Florida Divorce Lawyers

Florida law does not require an attorney to get divorced. However, divorce can affect your finances, your property, and your children for years. A Florida divorce lawyer can explain your legal rights, advise you on possible outcomes involving alimony, property distribution, and custody, and help ensure your paperwork is completed and filed correctly.

The cost of divorce in Florida can vary greatly depending on the issues involved (children, a shared home, and so on) and whether the parties agree, or mostly agree, about things like alimony, equitable distribution, and child custody. Our firm typically offers uncontested divorce representation for $1,500 – $3,000 (plus court fees). If parties are not in agreement about absolutely everything, mediation may be required, increasing the overall cost to $4,000 – $10,000+ depending on how much discovery is needed and how extensive the parties’ finances are.

When spouses cannot settle through mediation and need a divorce trial before a judge, it is not uncommon for each party to spend over $10,000 and, on rare occasions, closer to $100,000. The biggest aggravating factors are extensive discovery including depositions, the involvement of forensic accountants (especially in high net worth divorces or cases involving family-owned businesses) or Guardians ad litem, extensive medical records, or one party’s refusal to cooperate with the process.

Florida has a 20 day waiting period, so that is the minimum. In our experience, 30 to 60 days is typical for a simplified or completely uncontested divorce, though each judge’s calendar is different. Contested divorces take longer because they require more discovery and document exchange. Cases that settle at mediation may finish in under 6 months, while heavily litigated cases can take 1 to 2 years or, rarely, longer. How cooperative both spouses are is usually the biggest factor.

In Florida, anything spouses accumulate during the marriage is generally marital property and subject to equitable distribution. Property owned by one spouse before the marriage is typically non-marital and remains theirs, though it can become marital property depending on how it is treated or titled during the marriage. HB 521 changed equitable distribution laws in Florida, and there are nuances (like valuing a family business) that an experienced attorney can review with you.

Florida law presumes equal time-sharing when making an initial custody determination, but that does not mean courts automatically award 50/50. The court must still review the 20 best interest factors in Florida Statute 61.13. Settling outside the courtroom through negotiation or mediation gives you the most freedom to design a parenting plan that fits your family, usually at a much lower cost than trial.