Florida uncontested divorce attorney

01 Quick answers

Do I have to prove fault?

No. Section 61.052 requires only that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and it is pleaded generally. Florida has no fault ground for an ordinary dissolution.

How long do I have to have lived in Florida?

Six months. Section 61.021 requires one of the parties to have resided in the state for six months before the petition is filed.

What makes a divorce "uncontested"?

Agreement on the outcome — property, debt, alimony, and any time-sharing and support. The same issues exist either way; uncontested means they are settled rather than tried.

Can it become contested?

Yes, and that matters here: this firm handles uncontested dissolutions. If a case turns into contested trial work, you will be told so rather than carried along.

Do we both need lawyers?

One attorney cannot represent both of you. In an uncontested case the other spouse may proceed unrepresented, and that is their decision to make with full information.

How are fees handled?

Hourly, for consultations and attorney’s fees, with court costs and case expenses billed separately. Payment plans are available.

02 No fault

What Florida actually requires to end a marriage

Less than most people expect, and nothing about blame.

Section 61.052 provides that no judgment of dissolution shall be granted unless one of two facts appears, pleaded generally: that the marriage is irretrievably broken, or mental incapacity — and the incapacity ground requires an adjudication of incapacity under § 744.331 for at least three preceding years, which makes it rare.

So in practice it is the first one, and it is pleaded generally. There is no affair to prove, no misconduct to document, and no advantage to be gained by describing either. People arrive expecting to have to build a case about their spouse’s behavior; the statute does not ask for it.

Before any of that, residency. Section 61.021 requires that one of the parties reside 6 months in the state before the filing of the petition. One party is enough, and it is six months before filing rather than six months before the judgment.

No fault to prove. Six months of residency. That is the threshold.

03 What is still decided

Uncontested does not mean there is nothing to resolve

The word misleads people into thinking an uncontested divorce is a formality. The decisions are identical; only the route is different.

Property and debt are divided under § 61.075, which begins from a premise of equal distribution of marital assets and liabilities and departs from it only on the statutory factors. An agreement still has to say what is marital, what is not, and who takes what.

Alimony, if any, under § 61.08 — which since 2023 has no permanent form, and caps durational awards by the length of the marriage.

Children, if there are any: a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule under § 61.13, and child support calculated under § 61.30. A court reviews a support figure against the guidelines even when the parents agree.

An agreement that leaves one of these vague is the one that comes back. Most post-judgment work exists because a term was written loosely the first time — an exchange location, who claims a child on taxes, how an expense is split.

04 The honest limit

What this firm does and does not take

This is stated here rather than discovered later. The firm handles uncontested dissolutions and the matters around them. It does not hold itself out for contested trial work.

Cases do change character. One that begins as an agreement can stop being one — usually over a disclosure that turns out to be incomplete, or a child-related term one parent will not accept. Where that happens, you will be told plainly, and told early.

That is not a reason to start elsewhere. Most dissolutions in Florida resolve by agreement, and the work of getting a clean, complete agreement is real work. It is a reason to be clear about the boundary at the first conversation rather than at the worst moment.