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For any Florida resident getting a divorce should be aware of the different things you need to know about the divorce laws in Florida. Knowing these things will save you both time and sanity. (1) Florida is a “no-fault” divorce state A no fault divorce means that you do not have to accuse your spouse of abandonment, abuse, or adultery because no fault means that neither party is at fault for anything. To file for a no-fault divorce, you just claim that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” If both parties agree that there was an irretrievable breakdown of the marriage, and if there are no children involved, the court will most likely grant the divorce without any additional steps. However, if one spouse denies the irretrievable breakdown or if there are children, the court will likely order the couple to get counseling with either a marriage counselor or a religious minister. (2) Florida has certain residency requirements In Florida, either both parties or at least one party must be a resident of Florida or in the military and stationed in Florida to file for a divorce in Florida. Also, either you or your spouse must have lived or been stationed in Florida for at least six months before filing for divorce and you must provide proof of residency in the form of a Florida Driver’s License. (3) Filing your divorce petition The divorce petition must be filed in the Florida county in which the resident lives. If each spouse lives in different counties, the petition may be filed in either county but the Court has the option of transferring the case to the county in which you both last lived together in as husband and wife. Once the petition is filed, the Clerk of Court issues a summons that must be served along with the petition on the other spouse. Once served, the other spouse has twenty (20) days in which to respond. At this point, both parties will have to meet for mediation. If both parties agree about child custody, spousal support and property division, you will probably not have to go to court for the divorce to proceed and a date for the final hearing will be set. If there are children, Florida may require both parties to attend a seminar to discuss any issues relating to the divorce and the children. (4) Options exist if you cannot locate your spouse If you live in Florida and do not know where your spouse lives, you can still get a divorce in Florida but it requires that you make a “good faith” search to attempt to locate your spouse where you think he or she might live. The steps including in this search include contacting the Department of Motor Vehicles, speaking with friends and family and placing a notice in the proper newspaper for a certain period of time. Once these steps are complete, you must file another pleading with the court, which will be followed by a hearing where you will go before a judge and at that point, the court will make the decision of whether or not to grant the divorce. (5) Dividing property Florida law says that each spouse is allowed to keep their own “non-marital” property they brought into the marriage as well as non-marital debts. If each spouse cannot agree on a division of assets and debts by you, the court will devise an “equitable” distribution of the marital property. Even though this is supposed to be equally, it does not always happen that. (6) Determining spousal support If the Florida court finds alimony or spousal support is “well-founded” an award may be made. There are several factors the Court uses to determine if support is appropriate including the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage, the length of the marriage, the needs of each spouse, the age and health of each spouse and the abilities to pay support. (7) Determining child custody and child support The Court will determine what the “best interest of the child” is if the couple cannot work out an agreeable custody arrangement. Normally, parents are assigned joint custody and share in all parental responsibilities concerning the child or children even though the child may live with one parent for the majority of time. Florida laws set strict guidelines concerning child support including the number of children involved, the income of each parent, child health insurance expenses, any special needs of a child and daycare expenses. (8) Divorce mediation may be helpful If the couple just cannot agree on all the issues related to custody, support or property division, mediation may be the only alternative rather than litigation. A mediator is a neutral third party who is there to help the couple work through any disagreements calmly and come up with possible solutions and outcomes for the court to order. Most arbitration is binding but mediation is not and the couple is not required to accept any conclusions reached while in mediation, but instead opt to go to court to litigate. (9) A simplified divorce process exists for certain couples A “Simplified Dissolution of Marriage” is the quickest and easiest way to get a divorce but Florida law required the couple to meet the residency requirements and have proof of residency, the couple both agree the marriage is irretrievably broken, have no minor children from the marriage, and the wife is not pregnant, both decline alimony, and both agree on the division of property. If all these issues are met, you can go from filing the petition to the final hearing between 21 and 31 days because the date of the hearing has to be at least 21 days after the petition is filed. (10) The process may be very fast, or take a very long time An uncontested divorce can be had in only a few weeks if the couple agree to custody, support, and property division and the petition meets all pleading requirements according to Florida law. However, if any part of your case is contested and full litigation is required, and if you fill the petition in a county that has a full court docket, it will take a lot longer to finalize your divorce.
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