Florida

All states

Luck of the Draw score: 55 out of 100

Florida sets the judge’s starting point for property as an equal split and, since July 2023, caps how long every type of alimony lasts and how much durational alimony can be. Judges keep wide discretion over attorney’s fees, and adultery can affect alimony. On the book’s scale, 0 is a contract you can read and 100 is one that mostly says “ask the judge.” Florida ranks 8 of 51, counting from the state that leaves the least to the judge. How the index works, and every state’s score.

Part	Score	The rule, and where it comes from
Property	5 / 20	The court must start from the premise that marital assets and debts are divided equally and may divide them unequally only if listed factors justify it, and nonmarital assets (premarital, gifts, inheritances) are not divided. Fla. Stat. § 61.075(1), (6)
Alimony	5 / 20	Durational alimony is capped at the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or 35 percent of the gap between the parties’ net incomes, and every remaining form of alimony has a maximum term (bridge-the-gap 2 years, rehabilitative 5 years, durational 50, 60 or 75 percent of the length of a short, moderate or long marriage), with permanent alimony abolished and durational extensions allowed only in exceptional circumstances shown by clear and convincing evidence. Fla. Stat. § 61.08(1)(b), (5), (6), (8), as amended by Ch. 2023-315, Laws of Fla. (eff. July 1, 2023)
Fault	5 / 20	Adultery is the only marital fault the alimony statute names and the court may consider it and its economic impact in setting alimony, while the Florida Supreme Court held that property may not be divided unequally to punish adultery, which matters to property only as far as it depleted family resources. Fla. Stat. § 61.08(1)(a); Fla. Stat. § 61.075(1); Noah v. Noah, 491 So. 2d 1124 (Fla. 1986)
Lawyers’ fees	20 / 20	After considering the financial resources of both parties, the court may order one party to pay a reasonable amount of the other’s attorney’s fees and costs, with no presumption about which party pays. Fla. Stat. § 61.16(1)
Second opinion	20 / 20	A party can disqualify a trial judge only by a sworn motion alleging specific facts that give a reasonable fear of an unfair trial, and dissolution cases, including property and alimony, are tried by a judge without a jury. Fla. R. Gen. Prac. & Jud. Admin. 2.330(c), (e), (h); Fla. Stat. § 38.10

Getting in

A 3-day wait. Florida residents wait 3 days after applying unless both complete a 4-hour premarital course, which also lowers the fee. Non-residents and couples asserting hardship are exempt, and a county judge may waive the wait for good cause. The license is good for 60 days. Both must confirm they read the state’s family law handbook.
Fla. Stat. §§ 741.01, 741.02, 741.04, 741.041, 741.0305

Who can marry you. Ordained ministers, elders in communion with a church, other ordained clergy, judicial officers including retired ones, circuit court clerks, and Florida notaries public may officiate. Marriages among Quakers in their own form are valid. The statute does not address online ordination and does not require witnesses.
Fla. Stat. § 741.07

Common-law marriage: Closed to new couples. No common-law marriage entered into after January 1, 1968 is valid in Florida, apart from a defective marriage entered in good faith and in substantial compliance with the marriage chapter. Florida respects a common-law marriage validly created in a jurisdiction that recognizes them.
Fla. Stat. § 741.211; American Airlines, Inc. v. Mejia, 766 So. 2d 305 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000)

Chapter 5 of the book covers getting in, and whether you are in at all.

The property system

Florida is one of forty-one equitable distribution jurisdictions. Equitable distribution. Each of you owns what’s in your own name during the marriage. At a divorce a judge divides the marital property as the judge finds equitable, which is not a promise of half. Chapter 11 of the book covers what that means, and Chapter 22 covers what happens to it when you move.

What counts as marital. Assets acquired during the marriage are presumed marital, including gifts between spouses. Premarital assets and third-party gifts and inheritances stay nonmarital. Their growth is marital if caused by a spouse’s effort or marital funds, and paying a mortgage with marital funds can reach passive growth too. The cutoff is a valid separation agreement or filing, whichever comes first.
Fla. Stat. § 61.075(6)-(8)

An inheritance that touches a joint account

Putting it in joint names usually makes it marital. Inherited money put in a joint account with other funds so it can no longer be traced is presumed a gift of half to the other spouse. Property titled as tenants by the entireties is presumed marital, and overcoming that gift presumption takes clear and convincing evidence. Courts have kept funds nonmarital where a spouse’s name was added only for convenience.
Fla. Stat. § 61.075(6)(a)3.-4.; Williams v. Williams, 686 So. 2d 805 (Fla. 4th DCA 1997); Lakin v. Lakin, 901 So. 2d 186 (Fla. 4th DCA 2005); Grieco v. Grieco, 917 So. 2d 1052 (Fla. 2d DCA 2006); Valentine v. Van Sickle, 42 So. 3d 267 (Fla. 2d DCA 2010)

Chapter 12 explains how mine becomes ours.

