. The court issues an Order to Show Cause, scheduling a hearing
3. The order must be personally served on the debtor
4. At the hearing, the debtor must explain why they didn't comply
5. If they can't justify it, the court can find them in civil contempt
6. Civil contempt can lead to a Writ of Bodily Attachment — the sheriff arrests the debtor and brings them before the court

The contempt route takes time, but it works. Most debtors comply after being served with an Order to Show Cause rather than risk arrest.

Using the Information

Once you have the completed form, you know exactly what enforcement tools make sense:

• Bank accounts identified: File a writ of garnishment targeting the bank
• Employer identified with non-exempt wages: File wage garnishment
• Real estate owned: Record a judgment lien in that county
• Business assets: File a Judgment Lien Certificate on Sunbiz
• No meaningful assets: File your liens and wait — the judgment is good for 20 years

The Fact Information Sheet is essentially your enforcement blueprint. Every dollar you spend on writs and levies after this point is informed by actual data instead of guesswork.

Beyond the Form

The Fact Information Sheet is one piece of post-judgment discovery. Under Rule 1.560, you can also use depositions, subpoenas to third parties, and written interrogatories to dig deeper. If you suspect the debtor is hiding assets or transferring property to relatives, broader discovery tools may be necessary.

Our Florida Small Claims Judgment Collection Guide walks through the entire Form 1.977 process — requesting the order, what to do when the debtor ignores it, how to read the financial data, and how to convert that intelligence into enforcement actions that actually recover money.

Get the complete guide and build your collection strategy on facts, not guesswork.

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