Learn How to File for a Florida Divorce and What to Expect in Court Before Your Hearing

It is not an absolutely rare phenomenon to witness a divorce appeal being dismissed by a legal court in the United States. The reason for such occurrence is simple – at least one of the divorce regulations of the state in question has probably been found to be violated.

So this is why when you are a resident of the state of Florida, you will need to know the various Florida divorce laws and how to file for divorce in the appropriate court here.

How to File for Divorce: First Ensure That You Meet the Residency Requirements

The residency requirements for initiating a Florida divorce lawsuit have been designed in accordance with the recommendations present in Chapter 61.021 of the Florida Statutes.

Prior to petitioning a court in the state for a divorce, you or your wife/husband need to ensure that you are a resident of the state and have been for a period of at least 6 months. You need to also ensure that the court of law where your divorce petition is presented has the proper jurisdictional power.

There are two alternative ways in which you and your spouse can initiate the proceedings. First, the two of you can decide to agree upon a common cause which would be cited as the reason for seeking divorce. As an alternative, the Florida divorce authorities can also allow you to legally allege your partner with certain charges, which, needless to say, have to be backed up by evidence. You need to be sure about these when you are filing for divorce.

In legal terminology, the Florida divorce procedure is also known as the ‘Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage’. The basic condition for you and your partner being granted a divorce settlement is being able to make the court understand that the marital relations between the two of you have been broken beyond repair. Another plausible ground for moving to a Florida divorce court is the detection of mental insanity in your spouse. Such cases however have to be medically proven, with a past history of at least 3 years.

You will be the ‘Petitioner’ in case the divorce proceedings are initiated by you and your wife/husband is referred to as the ‘respondent’. The Domestic Relations Court (also referred to as the Family Law Court) arranges for the hearings of a Florida divorce case.

The court where you need to place your initial petition is known as the Circuit Court (of the concerned county). Florida divorce cases are assigned distinct case numbers for easy identification. All the documents that you need to file at the Florida divorce court are stamped with the name of the court on them.

Divorce in Florida – The Paperwork

When filing for divorce, you should know about the various legal documents. For example, you would at all points in time while the lawsuit is taking place require the initiating ‘Petition for Dissolution of Marriage’ and the ‘Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage’ that will come at the end. In between, there is the Marriage Settlements Agreement, Final Affidavits and the Family Law papers.

Florida divorce laws have been framed in such a way that once the lawsuit gets over you and your wife’s/husband’s share over the marital properties is estimated in an ‘equitable’ manner. It is considered preferable if the two of you can come to a consensus as to how the property would be divided. Obviously, if that cannot be done, the Florida divorce court will issue its binding decision.

Keeping into consideration the various documents and papers relevant to your Florida divorce lawsuit, the services of the Court Clerk (i.e. the County Clerk of the District Court) come in extremely handy. Together with his/her assistants, the Clerk takes the responsibility of all your paperwork, and conveys all decisions and directives issued by the Florida divorce court to you and your spouse as well.

Since the primary objective of the post-divorce re-distribution of the asset items is a ‘fair’ arrangement, several factors are considered by the Florida divorce court for this. This includes the period of your marriage, the contribution either of you made for the properties, how healthy both of you are (economically), and retention issues of the marital residence.

Alimony and Divorce

Whether your divorce lawsuit requires an alimony arrangement either from you to your estranged spouse, or vice versa, depends on the discretionary judgment of the Florida divorce court. The directives issued in favor of alimony payments can be either temporary or long-term. In case either of you had been charged with adultery during marriage, that can change the alimony arrangements significantly too.

The future employability of you and your partner, as well as your respective earning potentials are analyzed by the Florida divorce authorities while issuing decisions on alimony. The two of you need also to disclose your respective current financial conditions and the effect of the divorce on the economic constraints.

Child Custody

The Enforcement Act and the Uniform Child Jurisdiction Law of the Florida divorce regulations come to the forefront while determining the custodial rights of any children that you and your spouse might have from your marriage. Even if the child does not attend any of the hearings, the court reserves the right to issue binding orders for his/her custody. This holds true even if the child is not living in Florida.

The Florida divorce court wants to lessen the effects of the negative stress of the divorce on the child. Simultaneously, it is also ensured that you and your wife/husband are not robbed of the joys of being with your child (except for certain special situations).

Having known all these details of the Florida divorce law and also how you can file for divorce, you are now ready to continue. If it seems that there is no future in your marital relationship, you might have no other option but to seek the divorce and move on in life.