USA – FLORIDA Law and Practice Contributed by: Elisha D. Roy, Sasser, Cestero & Roy
justified upon a showing of the prospects for undue delay in the disposition of a prior action”. Norris v Norris, 573 So. 2d 1085, 1086 (Fla. 4th DCA 1991) (citing Schwartz v DeLoach, 453 So. 2d 454, 455 (Fla. 2d DCA 1984)). In cases regarding children’s issues, as described in detail below, if the child(ren) had been a resident of Florida for six months prior to filing the petition for dissolution of marriage and Florida is the home state of the child(ren), as defined by the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdic - tion and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA), the court may stay all other issues and retain jurisdiction to determine the pending child-related issues. See Norris, at 1086. 1.2 Choice of Jurisdiction The grounds for a divorce in Florida are that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Florida is a “no- fault” state, so the party filing for divorce does not have to prove anything to obtain a divorce, other than to state the marriage is irretrievably broken. Florida does not recognise civil unions or common law marriages. These grounds are the same for same-sex marriages. While there are certainly other ways to accom - plish a divorce, as discussed in 3.4 ADR, for a court to finalise a dissolution of marriage, court proceedings must be commenced by the filing of a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage (§ 61.043, Fla. Stat). The Petition for Dissolution of Mar - riage must be served within 120 days of the issu - ance of a summons. Once served, the receiving party has 20 days to file a responsive pleading, known as an Answer, and file a Counterpetition if they choose. Florida has a simplified dissolution process that only applies to parties who do not have any
minor or dependent children together, neither party is pregnant, and they have made a sat - isfactory division of their property and agreed as to the payment of their joint obligations, and neither party has legal counsel. Further, neither party may seek spousal support. The timeline for a simplified dissolution of marriage is typically less than 90 days. The length of time a divorce takes largely depends on the complexity of the issues pre - sented. Most cases do settle, but obviously cases that go to trial generally take longer than cases that settle. Cases with complex and intri - cate financial issues often take longer, as the process of obtaining and synthesising discovery and information can be time-consuming. Less complex cases can be resolved in four to six months, generally, and more complex cases can take a year or more. Florida law provides for civil divorces “from the bonds of matrimony” only. The court can neither require the parties to participate in a religious marriage ceremony nor to secure a religious divorce. Turner v Turner, 192 So. 2d 787 (Fla. 3d DCA 1966). A marriage may be annulled for any cause which has prevented the parties from contracting a val - id marriage. However, annulments are unusual in Florida. The court must find one of these factors for invalidity: • a want of legal capacity to contract, or a statutory prohibition against the type of mar - riage in question; • a want of mental capacity to contract; • a lack of actual consent to the contract; • a consent wrongfully procured by force, duress, fraud or concealment; or • a lack of physical capacity to consummate.
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