Learn Center
Florida family law, explained — and wired to the platform
Every topic a family-law library covers, Florida-first: plain-language overviews, real FAQs, and the part a static library can't do — every page links straight into the live tools, the verbatim statute cards, and the rules behind it. Member firms contribute practice articles after review.
Starting, responding, finishing
Divorce (Dissolution of Marriage)
Florida is a no-fault state: the pleaded ground is almost always that the marriage is irretrievably broken, and one spouse generally must have lived in Florida for the 6 months before filing.
3 FAQs · 3 statutes · 4 tools
Marital vs. nonmarital, and who ends up with what
Property Division (Equitable Distribution)
Florida uses equitable distribution, not community property: the court starts from an equal split of marital assets and liabilities and can vary it for statutory reasons with written findings.
3 FAQs · 4 statutes · 4 tools
Florida speaks 'time-sharing', not 'custody'
Child Custody (Parenting & Time-Sharing)
Florida replaced custody language with parenting plans and time-sharing. Plans must cover the § 61.13 minimums, and the law starts from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child's best interests.
3 FAQs · 5 statutes · 3 tools
Guideline math, not negotiation theater
Child Support
Florida support follows the § 61.30 guideline schedule from combined net income, overnights, health insurance, and child care — presumptive, with bounded deviation.
3 FAQs · 5 statutes · 3 tools
Forms, factors, and the 2023 rewrite
Alimony (Spousal Support)
Florida alimony comes in statutory forms — temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational — awarded on need and ability to pay plus the § 61.08 factor list. Permanent alimony was eliminated for new cases by the 2023 reform.
3 FAQs · 4 statutes · 3 tools
Legal fatherhood: rights and support together
Paternity
Chapter 742 governs establishing parentage — by acknowledgment, genetic testing, or court proceeding — and paternity judgments commonly address parenting and support in the same case.
2 FAQs · 3 statutes · 3 tools
The document your next five years run on
Parenting Agreements & Plans
Florida parenting plans are court-approved documents with statutory minimum contents — schedules, decision-making, communication — and the best plans decide the fights before they happen.
2 FAQs · 3 statutes · 3 tools
The agreed path — simplified, regular, and with children
Uncontested Divorce in Florida
When both spouses agree on every term, Florida offers two agreed paths: the simplified dissolution procedure (no minor children, no alimony, both spouses appear together) and the regular uncontested dissolution built on a marital settlement agreement. Agreement changes the paperwork — it never changes the statute's floor.
4 FAQs · 5 statutes · 6 tools
Where most Florida family cases actually end
Mediation & Conflict Resolution
Florida courts refer most contested family cases to mediation before trial — a confidential, mediator-brokered negotiation with safety screening built into the rules.
2 FAQs · 2 statutes · 3 tools
Safety first — the clerk helps, there is no fee
Restraining Orders (Protective Injunctions)
Florida provides civil protective injunctions for domestic, repeat, dating, and sexual violence and stalking — clerk-assisted filing, no filing fee, same-day temporary relief available, law-enforcement service.
2 FAQs · 3 statutes · 3 tools
Building families; terminating and assuming rights
Adoption & Parental Rights
Florida adoption (Chapter 63) covers stepparent, relative, agency, and private adoptions — each with consent, termination, and home-study rules that vary by the child's situation.
2 FAQs · 2 statutes · 2 tools
Orders are the beginning, not the end
Enforcement & Modification
Incomes change, children grow, payments stop. Modification changes the order going forward on substantial change; enforcement makes the existing order real — through withholding, contempt, and license consequences.
2 FAQs · 4 statutes · 3 tools
50 miles / 60 days — the statute with teeth
Relocation With a Child
Moving 50+ miles from the current residence for 60+ consecutive days generally requires written agreement or a court order BEFORE the move (§ 61.13001).
2 FAQs · 1 statutes · 2 tools
The child's voice, structured
Guardians ad Litem & Child-Focused Professionals
Florida courts can appoint guardians ad litem, order social investigations, and use parenting coordinators — each with statutory powers, qualifications, and confidentiality rules.
1 FAQs · 5 statutes · 2 tools
Educational information in our own words — never presented as statutory text (the verbatim law lives in the Statutes and Rules libraries, hash- pinned). Not legal advice; no attorney-client relationship. Firm articles are the views of their authors.