How Fast Can You Get a Divorce in Florida? Quick Divorce Options (2026)

How Fast Can You Get a Divorce in Florida?

The fastest legal path to a Florida divorce is a simplified dissolution of marriage under Fla. Stat. § 61.031, available only to couples with no minor or dependent children, no disputes over property or debt, and full agreement to end the marriage. For everyone else, an uncontested divorce built around a signed marital settlement agreement is the next-fastest route. There is no such thing as an instant divorce in Florida, but the difference between a fast case and a slow one almost always comes down to how much the spouses agree on before they file.

1. What "Quick Divorce" Actually Means Under Florida Law

Florida does not offer an expedited divorce simply because both spouses want to move fast. Every dissolution of marriage filed in the state, whether it takes three weeks or three years, has to satisfy the same statutory framework: residency, jurisdiction, a legal ground for divorce, and resolution of every issue the marriage touches, including property, debt, and, if applicable, children. What changes the timeline is not the label on the paperwork but how much of that framework the spouses have already agreed on before the petition is filed.

In practice, "quick divorce Florida" searches usually lead to one of two real procedures: the simplified dissolution process created by § 61.031, or a standard uncontested dissolution where the parties negotiate and sign a marital settlement agreement before the first hearing. Both can move through a Florida circuit court in a matter of weeks once filed, compared to months or years for a contested case that requires discovery, mediation, and possibly trial. Understanding which of these two tracks actually applies to a specific marriage is the first step, and it depends heavily on whether there are minor children and whether both spouses are willing to agree on the numbers.

There is also a difference between how fast a case can be *resolved* and how fast a case can be *filed*. Some searchers assume a quick divorce means skipping paperwork or court involvement altogether; it does not. Florida requires a final judgment signed by a circuit judge in every case, and that judgment has to address property division, debt allocation, and, where relevant, time-sharing and support, even when both spouses agree on every term. For general filing requirements that apply across all tracks, see Florida divorce filing requirements.

2. Florida's Residency Requirement Comes First

Before any divorce, quick or otherwise, can be filed in Florida, at least one spouse must have been a resident of the state for six months immediately before filing the petition, under Fla. Stat. § 61.021. This is a jurisdictional requirement, not a formality, and Florida courts will dismiss a petition if residency cannot be established. Proof typically comes from a valid Florida driver's license, voter registration card, or the sworn testimony of a corroborating witness who can confirm the six-month residency period at the final hearing.

This requirement matters for anyone hoping to move quickly, because there is no way around it. A spouse who relocated to Florida four months ago cannot file yet, regardless of how straightforward the rest of the case is. Couples in this position sometimes delay filing by weeks or months purely to satisfy § 61.021, which is worth planning for early rather than discovering after paperwork has already been drafted.

Residency is separate from where the marriage took place or where the other spouse currently lives. Florida courts can generally exercise jurisdiction over the dissolution itself as long as one spouse meets the six-month standard, even if the other spouse lives out of state, though issues like child custody and support may require additional jurisdictional analysis under separate statutes if the other parent resides elsewhere.

3. No-Fault Grounds: Why Florida Divorces Don't Require Proving Anything

Florida has been a no-fault divorce state since 1971, and the ground for dissolution under Fla. Stat. § 61.052 is simply that the marriage is "irretrievably broken." Neither spouse has to prove adultery, abandonment, cruelty, or any other misconduct. This is one of the structural reasons Florida divorces can move faster than divorces in fault-based states: there is no fault trial to prepare for, and the court does not weigh blame when deciding whether to grant the divorce itself.

The only alternative ground under § 61.052 is the mental incapacity of one spouse, which requires that spouse to have been adjudicated incapacitated for a period of at least three years before the petition is filed. This ground is rare and, by definition, incompatible with a quick timeline, so nearly every Florida divorce, quick or contested, proceeds on the irretrievably-broken standard.

Because the ground itself is rarely disputed, what actually gets litigated in a slow Florida divorce is not *whether* the marriage should end but *how* the marital estate, parental responsibilities, and support obligations should be divided. That distinction is why the speed of a Florida divorce is driven almost entirely by agreement on the financial and parenting terms, not by any fight over the right to divorce.

