Florida family law governs how the state’s courts handle divorce, division of property and debt, parental responsibility and time-sharing, child support, alimony, and domestic violence protections. Florida is a no-fault state: at least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before filing, and the only required ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.052 – Dissolution of Marriage What follows walks through the rules that decide the outcomes people actually care about.
Who Can File and How
One spouse must have resided in Florida for at least six months immediately before the petition is filed.2Justia Law. Florida Code 61.021 – Residency Requirements Residency is usually proved with a Florida driver’s license, a voter registration card, or sworn testimony from someone who can confirm where you live. Beyond that, you only need to allege the marriage is irretrievably broken. A second ground exists if a spouse has been adjudicated mentally incapacitated for at least three years, but it is rarely used.1Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.052 – Dissolution of Marriage
Simplified Versus Regular Dissolution
Florida offers two paths. A simplified dissolution is faster and cheaper but only available when every one of the following is true: both spouses agree the marriage cannot be saved, there are no minor children and the wife is not pregnant, both spouses have already agreed on how to divide all property and debts, and neither is seeking alimony.3Pasco County Clerk. Dissolution of Marriage Both spouses have to appear together at the final hearing, and neither can appeal.
Everything else is a regular dissolution. That track can include discovery, temporary hearings, mediation, and, if the case does not settle, trial.
How Property and Debt Get Divided
Florida divides marital property under equitable distribution. The court starts from a presumption that the split should be equal, then adjusts if the facts justify an unequal division.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities Before anything is divided, each asset and debt has to be classified as marital or nonmarital.
Marital Versus Nonmarital
Marital assets include almost everything acquired during the marriage by either spouse, whether titled individually or jointly. That covers bank accounts, real estate purchased after the wedding, retirement benefits earned during the marriage, interests in a closely held business, and the increase in value of a nonmarital asset if that increase came from marital effort or marital funds. Gifts between spouses during the marriage are marital. Anything acquired during the marriage is presumed marital unless specifically shown to be otherwise.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
Nonmarital assets are those acquired before the marriage, received as an inheritance or gift from someone other than your spouse, or excluded by a valid written agreement such as a prenuptial contract. Income from a nonmarital asset stays nonmarital unless the couple treated or relied on it as a shared resource during the marriage.5Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
When Courts Depart from a 50/50 Split
When deciding whether an unequal split is warranted, the court weighs each spouse’s contribution to the marriage (including homemaking and child care), the economic circumstances of each party, the length of the marriage, whether one spouse interrupted a career to support the other’s education, and the desirability of keeping the marital home for a dependent child. The court also looks at whether either spouse intentionally wasted or depleted marital assets after the petition was filed or within two years before filing.4Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.075 – Equitable Distribution of Marital Assets and Liabilities
Dividing Retirement Accounts
Retirement benefits earned during the marriage are marital assets, but a divorce decree alone cannot move them. Private-sector plans governed by federal ERISA law, including 401(k)s, 403(b)s, and traditional pensions, can only pay benefits to someone other than the participant through a Qualified Domestic Relations Order. Without a valid QDRO, the plan administrator is legally prohibited from paying a former spouse anything, no matter what the divorce judgment says.6U.S. Department of Labor. Qualified Domestic Relations Orders Under ERISA – A Practical Guide The QDRO has to be drafted, submitted to the plan administrator, and approved by the court. This step routinely falls through the cracks. People finalize a divorce, assume the decree handles everything, and discover years later that the account was never divided.
For a 401(k) or similar defined contribution plan, the QDRO usually transfers a portion of the balance. For a traditional pension, it can split each monthly payment or carve out a separate benefit the former spouse controls independently. Government and military plans sit outside ERISA and require their own division procedures.
Social Security operates separately. A divorced spouse may claim benefits based on an ex-spouse’s earnings record if the marriage lasted at least 10 years, and that claim does not reduce the ex’s own benefit.7Social Security Administration. Can Someone Get Social Security Benefits on Their Former Spouses Record If a marriage is close to the 10-year line, that is worth knowing before rushing to finalize.
Parental Responsibility and Time-Sharing
Every decision about children in Florida family court runs through one standard: the best interests of the child. That standard governs decision-making authority, the time-sharing schedule, and any later modification.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court
Shared Responsibility and the Equal Time-Sharing Presumption
Parental responsibility is the authority to make major decisions about a child’s health care, education, and welfare. Florida courts must order shared parental responsibility unless doing so would be detrimental to the child. There is also a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests, so the starting point is a 50/50 schedule unless the evidence says otherwise.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court That presumption changed the dynamics of custody negotiations considerably.
Sole parental responsibility is reserved for situations where shared decision-making would harm the child. The statute creates a rebuttable presumption that shared responsibility is detrimental when a parent has been convicted of a first-degree misdemeanor or higher involving domestic violence, or of certain sexual offenses involving minors.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court
The Parenting Plan
Every case with minor children ends with a court-approved parenting plan. At a minimum it must describe how the parents will share daily responsibilities, set out the time-sharing schedule, assign decision-making authority over health care and school matters, describe how parents will communicate with the child, and designate exchange locations. If there is a risk of harm at drop-offs, the court can require exchanges at a neutral safe location.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court
Best Interest Factors
When parents cannot agree, the court works through a detailed set of statutory factors: each parent’s demonstrated ability to encourage a relationship with the other parent, the anticipated division of daily parenting duties, the stability of the child’s current living situation, the child’s preference if the child is mature enough, and each parent’s moral fitness and mental and physical health. Geographic feasibility matters too, especially once school-age travel between homes becomes part of the picture.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court
Unmarried Parents
If the parents were never married, the father has no legal rights to time-sharing or decision-making until paternity is established. Either parent or the child can file a paternity action in circuit court, and once paternity is confirmed the court can enter a parenting plan and order support just as it would in a divorce.9Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 742.011 – Proceedings to Determine Paternity Paternity can also be established voluntarily through a notarized acknowledgment, which creates a rebuttable presumption that can be rescinded within 60 days of signing.
