Rule 1.201.Real party in interest

Rule 1.201 answers a basic question at the start of any lawsuit: whose name belongs on the petition? The general rule is that the person who holds the actual claim, the real party in interest, must be the one prosecuting it. But the rule immediately carves out familiar categories of people who may sue in their own name even though the recovery ultimately benefits someone else: an executor, administrator, conservator, guardian, or trustee of an express trust, a person who contracted in their own name for another's benefit, or a party a statute specially authorizes to sue.

The rule's second half protects against a harsh result. If a case is filed in the wrong party's name, the court cannot dismiss it on that basis alone the moment the mistake is raised. Instead, once an objection is made, the real party in interest must be given a reasonable time to ratify the action, join it, or be substituted in. When that happens, the rule treats the case as if it had been filed correctly from the start, so the fix does not cost the plaintiff the benefit of the original filing date.

This combination — a clear naming requirement paired with a built-in cure — reflects a preference for resolving cases on their merits over dismissing them on a naming technicality that can be corrected without harm to the defendant.