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Florida Divorce Laws

Florida Legal Overview
If you wish to seek a divorce in Florida, you must first meet Florida’s residency requirements. To file for divorce in the state, one of the partners must have been a Florida resident for six months prior to signing the petition. If one party is a member of the military, determining which residency requirements are applicable can be difficult. Additionally, members of the military are required to ensure that they adhere to all of the family law requirements for the military. For this purpose alone, it is essential to work with an attorney familiar with military family law before filing for divorce if one of the parties is in the armed forces.

Grounds for Divorce in Florida
In addition to residency requirements, Florida also requires certain grounds for divorce, since it is not a no-fault state, but these grounds are rather lenient. In order to get divorced in Florida, one of the following must be true: The marriage is irreconcilable, or one of the partners is mentally incapacitated for at least three years.

Would you like more information about divorce laws? Do you have additional questions regarding pension splitting, retirement plans or other asset division concerns following a divorce? Our Florida divorce lawyers are here to help! Contact one of our Florida divorce attorneys today.

Asset Division
Florida is an impartial distribution state, so assets in a marriage are split up based on what is just, which may not always be what is equivalent. When both parties cannot agree on a distribution of their assets, the courts will take many different factors into consideration.

Child Custody
The state courts maintain the right to decide on matters related to child custody, even if the child has been removed from Florida in an attempt to keep the courts from making this decision. In most cases, a shared liability is what Florida courts require in child custody plans.

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Alimony in Florida
Not all divorces in Florida lead to alimony. For those that do, all relevant financial factors will be taken into consideration. In divorces involving minor children, support is calculated based on the Income Shares Model. This means the support total is divided proportionally based on the earnings of the mother and father. Other important factors are taken into consideration when children are involved.