Do you need to claim fault to get a divorce in Florida?

On Behalf of | Sep 19, 2018 | Divorce, Firm News |

In the past, some American jurisdictions required divorcing parties to allege “fault” against each other in order to complete the dissolution of their marriages. For example, a wife may have had to allege that her husband had been unfaithful to her in order to justify getting out of her union. Times have changed, however, and most jurisdictions recognize “no-fault” grounds on which couples may base their divorces.

Florida does not require its litigants to allege fault in order to get a divorce. Florida is therefore a no-fault divorce state. In order to get a divorce, a party only needs to plead that their marriage is irretrievably broken. Either party to a marriage can file to bring their union to its end.

However, just because a couple wants to get a divorce in Florida does not mean that they will be able to do so. That is because Florida exercises residency requirements over who may pursue divorces. In order to pursue a divorce in Florida, at least one of the parties to the prospective divorce must have been a resident of the state for the preceding six months.

For individuals who do not meet the residency requirement mentioned above, a choice is available. They may simply wait until one of them has lived in Florida long enough to qualify to divorce in the courts or the parties may pursue separation. A separation divides the parties’ lives and assets without actually ending their marriage.

Divorces in Florida are available to Florida residents and do not need to be based on fault. But, there are many complex issues that can arise during divorces, and our readers can get more information to help them through their marital dissolutions.

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