4. Simplified Dissolution of Marriage: Florida's Fastest Legal Track

The simplified dissolution procedure under Fla. Stat. § 61.031 is the closest thing Florida law offers to an expedited divorce, but eligibility is narrow. Both spouses must agree the marriage is irretrievably broken, there can be no minor or dependent children of the relationship and the wife cannot be pregnant, and the spouses must have already agreed on how to divide all real and personal property and who is responsible for which debts. Both parties must also be willing to waive the right to a trial and to appeal, waive standard financial disclosure requirements, and file the petition jointly.

Because both spouses sign the petition together and there is no opposing party to serve, this track eliminates several steps that add time to a standard case: no formal service of process, no waiting period tied to a response deadline, and no risk of a contested hearing. Both spouses typically must appear together at the final hearing, where the judge confirms the agreement is voluntary and enters the final judgment. Many circuits can schedule that hearing within a few weeks of filing once the paperwork is complete.

Simplified dissolution is not available to every couple, and it is easy to disqualify a case by mistake. Filing jointly without full agreement on every asset and debt, or filing when dependent children exist, can result in the case being converted to a standard dissolution, which restarts the clock. Couples considering this route should confirm eligibility carefully before filing rather than after a judge rejects the paperwork.

5. Uncontested Divorce: The Next-Fastest Option When Simplified Dissolution Doesn't Fit

Most couples who want speed but have minor children, disagree on the property list, or simply do not want to appear jointly will fall into the standard uncontested divorce category instead. This is still a fast process by Florida standards, it just uses the regular dissolution procedure rather than § 61.031. The core requirement is a signed marital settlement agreement that resolves every issue the court would otherwise have to decide: equitable distribution of assets and debts under Fla. Stat. § 61.075, alimony if either spouse is seeking it under Fla. Stat. § 61.08, and, when there are minor children, a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule under Fla. Stat. § 61.13 along with child support calculated under the guidelines in Fla. Stat. § 61.30.

Once that agreement is signed and filed along with the petition, and the responding spouse either joins the petition or is served and does not contest it, the case can often reach a final hearing in a matter of weeks rather than months. The judge still reviews the settlement agreement to confirm it is not unconscionable and that any child-related terms serve the children's best interests, but that review is typically brief when the terms are complete and both parties are aligned.

The practical bottleneck in an uncontested case is almost never the court; it is how long it takes the spouses to actually agree on the settlement terms. Couples who negotiate the property division, support, and parenting plan before filing, rather than after, consistently move through the court process faster than those who file first and negotiate later.

6. What Slows a Florida Divorce Down

The same issues that a simplified or uncontested divorce resolves by agreement are exactly what turns a case contested and slow when the spouses disagree. Disputes over equitable distribution under § 61.075, particularly around business valuations, retirement accounts, or property acquired before the marriage, often require appraisals, expert testimony, and extended discovery. Alimony disputes under § 61.08 involve factors like the length of the marriage, each spouse's earning capacity, and standard of living, all of which can require financial affidavits and sometimes vocational or financial experts to sort out.

When minor children are involved and the parents disagree on time-sharing or parental responsibility, § 61.13 requires the court to evaluate the child's best interests across a detailed statutory list of factors, which can involve parenting evaluations, guardian ad litem appointments, or contested hearings. Child support disputes under § 61.30 are usually more mechanical, since the guidelines calculate a presumptive amount from both parents' incomes, but disagreements over imputed income or deviation from the guideline amount can still generate motion practice.

Any of these disputes typically triggers mandatory financial disclosure, formal discovery, and in most Florida circuits, mandatory mediation before a case can be set for trial. A case that starts out looking simple can become contested the moment one spouse disputes an asset or a parenting term, which is why cases described as "quick" at filing sometimes stretch out over many months. For a closer look at how contested cases proceed, see contesting a divorce in Florida.

7. Filing Fees, Costs, and Paperwork That Affect Timing

Every Florida dissolution, quick or not, requires a filing fee paid to the clerk of court, along with a completed petition, financial affidavit (unless waived under simplified dissolution), and, where applicable, a parenting plan and child support worksheet. Missing or incomplete paperwork is one of the most common causes of delay in cases that were otherwise on track to move fast, because clerks and judges will not process a final judgment around incomplete required forms.

