“We won in a European court. Can we collect in Florida?”
A judgment from Paris, Kyiv or Zurich is worth exactly as much in Florida as a Florida court is willing to recognize. Florida recognizes foreign money judgments under the Uniform Out-of-country Foreign Money-Judgment Recognition Act; arbitral awards come in through the New York Convention and the Federal Arbitration Act; and since 2024 the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention binds the EU, Ukraine, the United Kingdom and a growing list of states. Which route applies, and whether the debtor can block it, is decided before the first filing.
An uncontested recognition can take a few months; a contested one, with discovery on jurisdiction and service, a year or more. The timeline depends on the defenses the debtor raises, which is why they are assessed first.
It can be, under the Florida recognition statute and, for proceedings started after the Convention's entry into force for Ukraine, under the 2019 Hague Judgments Convention. The specifics of the case — service, jurisdiction, the type of judgment — decide.
No. Florida does not review the merits. The defenses are limited to jurisdiction, notice, fraud, public policy and a few others — a short list, but one a prepared debtor will use.
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