Divorce in Florida

What is Divorce in Florida

In Florida, the legal term for divorce is a dissolution of marriage, and either spouse can file for it. Unlike many other states, Florida is a no-fault divorce state, implying that a person does not need to cite a fault as the basis for the dissolution of marriage. However, when filing a Florida divorce, one of the parties must demonstrate that the marriage is irretrievably broken (can never be fixed). The reason for the irretrievable breakdown may be considered under limited circumstances, especially in determining parenting plan, alimony, and fair distribution of debts and marital assets. Also, where a judge has declared one of the parties in a marriage mentally incapacitated for at least three years, the other party may file for divorce.

Anyone considering dissolution of marriage in Florida can seek legal advice from a Florida family law attorney to avoid forfeiting certain rights. Generally, outcomes in a dissolution of marriage vary and are unique for each case. Some of them are the awards of child support, decisions on parental responsibility (including time-sharing schedules), assets and debts division, and awards of spousal support. Florida divorce records are maintained by the court clerks in the courts where the divorce was issued, or the county clerk in the jurisdiction concerned.

Divorce Laws in Florida

Florida divorce laws are outline in Title VI, Chapter 61.052 of Florida Statutes give a legal set of rules for divorce, otherwise known as dissolution of marriage in Florida. According to Chapter 61.052(1), a court will not dissolve a marriage in Florida unless it finds that the marriage is irretrievably broken. A court will also grant a judgment of dissolution where it finds and establishes that one of the parties in the marriage has been mentally incapacitated for at least three years before the proceeding for dissolution. The court may ask the petitioner to pay alimony in a dissolution of marriage granted on incapacity grounds.

Section 61.052(8) of the Florida Statutes requires each party in a proceeding for marriage dissolution to provide their social security numbers in line with the Federal Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996. They must equally supply the date of birth, full name, and social security number of any minor child of the marriage to help with the administration of child support enforcement. Per Chapter 61.052(4) of the Florida Statutes, a judgment of dissolution of marriage changes the status of both parties from married to single. However, it does not render any child produced by the union as born out of wedlock.

The Collaborative Law Process Act, which is also contained between Section 61.55 and Section 61.58 of the Florida Statutes, is another divorce law in Florida. Section 61.56 limits the scope of a collaborative matter under the state statutes to issues such as divorce, marriage, dissolution, annulment, alimony, and parenting plans. The Act creates a uniform practice system for collaborative law processes to promote the peaceful resolution of disputes and preserve a working relationship between parties. It also encourages the early resolution of pending litigation through a voluntary settlement process and reduces litigation's financial and emotional toll.

Separation vs. Annulment vs. Divorce

The separation of a couple does not mean they have dissolved or terminated their marriage. It means that such a couple does not live under the same roof for a specific period but remains married under the law. Separation offers a couple the opportunity to evaluate their relationship in a bid to either remedy or end it. Separated couples cannot remarry. However, Florida laws do not recognize separation. Hence, a court cannot help a separated couple enforce critical issues, especially regarding assets division and child custody. However, one of the spouses may be entitled to pursue alimony or child support in some instances.

While annulment will not precisely end a marriage, it recognizes that such a marriage, for some reason, never occurred in the first place. From a legal perspective, in Florida, annulment typically helps a party in a union to obtain proof that the marriage is invalid or illegal. In a marriage, one or both of the spouses may seek an annulment for the following reasons:

One or both spouses are underaged and married without a parent's or guardian's consent.
The marriage happened by deceit or fraud. For instance, it is deceitful and fraudulent for one of the spouses to conceal a chronic venereal disease or the intent not, or inability, to have children.
One of the spouses was mentally incapable of agreeing to the marriage in the first place.
One of the spouses was made to enter the union under duress.
One of the spouses is physically disabled in a way that makes it difficult or impossible to consummate the marriage and have children.
The marriage is incestuous or bigamous.

Divorce is the most common legal way to dissolve a marriage in Florida. The state's Family Code does not provide a specific length of period that a couple must be separated before pursuing a divorce. Divorce proceedings occur in court where a couple can reach an agreement regarding who gets custody of children, how their assets and property should be divided, and who pays child or spousal support. Both parties can legally enter into a new marriage once a final divorce agreement is reached and a court order is given.

Florida has three types of divorce (dissolution of marriage). These are simplified divorce, contested divorce, and uncontested divorce. A couple who does not have children and is not tied together by assets or debts can seek a simplified divorce. A couple who disagrees on issues like child custody or assets division and needs to reach an agreement with the help of their respective attorneys and a judge are those that often pursue a contested divorce. If a couple agrees on how to resolve these issues through a divorce agreement, then it is an uncontested divorce.

Divorce and Property in Florida

In any divorce, Florida law requires fair or equitable division of the marital property between spouses. However, the non-marital property of each party remains with them after finalizing the divorce. While the equitable division of marital property means dividing it equally (50/50), a judge may split the property in a different proportion if, after considering several factors, believe doing it 50/50 would be unfair. These factors include:

Liabilities incurred by either spouse, regardless of their impacts on marital or non-marital property
Contribution of each spouse to the educational or career opportunities of the other party and any interruption in both
The length of the marriage
The weight of wrongful conduct of either spouse during the marriage
The financial capacity of each spouse
The contribution of each party as a parent or homemaker during the marriage
The contribution of each spouse in enhancing marital and non-marital properties

Marital property includes all income and assets that spouses acquire during their marriage, either together or separately. Section 61.075 of Florida Statutes describes what constitutes marital property in the state. Besides assets acquired during the marriage, they include interspousal gifts, appreciation/enhancement in value of the non-marital property, certain retirement benefits, and personal and real property held as tenants by the couple. Non-marital property, also known as separate property, includes those acquired by either spouse before marriage and are not subject to division.

