Divorce — formally called “dissolution of marriage” in Florida — is one of the most consequential legal processes most people ever go through. It involves strict deadlines, mandatory financial disclosure, and decisions about property, support, and children that will shape your life for years. Understanding how Florida’s dissolution process works, and where the traps are, makes a real difference in protecting your rights.
At The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A., we represent divorce clients throughout Brevard County — from initial consultation through final judgment and any post-judgment proceedings.
Florida Is a No-Fault Divorce State — With Important Exceptions
Under Florida Statute § 61.052, neither spouse has to prove adultery, cruelty, or abandonment to obtain a divorce. The filing spouse only needs to assert that the marriage is “irretrievably broken.” One spouse’s testimony to that effect is almost always enough.
But “no-fault” does not mean conduct never matters. Marital misconduct can still be highly relevant to specific issues:
Dissipation of assets. If a spouse wasted marital funds — on an affair, gambling, or other non-marital purposes — within two years before filing, courts can account for that waste in the property division, awarding the other spouse a larger share or assigning the spender more of the marital debt.
Domestic violence. Under Florida Statute § 61.13, credible evidence of domestic violence — injunctions, convictions, police reports, medical records — creates a rebuttable presumption that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the children. Courts can award sole parental responsibility to the other parent or require supervised time-sharing.
Substance abuse. Evidence of ongoing alcohol or drug abuse affecting parenting can lead to supervised time-sharing, random testing requirements, or conditions tied to treatment and sustained sobriety.
Child abuse or neglect. Children’s safety takes absolute priority; courts have broad authority to restrict or suspend a parent’s time-sharing where credible evidence shows abuse or neglect.
Knowing when conduct evidence helps your case — and when raising it just inflames conflict without changing the outcome — is part of what an experienced divorce attorney brings to the table.
Residency: The Six-Month Rule
Before filing, at least one spouse must have been a bona fide Florida resident for the six consecutive months immediately before the petition is filed (Florida Statute § 61.021). This is jurisdictional — get it wrong and the case is dismissed no matter how strong it is otherwise.
“Bona fide residence” means genuine residence with intent to make Florida home, not just physical presence. Courts look at where you live, work, bank, vote, and register your vehicles. The strongest proof combines a Florida driver’s license, vehicle registration, voter registration, utility bills, and a lease or mortgage at the same Florida address for the six-month period.
Only one spouse needs to satisfy the requirement. If you have been a Brevard County resident for six months, you can file here even if your spouse lives in another state and objects. Special rules protect active-duty service members: the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can pause proceedings during deployment, and station assignments complicate domicile questions — issues we handle regularly given the Space Coast’s military community. See our military divorce practice page for more.
The Three Paths: Simplified, Uncontested, and Contested
Simplified dissolution is Florida’s fastest, cheapest procedure — but it is only available if you meet every requirement: both spouses agree the marriage is irretrievably broken, there are no minor or dependent children and no pregnancy, you have agreed on dividing all assets and debts, neither spouse seeks alimony, both waive trial and appeal rights, and both personally attend the final hearing. The trade-offs are significant: no formal discovery to verify your spouse’s financial disclosures, no mechanism for temporary relief, and a permanent waiver of alimony. Even qualifying couples should think carefully before choosing this path.
Uncontested dissolution fits couples who agree on everything but don’t qualify for (or don’t want) the simplified route — usually because children are involved or they want the protection of full financial disclosure. The case follows the standard framework, but the parties memorialize their agreement in a Marital Settlement Agreement and, where children are involved, a Parenting Plan. The judge reviews the agreements at a short final hearing and incorporates them into the Final Judgment. Uncontested divorces typically finalize in two to four months, cost far less, stay private, and preserve working relationships — which matters enormously when you’ll be co-parenting for years.
Contested dissolution is what happens when spouses cannot agree on one or more issues — property, debts, alimony, parental responsibility, time-sharing, or support. The case proceeds through responsive pleadings, temporary relief hearings if needed, mandatory financial disclosure, discovery, mediation (required in most Florida circuits), and ultimately trial if settlement fails. Most contested cases still settle before trial — but they settle on better terms for the client whose attorney prepared as if trial were coming. Our divorce procedure page walks through each stage.
Property Division: Equitable Distribution
Florida is an equitable distribution state, not a community property state. Courts divide marital property fairly — which usually starts at 50/50 but doesn’t have to end there.
The analysis has two steps: classify every asset and debt as marital or non-marital, then distribute the marital estate equitably.
Marital property generally includes everything acquired by either spouse during the marriage, regardless of title: the home, retirement accounts and pensions (to the extent earned during the marriage), bank and investment accounts, vehicles, business interests created or grown during the marriage, and household property. Florida treats marriage as an economic partnership — the homemaker spouse’s contributions count alongside the wage-earner’s.
Non-marital property includes assets owned before the marriage, individual gifts and inheritances, property designated as separate in a valid prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, and assets acquired after the petition is filed.
The complications come from commingling. Deposit an inheritance into a joint account and spend it on family expenses, and it may lose its separate character. Add your spouse to the deed of a home you owned before marriage, pay the mortgage with marital funds, and what was separate may become largely marital. Preserving non-marital assets requires deliberately keeping them separate — in individually titled accounts, never mixed with marital funds.
Under Florida Statute § 61.075, courts begin with the premise of an equal split and adjust based on statutory factors: each spouse’s contributions (including as homemaker), economic circumstances, the marriage’s duration, career or education sacrifices made for the other spouse or the family, dissipation of assets, the desirability of keeping the home for dependent children, and anything else equity requires. Valuation often requires experts — forensic accountants for businesses, actuaries for pensions, appraisers for real estate.
Alimony After the 2023 Reform
Florida’s alimony law changed fundamentally on July 1, 2023, when Senate Bill 1416 took effect. For cases filed on or after that date:
Permanent alimony no longer exists. Florida now recognizes four types:
- Temporary alimony — support while the divorce is pending.
- Bridge-the-gap alimony — short-term help transitioning to single life, capped at two years, non-modifiable.
- Rehabilitative alimony — support tied to a specific, defined plan for rebuilding earning capacity through education, training, or work experience, capped at five years.
- Durational alimony — support for a set period, with hard caps tied to the length of the marriage.
The durational caps: for marriages under 10 years, alimony cannot exceed 50% of the marriage’s length; for 10–20 year marriages, 60%; for marriages of 20 years or more, 75%.
The short-marriage bar: durational alimony may not be awarded at all for marriages lasting under three years. And the amount of durational alimony is capped at the recipient’s reasonable need or 35% of the difference between the parties’ net incomes, whichever is less.
Courts still weigh the familiar factors — the marital standard of living, the marriage’s duration, each spouse’s age, health, earning capacity, and financial resources, and contributions to the marriage including homemaking and support of the other spouse’s career. Courts can impute income to a spouse who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed. But the reform’s structure means timing and strategy matter more than ever. Learn more on our alimony practice page.
Protecting Yourself Through the Process
A few principles hold in nearly every Florida divorce. Take the mandatory financial disclosure seriously — both in what you provide and in scrutinizing what you receive. Don’t move assets around after filing; courts see it, and it backfires. Keep communications with your spouse civil and in writing where children are concerned. And get advice before you file, not after: decisions about timing, county, and how the petition frames the issues can affect everything that follows.
Considering divorce in Brevard County? Contact The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. at (321) 529-7777 or info@jmoorelegal.com for a free 30-minute consultation.