In Florida, only a court can dissolve your marriage, or get you divorced. The requirements for filing for divorce in Florida are pretty simple. But the process itself can be complicated if you do not understand how the family court system and divorce laws work.
Table of Contents
- Basic requirements for filing for divorce in Florida
- How to Get a Divorce in Florida
- 2 Ways to Do a Divorce in Florida
- Cost of a Divorce in Florida
- Getting a Divorce When You Don’t Know Where your spouse is
- If you want to read more information for your Florida divorce
- Getting personalized information for your case
Basic requirements for filing for divorce in Florida
For you to file for divorce anywhere in Florida, you must satisfy three basic requirements.
These requirements are the following:
- You or your spouse must have lived in the State at least six (6) months before filing the divorce case.
- You must serve your spouse with the divorce papers. This lets them know that you filed for a divorce. This requirement for personal service is mandatory. The only exception would be if the divorce is by agreement before filing, which are known as uncontested divorces. See uncontested divorce in Florida (below).
- Your marriage is irretrievably broken. These are the grounds for divorce, discussed further below.
How to Get a Divorce in Florida
Florida divorce laws give you the option of deciding how to get a divorce.
What I mean by this is that you and your spouse will have a lot of room to decide how to do the divorce in terms of litigation or negotiation as to any property and debt. This freedom does not apply to the obligation to set an amount of child support if you have children of the marriage. You cannot agree that child support will not be calculated.
There are really only two kinds of divorce you can choose. The first is an uncontested divorce. The second is a contested divorce, where you go through the litigation process in court until you get a final judgment dissolving your marriage.
Grounds for Divorce
Florida divorce law recognize only two grounds for divorce in Florida. One legal ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The other is the mental incapacity of one of the spouses.
From these two grounds, you can see that Florida is a no-fault state for divorce. This means that there are no grounds for divorce such as abandonment, cruelty and adultery, which were historically the necessary legal grounds for dissolving a marriage.
It also means that your spouse doesn’t have to agree or consent to the divorce. Simply put, one of the parties has decided that the marriage is broken and wants a divorce.
What is decided in a divorce case
In a divorce, the court needs to make sure that everything regarding your marriage is taken care of and decided. This means that if you and your spouse have children, provisions have been made about their upbringing and time sharing with each of you. It also has to make financial provisions for their needs (child support). The court must also make sure that any property or debt on which there is a dispute is taken care of as well.
If you an your spouse take care of making these decisions, then the process of divorce–the ways of doing a divorce–in Florida will be much easier for you.
2 Ways to Do a Divorce in Florida
You can do your divorce in two ways: uncontested or contested. This refers to how the divorce is processed, not to a special type of divorce.
Uncontested Divorce in Florida
In an uncontested divorce in Florida, you and your spouse agree that you will get divorced. This is an agreement to work together to get it done, not a legal requirement to get divorced, as mentioned above. You both agree on every single thing that needs to be decided as a result of having been married and wanting to get divorced.
You and your spouse make provisions for time-sharing if you have minor children, including making provisions for child support. You also make provisions for the division of property and the payment of debts.
Uncontested divorces usually take less time to complete. Often, an uncontested divorce can take as little as 2 weeks from start to finish, after it has been filed. They are also less expensive than a contested divorce. In Miami, uncontested divorces are now done with no court appearance–there are no hearings to go to.
No attorney can represent both parties. However, if you and your spouse agree to an uncontested divorce, one lawyer representing you can take care of the entire process. On the other hand, the fact that each party has its own lawyer does not mean that theirs cannot be an uncontested divorce. Many divorces are uncontested and each party has representation.
If you want to know more about how to get an uncontested divorce in Florida for a flat fee, visit MiamiDivorceOnline.com
If your divorce is not uncontested, then it is a contested divorce.
Contested Divorce in Florida
A contested divorce is one in which you and your spouse may agree to get a divorce but disagree as to everything else. Sometimes, one spouse may not even agree as to getting divorced. Contested divorces, then, are those that are litigated divorces because the court has to make decisions for both of you.
Litigated divorces taker longer and cost you more. Each side has their own divorce attorney. Both sides have the right to require proof of claims made by the other party, to take sworn statements (depositions) from the other party and any witness.
Your contested divorce will take longer because there thousands of divorces filed each year in the Miami Family Court alone. Each year there are also thousands of new paternity cases. And there are couples coming back to court on older cases on both paternity and divorce. The time available for hearings and trials is limited. The result for you is a slow process in getting your contested divorce done .
When your spouse receives “the divorce papers,” they will have twenty (20) calendar days to file an answer with the court. Besides filing an answer, your spouse could also file a counter petition for divorce. Whatever your spouse files, you or your lawyer must receive a copy of that document, too.
Fortunately, there are many opportunities to turn a litigated divorce into an uncontested one as the case progresses through the system.
Benefits of a Divorce
Because marriage is a legally recognized relationship, each spouse has rights and obligations arising from the marriage.
According to the facts of your case, the divorce decree sets the rights of each party as to children, if you have minor children of the marriage. It also sets rights as to property and debt acquired during the marriage. Similarly, if you or your spouse have requested alimony, the judge will determine if alimony is granted and the amount.
Cost of a Divorce in Florida
If you will be the one filing the divorce, you will pay a filing fee to the court to open the case in court. This charge is independent of any fee paid to a divorce lawyer.
Your divorce can have additional costs that have nothing to do with the court or the divorce lawyers. For example, costs of interpreters for parties or witnesses who will testify and don’t speak English, stenographers, process server fees,etc.
There are additional fees, including fees for the spouse who will file a counter-petition.
Getting a Divorce When You Don’t Know Where your spouse is
When you do not know the whereabouts of your spouse so that you can serve them, the statutes provide a procedure for you to be able to get a divorce anyway. A divorce using this process is usually referred to as a divorce by publication. A divorce by publication has certain limitations, and will take longer to complete than an uncontested divorce.
The same legal grounds discussed above applies to a divorce by publication. It is not a different kind of divorce; only the process is different.
If you want to read more information for your Florida divorce
If you would like to read more about divorce generally, consider these topics:
Getting personalized information for your case
If you believe you are facing a contested divorce and would like specific information for your case, schedule a Case Assessment Session, or you can also call me at 305-710-9419
On the other hand, if you want to do an uncontested divorce, you can explore a flat fee divorce service. Visit MiamiDivorceOnline.com for specific information.