Two requirements, and neither involves proving anyone did anything wrong.
Section 61.021 is one sentence: to obtain a dissolution of marriage, one of the parties must reside 6 months in the state before the petition is filed.
The requirement is jurisdictional, which means a court generally can’t grant the dissolution without it. It applies no matter where the marriage took place. Section 61.052 provides that residency may be corroborated by a valid Florida driver license, a Florida voter registration card, a valid Florida identification card, or the testimony or affidavit of a third party.
Florida is a no-fault state. Under section 61.052, a court may dissolve a marriage on either of 2 grounds: that the marriage is irretrievably broken, or that one party has been mentally incapacitated. Nearly every case proceeds on the first.
You don’t have to prove adultery, cruelty or any other wrongdoing. Where there is no minor child and the responding party doesn’t deny that the marriage is irretrievably broken, the court enters judgment if it finds the marriage is irretrievably broken. Where there is a minor child, or where the responding party denies it, the statute directs the court through additional steps.
Dissolution on the ground of incapacity requires that the party alleged to be incapacitated has been adjudged incapacitated for a preceding period of at least 3 years. Notice must be served on one of the nearest blood relatives or the guardian, who is entitled to appear and be heard.
Chapter 61 works as a connected system. Filing opens it; the statutes then govern how property and debts are divided under section 61.075, how parents share time and responsibility under section 61.13, and how support is determined under sections 61.08 and 61.30.
Mandatory Disclosure under Rule 12.285 runs alongside all of it, on its own 45-day clock from service.
Neither requirement is difficult to satisfy, and neither accounts for the cost of a Florida divorce. Expense accumulates after filing, in the exchange of financial records under Rule 12.285 and in the disputes over what those records establish.
The period before filing is the only stage of a dissolution of marriage where preparation costs nothing but time.
The complete set walks you through the whole process in order, with the records list, the worksheets and the questions to request answers to before you sign a retainer.