How to Get a Divorce in Florida: Filing, Mediation, and Judgment

To get a divorce in Florida, at least one spouse must have lived in the state for six months, and either spouse can then file a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage in the circuit court on the no-fault ground that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.”¹² From there the case moves through service on the other spouse, mandatory financial disclosures, mediation, and either a negotiated settlement or a trial, ending with a Final Judgment that legally terminates the marriage.

Who Can File in Florida

Florida is a no-fault state. You do not need to prove adultery, cruelty, or any other misconduct. You only need to state that the marriage cannot be repaired.² If your spouse disagrees and argues the marriage can be saved, a judge can order counseling, but that rarely blocks the case for long.

There is one alternative ground: if a spouse has been legally adjudged mentally incapacitated for at least three years, the other spouse can file on that basis, and the court will appoint a guardian to protect the incapacitated spouse’s interests.² Most Florida divorces proceed under the irretrievably broken standard.

The residency requirement is strict. At least one spouse must have physically lived in Florida for six months before the petition is filed.¹ You will need to prove it in court, typically with a Florida driver’s license, voter registration card, or state ID, or with testimony or an affidavit from someone who can confirm you live in the state.² Without proof, the court will dismiss the petition. You can file in any county where either spouse lives.

The Simplified Dissolution Track

If both spouses agree on everything, Florida offers a faster path called simplified dissolution. To qualify, all of these must be true:

Both spouses agree the marriage is irretrievably broken.
You have no minor children together, and the wife is not pregnant.
You have a complete written agreement on how to divide all property and debts.
Neither spouse is asking for alimony.
Both spouses give up the right to a trial and an appeal.
At least one spouse meets the six-month residency requirement.

Both spouses appear together at the clerk’s office to sign the petition, then attend a brief final hearing. This can wrap up in weeks rather than months. If any condition fails, especially the “no minor children” and “no disagreement” pieces, you need the regular process described below.

Step 1: File the Petition

The regular process begins when one spouse (the petitioner) files a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with the circuit court. The petition asks the court to end the marriage and lays out what the petitioner wants: division of assets and debts, alimony, a parenting plan if children are involved, and child support. It must include identifying information for both spouses and any minor children.

Filing fees run around $400, with the exact amount varying by county.³ If you cannot afford the fee, file an Application for Determination of Civil Indigent Status and ask the court for a waiver. The clerk assigns a case number once the petition is filed.

Step 2: Serve Your Spouse

After filing, you must formally deliver the petition and a court-issued summons to your spouse (the respondent). You cannot hand the papers to your spouse yourself. Service in Florida has to be carried out by a sheriff’s deputy or a certified process server.⁴ If your spouse lives out of state, a sheriff or process server in their county can complete service.

If you cannot find your spouse after a diligent search, you can ask the court for permission to serve by publication, which involves running a legal notice in a newspaper for four consecutive weeks. Proof of service must be filed with the court either way. Once served, your spouse has 20 days to file a written response or a counter-petition.

If your spouse is on active-duty military service, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act adds protections. A court cannot enter a default judgment against a service member who has not responded without first appointing an attorney to represent them, and the service member can request a delay of at least 90 days if military duties prevent participation.⁵

Step 3: Exchange Financial Disclosures

Florida requires both spouses to put their finances on the table early. Within 45 days of the petition being served on the respondent, each side must exchange tax returns, bank statements, pay stubs, loan documents, and a sworn financial affidavit listing all income, expenses, assets, and debts.⁶ Judges rely on the financial affidavit when deciding alimony, child support, and property division.

Beyond the required disclosures, either spouse can use formal discovery to dig deeper. Interrogatories are written questions the other side must answer under oath. Requests for production compel the other side to hand over specific documents like bank records, emails, or business financials. These tools matter most when one spouse suspects the other is hiding assets or understating income. Dishonesty in financial disclosures can result in sanctions, an unfavorable property division, or contempt of court.

Step 4: Ask for Temporary Orders if You Need Them

Divorce cases take time. In the meantime, bills keep coming, children need care, and one spouse may control most of the household income. Either party can file a motion for temporary relief asking the court to set interim arrangements while the case is pending. Common temporary orders cover child support, spousal support, use of the family home, and a temporary parenting schedule.

Temporary orders are not permanent. The judge can revise them as things change, and they are replaced by the final judgment. But they matter in practice, because they set the status quo that the final judgment often ends up looking like.

Step 5: Complete the Parenting Course if You Have Children

If you have minor children, both parents must complete a court-approved parenting course covering the impact of divorce on children and strategies for co-parenting. The course has to be at least four hours long.⁷ Many providers offer it online, and it usually costs $25 to $50, though in-person or specialized programs cost more. Both parents must file proof of completion before the court will enter a final judgment, so skipping it delays your divorce.

Step 6: Mediation

Florida courts routinely order mediation, and in circuits with a family mediation program it is mandatory for disputes involving custody, visitation, or parenting responsibilities.⁸ A neutral mediator works with both sides to reach agreement on contested issues. Sessions are confidential, which tends to produce more honest conversation than a courtroom. If you settle, the court can approve the agreement and fold it into the final judgment, and you skip trial.

There is one important exception. If either party has a history of domestic violence that would compromise mediation, the court will not order it.⁸ Raise this with the court before any mediation referral is made. You can file a motion for exemption, and the judge will decide whether mediation is safe.

What the Court Will Decide

Whether the parties settle in mediation or leave it to a judge, the same core issues have to be resolved: property and debts, alimony, and, if there are children, support and time-sharing.

Property and Debts

Florida uses equitable distribution. The court divides marital assets and debts fairly, starting from the assumption that an equal split is appropriate, and departs from 50/50 when the facts justify it.⁹ Everything gets classified first. Assets you owned before the marriage, inheritances, and individual gifts are typically nonmarital. Anything acquired during the marriage is generally marital, whoever’s name is on the title.

When deciding whether to depart from an equal split, the court looks at the length of the marriage, each spouse’s economic circumstances, contributions to the marriage (including homemaking), whether either spouse intentionally wasted marital assets, and whether it makes sense for the family home to go to the parent with primary custody.⁹ Debts follow the same logic. A credit card balance from during the marriage is typically shared; a student loan from before the marriage usually stays with the spouse who took it on.

Alimony

Florida overhauled its alimony law in 2023 and eliminated permanent alimony. Three types remain, each capped by the length of the marriage.¹⁰

Bridge-the-gap alimony helps a spouse move from married to single life. It cannot exceed two years and cannot be modified.
Rehabilitative alimony supports a spouse who needs education or training to become self-supporting. It cannot exceed five years and requires a specific plan.
Durational alimony provides support for a set period after the divorce and is unavailable for marriages under three years. The cap is 50 percent of the marriage’s length for short-term marriages (under 7 years), 60 percent for moderate-term marriages (7 to 17 years), and 75 percent for long-term marriages (17 years or more).¹⁰

The court weighs each spouse’s earning capacity, the standard of living during the marriage, financial resources, and contributions to the marriage, including homemaking and child-rearing. Divorces finalized before July 1, 2023, are governed by the old rules unless modified under the new law.

Child Support and Time-Sharing

Florida calculates child support with an income shares model based on both parents’ combined net income, then apportioned between them. The guideline number is presumptive; the court must order it unless deviating more than 5 percent, which requires a written explanation of why the guideline figure would be unjust.¹¹ The calculation factors in overnights with each parent, health insurance, and daycare costs.

Florida uses “time-sharing” rather than “custody” or “visitation.” Decisions are made on the best interests of the child, with no automatic presumption favoring either parent. Both parents submit a proposed parenting plan covering the daily schedule, holidays, school breaks, and how decisions about education, healthcare, and activities will be made. If the parents cannot agree, the judge writes the plan after hearing evidence about each parent’s relationship with the child, home stability, and other relevant factors.

Step 7: Trial, if the Issues Are Not Resolved

If mediation does not settle every issue, the remaining disputes go to trial. Pre-trial conferences narrow the contested issues and set deadlines for evidence and witness lists. At trial, both sides present testimony, documents, and any expert opinions, such as a business valuation if a spouse owns a company. The judge, not a jury, decides all contested matters, including property division, alimony, child support, and time-sharing.

Trials are expensive and hard on everyone involved. Attorney fees climb quickly when experts are needed and testimony runs multiple days. That is the practical case for settling in mediation whenever you can. Cases that genuinely need a trial tend to involve hidden assets, disputed business valuations, or serious parenting disagreements.

Step 8: The Final Judgment

Whether the case settles or goes to trial, it ends with a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage issued by the judge. This document legally terminates the marriage and spells out every term: property division, alimony, parenting plan, child support, and any other obligations. It is binding, and violating it can lead to enforcement actions, including contempt.

If you want to restore a former name, ask before the final judgment is entered. The judge can include name restoration in the judgment, which simplifies updating your driver’s license, Social Security card, and other records. Skip that step, and you will need to file a separate name-change petition later, with extra fees and time.

How Long It Takes

An uncontested case with full agreement on every issue can wrap up in a few months, and the simplified track can move in weeks. Contested cases that go to trial commonly run over a year. The main drivers of length are how much the spouses disagree, how complicated the finances are, and whether children are involved.

Changing the Judgment Later

Life doesn’t stop after a divorce. Florida lets you petition to modify child support, alimony, or time-sharing if you can show a substantial, material, and unanticipated change in circumstances since the original order.¹² The burden is on the party asking for the change, and you need concrete evidence such as documented income changes, medical records, or proof that a child’s needs have shifted significantly.

The court can modify support retroactively to the date you filed the petition, so acting promptly when circumstances change matters. One thing courts cannot modify is property division. Once assets and debts are divided in the final judgment, that split is permanent. Discovering hidden assets after the fact opens a separate fraud-based remedy, but the standard modification process does not reach property.

1
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 61.021 – Residence Requirements
2
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 61.052 – Dissolution of Marriage
3
Duval County Clerk of Court. Fee Schedules
4
Escambia Clerk of Court. Important Information About Service of Process for a Dissolution of Marriage
5
Military OneSource. Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
6
Supreme Court of Florida. Florida Family Law Rule 12.285 – Mandatory Disclosure
7
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 61.21 – Parenting Course
8
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 44.102 – Court-Ordered Mediation
9
The Florida Statutes. Florida Code 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
10
Florida Senate. CS/SB 1416 – Dissolution of Marriage
11
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 61.30 – Child Support Guidelines
12
Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature. Florida Code 61.14 – Enforcement and Modification of Support, Maintenance, or Alimony Agreements or Orders