You can file for divorce in Florida when your spouse lives out of state, as long as you have lived in Florida for at least six continuous months before filing. The harder questions come after that. A Florida court can end your marriage on that basis alone, but its power to divide property, order alimony, or decide custody turns on separate jurisdictional rules, and each one can point to a different courthouse.
The Six-Month Residency Requirement
Florida requires at least one spouse to have lived in the state for six continuous months immediately before the petition is filed.1Justia Law. Florida Code 61.021 – Residence Requirements If you meet that threshold, you can file regardless of where your spouse lives. If neither of you does, Florida is not an option and you will need to file in a state where one of you qualifies.
You have to prove residency at the final hearing. Acceptable evidence includes a valid Florida driver’s license, a Florida voter registration card, a Florida ID card, or testimony or an affidavit from someone who can confirm you have been living here. Florida is a no-fault state, so you do not need to prove your spouse did anything wrong. The only ground you need to allege is that the marriage is irretrievably broken.2Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.052 – Dissolution of Marriage
Whether Florida Can Reach Your Spouse Financially
Meeting the residency requirement lets the Florida court dissolve the marriage. Ordering your spouse to do something, like pay alimony or turn over a share of an asset, is a different power called personal jurisdiction. Without it, the court can end the marriage on paper but cannot touch money or property in your spouse’s hands.
Florida’s long-arm statute gives the court personal jurisdiction over a nonresident spouse in a divorce case if the couple maintained a marital home in Florida when the case was filed, or if the out-of-state spouse previously lived in Florida before the filing.3Justia Law. Florida Statutes 48.193 – Acts Subjecting Person to Jurisdiction If your spouse never lived in Florida and the two of you never had a home here, the court likely does not have personal jurisdiction. You can still get the divorce granted, but you may need to file a separate action in your spouse’s state to sort out property and support.
What the Court Cannot Do Without Personal Jurisdiction
This trips up a lot of people. When the court lacks personal jurisdiction over your spouse, it can dissolve the marriage and decide custody of children who live in Florida, but it cannot order your spouse to pay alimony, divide retirement accounts, split equity in an out-of-state home, or enforce any other financial obligation against them personally. Florida’s equitable distribution statute even anticipates this, allowing a separate proceeding to divide assets after a divorce granted without jurisdiction over the absent spouse.4Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
If you need alimony or a property split and the court does not have jurisdiction over your spouse, you generally have two options. You can try to get your spouse to voluntarily participate in the Florida case, which submits them to the court’s authority, or you can pursue the financial issues in a court that does have jurisdiction over them. Getting legal advice on this point early is worth the cost, because filing in the wrong place can burn months.
Custody Follows the Children’s Home State
When minor children are involved, custody has its own rules under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, and the UCCJEA does not care where you filed for divorce. It gives custody jurisdiction to the child’s “home state,” meaning the state where the child has lived with a parent for the six consecutive months before the case began.5Justia Law. Florida Code 61.514 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction
If your children have been living with you in Florida for at least six months, Florida is their home state and the divorce court can decide custody. If they moved here more recently, or if they live with the other parent in another state, custody jurisdiction may sit elsewhere. In that case the Florida court can still grant the divorce but must defer custody to the appropriate state. Florida will also decline custody jurisdiction if a parent engaged in wrongful conduct, such as moving a child across state lines to manufacture a home-state connection.6Justia Law. Florida Code 61.521 – Jurisdiction Declined by Reason of Conduct
Forms You Will File
The main document is the Petition for Dissolution of Marriage. Florida uses standardized court-approved forms, and the version you file depends on whether you have minor children. Form 12.901(b)(1) is for divorces involving dependent or minor children.7Florida Courts. Petition for Dissolution of Marriage With Dependent or Minor Children – Form 12.901(b)(1) A separate version exists for divorces without children. You will need full legal names and dates of birth for both spouses, Social Security numbers, the date and place of the marriage, and your spouse’s last known mailing address.