Splitting a house in Florida divorce is done the same way as other marital assets. It is fairly divided equally using any of the following options:

Buy Outs - Using this option, one of the spouses chooses to keep the house and buys out the other party's equitable share of the home's assessed value.
Giving the house to the primary caregiver - If there are children in the marriage, one of the spouses who spends more time with the children can get the house in the children's best interest, provided it is financially feasible.
Selling the house - The couple may decide to sell the home, especially if they cannot agree, and then split the profits from the sale.

Generally, the court or couple will assign a monetary value to each marital property once they determine which assets are separate and marital. An equitable division can occur afterward. A couple may have to engage the service of a financial expert to evaluate financial assets such as retirement benefits because doing so on their own might be challenging. A judge will treat debts like assets in a Florida divorce and use an equitable division approach. However, the spouse with the most rewarding career will likely take all or most of the debts, especially if the other spouse is unemployed.

Florida Divorce Attorney

Although it is possible to file for a dissolution of marriage in Florida without legal assistance, it is always better to employ the services of a licensed divorce attorney. It is risky to file without getting legal advice unless the petitioner has no children, no marital property, and no concern about getting financial support in the future. However, meeting with a divorce attorney who can identify issues that could lead to grave mistakes is recommended.

Florida divorce attorneys charge based on their location and experience. Typically, those in big cities charge more than the ones in towns. While most of them charge by the hour, some offer flat-fee services for handling uncontested divorces or certain parts of divorce cases.

How to File for Divorce in Florida

To file for divorce in Florida, one of the spouses must submit a petition to any county Circuit Court. They can obtain the required form from the Circuit Court Clerk's Office. At least one party in the marriage is required to have resided in the state for at least six months before submitting a divorce petition. Anyone filing for dissolution of marriage in Florida can either opt for regular dissolution of marriage or simplified dissolution of marriage.

In Florida, the most widely used approach for ending a marriage is the regular dissolution of marriage. To do this, one party must file a petition for dissolution of marriage at a Circuit Court in the county where they currently live or where both spouses resided as a couple most recently. The court will serve such a petition on the other spouse, commonly known as the respondent. The respondent must consequently file an answer to each item on the petition within 20 days, either denying or admitting the petition claims. When responding to the petition, the respondent may also file a counter-petition, stating other issues not listed in the original petition by the petitioner.

Within 45 days of serving a regular petition or several days before any temporary hearing, both spouses must each submit a completed financial affidavit and certain financial documents. This is often referred to as automatic or mandatory financial disclosure. Also, each party must file a child-support guidelines worksheet with the court at or before any hearing on child support. The regular dissolution of marriage approach works for contested and uncontested divorce cases.

In a simplified dissolution of marriage, both spouses can go to the courthouse together and handle the divorce case without necessarily employing the services of an attorney. However, both parties must file all required documents correctly. Only spouses with no children who are minors are qualified to use this approach, especially where both parties already agreed on the property division before appearing at the courthouse. In such a case, child support and alimony are not issues because the marriage produced no children or the children are already legally adults. This approach is only workable in uncontested divorce cases.

Florida Alimony

According to Section 61.08 of Florida Statutes, the court may award alimony after equitable property division in a divorce. Florida alimony is the award of spousal support or marital obligation to one of the spouses after the dissolution of marriage. Generally, the court uses the following factors in awarding Florida alimony:

Which spouse has educational needs or career training to find employment or support themselves in the future
How long both spouses were married and the living standard enjoyed by each of them during the marriage
The level of contribution and commitment of each spouse during the marriage
The age and physical state of each spouse

The court will only award alimony if the requesting spouse can convincingly demonstrate a need for it, subject to the other spouse's ability to pay.

The common types of alimony are permanent alimony, durational alimony, and rehabilitative alimony. The court awards permanent alimony to a spouse who lacks the financial ability to meet essential needs. This alimony provides such support as established during the marriage of both spouses. Durational alimony is awarded where permanent alimony is not feasible, and it offers a spouse financial help for a set time after the dissolution of marriage. Rehabilitative alimony helps a spouse build a self-support capacity through the acquisition of training, education, or redevelopment of previous skills.

Florida Child Custody

The official term for child custody in Florida is parental responsibility and time-sharing, which the courts establish through a parental plan. Florida parental responsibility is the ability of divorced parents to make decisions regarding their child(ren)'s welfare, especially concerning health and education. Typically, courts award shared parental responsibility, where both parents approve critical decisions regarding their child(ren). However, the court will not award shared parental responsibility if it is not in a child's best interest. In such a case, it will award a sole parental responsibility. Time-sharing is the amount of time each parent from a dissolved marriage spends with their child(ren) in a year.

Florida Child Support

After the dissolution of any marriage in Florida, the Circuit Court can order a parent to pay Florida child support in line with the child support guidelines established in the 2021 Florida Statutes. Generally, the court determines child support costs on a case-by-case basis. In deciding child support, the court considers the number of children involved and each parent's net income.

Florida child support may be by direct payment or by indirect benefits. Indirect benefits include insurance, payment of medical expenses, and mortgage payments. According to Section 61.13 of Florida Statutes, the child support obligation ends when a child turns 18, joins the armed forces, marries, dies, or is emancipated. Other factors considered when calculating Florida child support are a child's everyday needs, the number of days parents will spend with such a child and the monthly insurance costs for both parents.

Florida Divorce Forms

The Florida State Court System provides a list of Florida Divorce Forms. The common ones used when petitioning for dissolution of marriage in the state include: