Florida Divorce Laws - Laws About Divorce in Florida

In order for people to file for a dissolution of their marriage in Florida, one of them should have already been residing in the state at least 6 months before filing a petition for divorce. The usual policy is that no final judgment of dissolution of marriage may be entered until a period of at least 20 days have passed since the original petition of divorce has been filed unless one can show that waiting that long would result to an injustice on the part of one party.

A dissolution of marriage may only be granted on the grounds that one of the parties is mentally incapacitated for the last 3 years and/or the marriage can be considered as irretrievably broken. In cases of legal separation prior to a dissolution of marriage, Florida does have provisions addressing concerns on spousal and child support as well as custody. Whether the divorce is one party's fault or not, he/she can file a case to settle his/her spouse's financial obligations towards him/her or their minor child/children. A court will be able to adjudicate whether one should pay for spousal and child support and establish where the children's primary residence will be as well as arrangements for visitation rights.

Florida divorce laws also state that marital assets should be divided on an equitable basis. This means that the court should consider, by default, an equal distribution unless there's a justification for an unequal distribution. Here are a few factors in a Florida divorce to consider when distributing assets unequally:

Each person's contribution to the marriage. A spouse's contribution may be economic in nature as well as contributions to the care of the home and the children.

Current economic standing of both spouses

Each spouse's contribution to the growth of the assets

Any spouse's intentional efforts to use up, dispose of, waste, or destroy assets prior to the divorce

Interruptions to the career or educational opportunities of either party.

When considering laws about divorce in Florida, it's also important to know about spousal support or maintenance. The nature of the support may be rehabilitative or permanent, depending on the situation of the spouses. It may also be paid out as a lump sum or through monthly payments, depending on what both parties will agree on. The court may look into several factors when deciding on whether one spouse is entitled to spousal support and how much. Some examples are:

Standard of living established within the marriage.

Age of both spouses

Financial resources of spouses.

The length of time it will take for one spouse to complete training in order to find employment sufficient to his/her needs

The length of time needed to finish one spouse's studies and the time needed to find suitable employment

Source/s of income available to both spouses

The economic as well as non-economic contributions of each party to the marriage (child care, caring for the house, supporting the spouse's career, etc)

One may file for the dissolution of marriage in the circuit court where either party lives in.