When Parents Live in Different States
Interstate custody is governed by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act, which Florida has adopted. The default forum is the child’s “home state,” meaning the state where the child lived for the six consecutive months before the case was filed. If the child has moved but a parent still lives in the former home state, that state generally keeps jurisdiction. Physical presence alone does not create jurisdiction, and a parent cannot gain a custody advantage by relocating the child to a new state.10Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.514 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction
How Child Support Is Calculated
Florida runs child support through statutory guidelines. The inputs are both parents’ combined monthly net income, the number of children, and the time-sharing schedule.11Florida Department of Revenue. Child Support Amounts
Gross income is defined broadly: wages, bonuses, commissions, disability benefits, unemployment compensation, pension payments, Social Security, rental income, and many other sources. A parent who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed can have income imputed to them. Allowable deductions from gross income include federal, state, and local income taxes, Social Security and self-employment taxes, mandatory union dues and retirement contributions, health insurance premiums for the parent (not the child’s coverage), and court-ordered support for other children that is actually being paid.
After deductions, both parents’ net incomes are combined and run through the statutory schedule to set the base support amount. Health insurance premiums for the children and work-related childcare are added on top and split between the parents in proportion to their shares of combined net income. If the child spends 20 percent or more of the overnights with the paying parent, the support amount is adjusted downward to reflect that parent’s direct spending on the child.11Florida Department of Revenue. Child Support Amounts
Alimony After the 2023 Reform
Alimony in Florida rests on one spouse’s need and the other’s ability to pay. The 2023 reform eliminated permanent alimony. Four forms remain: temporary support during the divorce, bridge-the-gap alimony for short-term transitional needs, rehabilitative alimony to fund education or training toward self-sufficiency, and durational alimony for a set period after the divorce.12Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.08 – Alimony
Marriage Length Caps
The length of the marriage, measured from the wedding date to the date the petition is filed, drives how long durational alimony can last:
- Short-term, less than 10 years: durational alimony cannot exceed 50 percent of the marriage’s length.
- Moderate-term, 10 to 20 years: durational alimony cannot exceed 60 percent of the marriage’s length.
- Long-term, 20 years or longer: durational alimony cannot exceed 75 percent of the marriage’s length.
Beyond need, ability to pay, and marriage length, the court weighs the standard of living during the marriage, each spouse’s age and health, earning capacity and educational background, contributions to the marriage (including homemaking and supporting the other’s career), and responsibilities for minor children. Adultery by either spouse and its economic impact may also be considered.12Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.08 – Alimony
Tax Treatment of Support
For any divorce or separation agreement executed after December 31, 2018, alimony payments are not deductible by the paying spouse and not counted as taxable income for the recipient. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act reversed the older rule where the payer deducted alimony and the recipient reported it as income.13Internal Revenue Service. Divorce or Separation May Have an Effect on Taxes Pre-2019 agreements keep their original treatment unless later modified to adopt the new rules.
Child support is tax-neutral in both directions. The paying parent cannot deduct it, and the receiving parent does not include it in gross income.14Internal Revenue Service. Alimony, Child Support, Court Awards, Damages
Domestic Violence Injunctions
Any family or household member who is a victim of domestic violence, or who has reasonable cause to believe they are in imminent danger of it, can petition the circuit court for an injunction for protection.15Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence, Injunction, Powers and Duties of Court and Clerk The statute defines domestic violence to include assault, battery, stalking, kidnapping, false imprisonment, sexual assault, and any other criminal offense resulting in physical injury or death of a family or household member.
If the petition shows an immediate and present danger, the court can issue a temporary injunction without the other party present. After a full hearing, the court can issue a final injunction that restrains further acts of violence, awards the petitioner exclusive possession of the shared home, grants the petitioner 100 percent of time-sharing on a temporary basis, sets temporary child support, and orders the respondent into a batterer’s intervention program.15Florida Senate. Florida Code 741.30 – Domestic Violence, Injunction, Powers and Duties of Court and Clerk A domestic violence conviction also feeds directly into the custody analysis by creating a rebuttable presumption that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child.
Changing an Order After the Divorce
Life keeps moving after the judgment, and Florida allows either party to seek modification. The standard depends on what you want changed. For child support and alimony, the court looks at whether circumstances or the financial ability of either party has changed since the original order.16Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.14 – Enforcement and Modification of Support, Maintenance, or Alimony Agreements or Orders For child support specifically, if the existing order differs by at least 10 percent (but not less than $25) from what the guidelines would produce today, the Florida Department of Revenue can pursue modification without separate proof of changed circumstances.
Modifying a parenting plan or time-sharing schedule sits at a higher bar: a substantial and material change in circumstances plus a finding that the modification serves the child’s best interests.8Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing, Powers of Court A parent who moves from more than 50 miles away to within 50 miles of the other parent can qualify as that substantial change.
Enforcement and Bankruptcy
If a former spouse stops complying, the other party can file a motion for contempt or enforcement. For child support, the Florida Department of Revenue can also collect through wage garnishment, license suspension, and other administrative tools.
Bankruptcy does not offer an escape. Federal bankruptcy law makes domestic support obligations like child support and alimony completely nondischargeable. A Chapter 7 will not erase them, and a Chapter 13 will not either unless the debtor pays them in full through the plan.17Office of the Law Revision Counsel. 11 USC 523 – Exceptions to Discharge Property division obligations from a divorce are generally nondischargeable in Chapter 7 as well, and the automatic stay does not block the establishment or modification of child support or the collection of domestic support obligations from the debtor’s property.