If children are involved, you must also file a UCCJEA Affidavit (Form 12.902(d)) detailing where the children have lived for the past five years and identifying anyone else who has claimed custody rights. Both spouses complete a Financial Affidavit. Use the short form (Form 12.902(b)) if your gross annual income is under $50,000, or the long form (Form 12.902(c)) if it is over $50,000.8Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida. Dissolution of Marriage With Dependent or Minor Children Approved forms are available on the Florida Courts website or from the clerk’s office in your county. Filing fees run around $408, with slight variation by county, and a fee waiver is available for people who cannot afford to pay.
Serving Papers Across State Lines
After you file, you must formally deliver copies of the petition and summons to your spouse. This step, called service of process, is not optional, and you cannot do it yourself. Someone legally authorized to serve court papers has to deliver them.
For an out-of-state spouse, the most reliable method is personal service. You hire a sheriff’s deputy or licensed process server in the county and state where your spouse lives, and that person hands the documents to your spouse. Florida law allows out-of-state service to be completed using the methods that would be valid in the state where your spouse is located.9Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 48.194 – Personal Service in Another State No court order is needed. The process server files a return-of-service form with the Florida court documenting how, where, and when the papers were delivered. Fees for out-of-state process servers generally run $50 to $200 depending on location and how many attempts it takes.
If You Cannot Find Your Spouse
If you genuinely do not know where your spouse is, the court may allow service by publication as a last resort. Before authorizing it, the court requires a sworn statement showing you conducted a thorough search: last known employer, relatives, friends, the post office, voter registration records, online databases.10Justia Law. Florida Code 49.041 – Sworn Statement, Natural Person as Defendant Judges take this seriously, and a vague or half-hearted search will get the request denied.
If publication is approved, a notice is published in a newspaper, usually near where your spouse was last known to live. A divorce finalized by publication comes with a major limit. Because your spouse never received actual notice, the court can dissolve the marriage but generally cannot divide property or award alimony.
If Your Spouse Is on Active Military Duty
If your spouse is on active duty in any branch of the military, the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act adds protections you have to follow. Before any default judgment can be entered, you must file an affidavit stating whether your spouse is in military service.11Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3931 – Protection of Servicemembers Against Default Judgments A false affidavit on this point is a federal crime.
If your spouse is serving, the court must appoint an attorney to represent them before entering any default. Your spouse can also request that the case be paused for at least 90 days if their military duties prevent them from participating, supported by a letter about their service and a statement from their commanding officer confirming leave is not available.12Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 50 USC 3932 – Stay of Proceedings When Servicemember Has Notice The delays can be frustrating, but ignoring SCRA can get any judgment reopened later.
The Response Deadline
Once your spouse is served, they have 20 days to file a written response with the Florida court.13The Florida Bar. Family Law Rules of Procedure – Rule 12.140 The response, called an answer, addresses each claim in the petition and states what your spouse wants the court to do. For an out-of-state spouse, the 20 days run from the date the papers were delivered, not from the date you filed.
If no response comes in, you can ask the clerk to enter a default. Once a default is entered, your spouse loses the right to participate in the case. You can then schedule a final hearing and present your proposed terms without opposition. The court still holds an evidentiary hearing to confirm the facts, but without your spouse present the outcome tends to track your petition. A default is not automatic; you have to request it, and the court will check that service was properly completed.
Contested and Uncontested Paths
If your spouse files an answer and agrees with everything in the petition, the divorce is uncontested. You can negotiate a marital settlement agreement covering property, alimony, and any parenting plan, and submit it for court approval. Uncontested divorces with an out-of-state spouse can often be finalized without that spouse ever setting foot in a Florida courtroom, since many courts allow remote participation.
If the answer disputes anything, the case is contested. Financial disclosures, possible depositions, mandatory mediation, and potentially a trial all come into play. An out-of-state spouse who contests can also challenge the Florida court’s jurisdiction and argue the case belongs in their state. That is where the personal jurisdiction and UCCJEA questions above tend to come to a head, and where representation moves from helpful to close to essential.