Contested divorce in Florida: when you can't agree Contested divorce in Florida: when you can't agree

Filing and service. One spouse petitions for dissolution (six months' Florida residency); the other answers, typically with a counterpetition. Standard family law procedures restrain major financial moves while the case pends.

Mandatory disclosure — Florida's opening move. Rule 12.285 requires both parties to exchange financial affidavits and a defined document set (returns, statements, pay records) on a rulebook schedule, without waiting to be asked. In complex cases this is the floor, not the ceiling — subpoenas, depositions, and forensic accountants build the rest. If the affidavit doesn't match the lifestyle, that gap is your case: hidden assets and financial discovery.

Temporary relief. Florida courts enter interim orders — temporary support, alimony, time-sharing, fee awards (Florida levels the playing field by ordering the moneyed spouse to fund the other's counsel in appropriate cases), and exclusive use of the home. Temporary hearings are short, evidence-driven, and disproportionately influential. Prepare accordingly.

Discovery and valuation. Businesses, professional practices, equity comp, and real estate get valued; classification fights (marital versus nonmarital, commingling, active appreciation) get built document by document. This is the battlefield described at Florida high-asset divorce.

Mediation — the mandatory table. Nearly every Florida circuit requires mediation before trial. Arrive with values fixed and a tested walk-away; the mechanics live at mediation in Florida.

Trial. What survives mediation is tried to a judge — no juries. Equitable distribution starts at equal; alimony runs the post-2023 framework of forms and caps; the parenting plan gets built from the best-interest factors under the equal-time presumption.

The stage-by-stage calendar: Florida divorce timeline and process.

Three disciplines pay for themselves here. Enforce disclosure early and formally — Florida's rules give you leverage the moment the other side games the affidavit. Treat the temporary hearing as the tone-setter it is; interim orders shadow final ones. And build the valuation record before mediation, because Florida's mandatory checkpoint means your negotiation date is coming whether you're ready or not — readiness is the strategy.

Brown Carrington prepares every contested Florida case for trial — which is why most of ours settle well instead of settling scared.