Your spouse’s medical bills (Article 5)

Generally, you don’t owe your spouse’s bills. The Florida Supreme Court abrogated the common-law doctrine of necessaries and left the policy to the legislature, so neither spouse is liable for the other’s medical or other necessary bills because of the marriage; no Florida statute replacing the doctrine was found.
Connor v. Southwest Florida Regional Medical Center, Inc., 668 So. 2d 175 (Fla. 1995)

Chapter 8 of the book explains the three ways states handle this.

If one of you dies (Article 9)

The surviving spouse may elect 30 percent of the elective estate, which includes the probate estate, protected homestead, pay-on-death and joint accounts, joint property, revocable trusts and other non-probate transfers.
Fla. Stat. §§ 732.2065, 732.2035

Chapter 9 covers what a will can and can’t take away from a spouse.

Prenups and postnups (Article 12)

One look, under UPAA (1983) with a Florida addition, Fla. Stat. § 61.079. A premarital agreement is unenforceable in a family-law case if not signed voluntarily, if the product of fraud, duress, coercion or overreaching, or if unconscionable when signed without fair disclosure. A postnuptial agreement may be set aside for fraud, deceit, duress, coercion, misrepresentation or overreaching, or if it makes unfair or unreasonable provision for the challenger given the parties’ circumstances and was made without adequate knowledge of the other’s finances.
Fla. Stat. § 61.079(7)(a); Casto v. Casto, 508 So. 2d 330 (Fla. 1987)

What an agreement needs. A premarital agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties, and a court may order support despite a waiver that would leave a spouse on public assistance. A waiver of elective-share, homestead and other death rights must be signed in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, and it requires fair disclosure only if signed after the marriage.
Fla. Stat. § 61.079(3), (7)(b); Fla. Stat. § 732.702(1), (2)

Chapter 29 explains one look and two, and what makes agreements stick.

Children (Article 8)

Child support: income shares. Each parent’s share comes from combined net income and a statutory schedule. Support ends at 18, or continues for a dependent high school student expected to graduate before 19. A suit can establish support for an adult child incapable of self-support because of an incapacity that began before 18. College costs take legal dependence or a binding agreement, not just a parent’s ability to pay.
Fla. Stat. §§ 61.13(1)(a)1.a., 61.30(1), (5), (6), (9), 743.07(2); Fla. Stat. § 61.1255; Grapin v. Grapin, 450 So. 2d 853 (Fla. 1984)

Moving away with a child. A parent moving at least 50 miles for 60 or more consecutive days needs a signed agreement or must file and serve a petition. No fixed advance-notice period applies, but the other parent has 20 days to object, and a timely objection blocks the move until a court allows it. The parent moving must first prove best interests; the burden then shifts.
Fla. Stat. § 61.13001(1)(e), (2), (3), (7), (8)

Chapter 17 covers the children.

Getting out (Article 2)

How long you must live here before filing: six months. One spouse must reside in Florida for 6 months before the petition is filed. It can be either spouse. The statute does not depend on where the couple married or where the breakdown happened. The residence must be corroborated, for example by a Florida driver license, ID card, voter card, or a third party’s testimony or affidavit.
Fla. Stat. §§ 61.021, 61.052(2)

How long it takes. A judge grants a divorce on finding the marriage irretrievably broken, even if the other spouse denies it. No final judgment may be entered until 20 days after filing, unless the delay would cause injustice. If the other spouse denies the breakdown or there is a minor child, the judge may order counseling or continue the case up to 3 months.
Fla. Stat. §§ 61.052(1)-(2), 61.19

The legal minimum for a spouse who moves here alone and files as soon as allowed, with no minor children and the other spouse objecting, is about 200 days from arrival to a final decree (180 days of residence + 20-day wait). Courts often take longer.

If you moved here from another state

A clause naming another state’s law can hold. In 2010 a Florida appeals court enforced a Georgia choice-of-law clause in a prenup after a couple lived ten years in Georgia and moved here, because applying Georgia law did not violate Florida public policy.
McNamara v. McNamara, 40 So. 3d 78 (Fla. Dist. Ct. App. 2010)

Chapter 22 covers what changes when you move.

Each entry on this page comes from the statute, rule or case it cites, read in September or November 2026, except where the entry says it has not been checked. A rule can change after that, and a rule on paper can play out differently in a particular courthouse. No lawyer reviews these pages.

If you practice family law in Florida and would like to correct or contribute to this page, write to me.

Meanwhile

• The default contract, with the options states choose among. Read it with a Florida lawyer, or paste it into a chatbot along with “I live in Florida” and treat what comes back as a list of questions, not answers.
• Three contracts you could sign instead.
• A worksheet for reading it together, and every state’s Luck of the Draw score.
• Corrections, including changes in the law since the book went to press.
• About the book.