Costs can also affect timing indirectly. A spouse who cannot afford the standard filing fee may need to file for a fee waiver, which adds a review step, and disputes over who pays certain costs, service fees, or expert fees in a contested case can themselves become another point of negotiation. Details on current fee amounts and what they cover are available at Florida divorce filing fee and a broader cost breakdown at Florida divorce cost.

Getting the paperwork right the first time is one of the most controllable factors in how quickly a case moves. Petitions returned for corrections, missing signatures, or incomplete disclosure requirements each add time to the clerk's docket and can push a final hearing back by weeks.

8. When a Spouse Won't Respond: Default Divorce

Not every quick divorce starts with both spouses cooperating. When one spouse files and properly serves the other, but that spouse does not file a response within the required time, the filing spouse can move for a default. A default divorce allows the case to proceed even without the non-responding spouse's active participation, but it is not automatic, and the filing spouse still has to prove up every required element, including property division, support, and any parenting terms, at a final hearing.

Default cases can move faster than a contested case because there is no opposing motion practice, but they are not as fast as a true uncontested or simplified case, since proper service has to be documented and the statutory waiting period for a response has to run before a default can be entered. Judges will also scrutinize a default judgment more closely when children or significant assets are involved, since there is no settlement agreement confirming the terms are fair to both sides.

For the specific procedural steps and pitfalls involved in getting a default entered correctly, see Florida default divorce guide.

9. When a Spouse Can't Be Found: Divorce by Publication

One path that searchers sometimes assume is a shortcut, but is actually the opposite, is divorce by publication. When a spouse cannot be located despite a diligent search, Florida law allows service by publishing notice in a newspaper rather than personally serving the other party. This method exists to prevent an absent spouse from indefinitely blocking a divorce, but it comes with its own timeline: a sworn diligent search affidavit documenting the attempts to locate the spouse, followed by a statutory publication period before the case can proceed.

Because of the diligent search requirement and the mandatory publication window, divorce by publication is almost always slower than a standard uncontested filing, not faster, even though it is sometimes searched alongside "quick divorce" terms by people hoping to avoid a difficult service process. It also limits what the court can award, since certain financial relief may not be available against a spouse who was served only by publication and never appeared.

Anyone facing an unresponsive or unlocatable spouse should read the specific requirements before assuming this route will save time. See Florida divorce by publication for the diligent search standard and publication procedure.

10. Practical Steps to Keep a Florida Divorce Moving

The single biggest lever over how fast a Florida divorce resolves is how much is agreed upon before the petition is filed. Gathering financial documentation, drafting a proposed parenting plan, and agreeing on a property and debt list ahead of time lets a case move straight into the simplified or uncontested track instead of falling into contested motion practice after filing.

When spouses cannot fully agree on everything but are not far apart, mediation before or shortly after filing can resolve remaining disputes without a trial, since Florida courts generally require mediation in contested family cases before setting a trial date. Reaching agreement through mediation, even after some initial disagreement, still allows a case to conclude with an uncontested-style final hearing rather than a litigated one.

Because eligibility rules for simplified dissolution are specific and financial disclosure requirements apply differently across tracks, it is worth confirming which procedure actually fits a given situation before filing. A short intake conversation can clarify which track applies and what documentation to gather first; see the divorce qualifier to start that process.

Bottom line

A genuinely quick Florida divorce is possible, but only along two real paths: the simplified dissolution process under § 61.031 for couples with no minor children and full agreement on property and debt, or a standard uncontested divorce built on a complete marital settlement agreement. Both require satisfying Florida's six-month residency rule under § 61.021 and rely on the no-fault ground in § 61.052, but speed after that point depends almost entirely on how much the spouses have already agreed on regarding property, support, and any parenting terms before the case is filed. Default and publication cases can still move forward without a cooperating or locatable spouse, but they follow different timelines and should not be assumed to be faster.

Attorney Advertising Disclaimer

This article is general information only, not legal advice, and does not create an attorney-client relationship between Louis Law Group and any reader. It reflects Florida law as understood as of 2026 and may not account for subsequent statutory changes, local court administrative orders, or the specific facts of any individual case. Past results do not guarantee or predict similar outcomes in any future matter.