Florida Divorce Procedures

In Florida, divorce is known as Dissolution of Marriage. This is a no fault divorce state and hence, there is no need to point out any fault to procure a divorce decree. It is sufficient if one of the divorcing partners swears in the court that the marriage has been irretrievably broken.

Commencement of Florida Divorce Procedure

The divorcing partner, who wishes to file the dissolution papers, must confirm that the residency requirements have been met. The venue for filing these papers is the county in which both the divorcing partners are residing or the county wherein the Respondent is living in.

Presently, fault divorces are not in existence in this state. So, all the divorces point out that the marriage has been broken down irretrievably or one of the divorcing partners is incompetent. However, when alimony, property distribution and child custody issues are debated, fault in taken into account.

The first step is that the filing partner must file the dissolution action. Then, it is essential to serve the non-filing partner with the divorce papers. As per the laws, the filing partner is not supposed to serve the divorce papers to the non-filing partner. This job is allocated to a professional process server or any other adult.

The non-filing partner is allocated 20 days, from the date of service of the papers, to file an Answer to the dissolution papers. If the non-filing partner fails to complete this process, the divorce is continued in the absence of the input of the non-filing partner.

If the divorcing couple has child(ren), then it is mandatory that such a couple should attend a “Children and Divorce” seminar. The couple may undergo this seminar either separately or jointly.

Pleadings

The concept of Pleadings is related to contested divorce. In this sort of divorce, the dissolution paperwork is served by the Sheriff’s office or the process server to the opposite partner. This Respondent is allocated some span of time to provide a response to the paperwork. The paperwork in which the contested issues regarding the divorce are included is called as the Pleadings.

Simplified Florida Divorce Procedure

This type of divorce procedure is applicable only if the divorcing couple does not have any dependent children less than 18 years of age (either natural or adopted). Moreover, the wife should not be pregnant. Both the divorcing partners must accede with one another to move along the simplified procedure route.

The residential requirements must be fulfilled and the divorcing partners must agree with each other regarding the distribution of property. In this type of divorce process, there is no room for spousal support, cross examination and trial. The marital status is terminated in a simple way along with the settlements that the divorcing couple agrees upon.

Procedure regarding lawyers

If the income of a divorcing spouse is such that it is not possible to afford a lawyer, there is a probability of Legal Aid Representation. The other route is that the court may order the other spouse to disburse the fees of the lawyer. This second option is only open when the divorcing spouse earns much less money than the other partner.

Divorce Papers