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Divorce in Florida: what the process actually looks like Divorce in Florida: what the process actually looks like

Divorce in Florida: what the process actually looks like

Florida calls it dissolution of marriage, requires no proof of fault — "irretrievably broken" is the workhorse ground — and has spent the last few years renovating its statutes more aggressively than any state we practice in. Permanent alimony: eliminated. Equal time-sharing: now presumed. If your understanding of Florida divorce comes from a friend's case in 2019, it's a period piece.

Here's the current map.

The ground rules

One spouse must have resided in Florida for six months before filing. There's typically a short mandatory pause — no final judgment until at least 20 days after the petition is filed — that agreed cases can feel and contested cases never notice. Financial disclosure is mandatory and front-loaded in Florida: the rules require financial affidavits and document exchange early, on a schedule. The stages: Florida divorce timeline and process.

Property: equitable distribution, starting at equal

Section 61.075 directs Florida courts to begin with the premise that distribution of marital assets and liabilities should be equal, then adjust for statutory factors — contributions to the marriage, economic circumstances, interruption of careers, intentional dissipation within two years of filing, and more. Nonmarital property — premarital assets, inheritances, gifts to one spouse — stays with its owner, subject to Florida's classic complications: commingling, appreciation of nonmarital assets through marital labor or funds (which becomes marital), and the paydown of nonmarital mortgages with marital earnings. Classification and valuation fights are the core of serious Florida property cases — the full battlefield is Florida high-asset divorce.

Alimony: the post-2023 framework

Florida's 2023 reform ended permanent alimony for new cases and rebuilt the system around defined forms: temporary, bridge-the-gap (two years max), rehabilitative (five years max), and durational — with duration capped by marriage length (no durational alimony at all for marriages under three years; up to 50% of the length for short marriages, 60% for moderate, 75% for long) and amount capped at the recipient's reasonable need or 35% of the income differential, whichever is less. Adultery and its financial impact remain a statutory consideration. The practical translation: Florida alimony is now a bounded negotiation, and the numbers that feed it — income, need, ability — decide it.

Kids

Parental responsibility, the 50/50 time-sharing presumption, mandatory parenting plans, and net-income child support all live at Florida custody and support.

Which kind of case is yours?

The firm for Florida's hard ones

From Palm Beach, Brown Carrington handles Florida dissolutions where the estate, the alimony math, or the time-sharing stakes justify serious counsel.

Straight answers.

Does adultery affect a Florida divorce?

It can — Florida expressly permits courts to consider adultery in alimony, and dissipation of marital funds on an affair is recoverable in equitable distribution. Florida is less purely no-fault than it advertises.

How long does a Florida divorce take?

Agreed cases: often one to three months. Contested cases: commonly nine months to two years, depending on circuit dockets and financial complexity.

Is Florida a 50/50 property state?

It starts there — equal is the statutory premise, adjusted by factors. Equal is the anchor, not the guarantee.

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