If you are weighing a contested versus an uncontested divorce in Florida, the first thing worth knowing is that you may not be choosing between them at all. The two words describe one fact about a case: whether you and your spouse already agree, in writing, on every issue the court would otherwise decide for you.
Agree on all of it and the case is uncontested. Disagree on one piece of it, even a narrow one such as which spouse takes a particular credit card balance, and the case is contested until that piece is resolved. Contested does not mean hostile, and it does not mean a trial is coming. It means at least one question is still open.
What makes a Florida divorce contested
A dissolution of marriage puts a defined set of questions in front of a judge. Depending on your family and your finances, they usually include:
- the parenting plan and time sharing schedule for your children
- child support, calculated under Florida's statutory guidelines
- equitable distribution of marital assets and marital debts
- alimony, if either spouse is asking for it
- attorney fees and costs, if either spouse is asking the other to contribute
One unresolved item on that list is enough to make the case contested. When that happens, the parties ask the court to decide the open question, and the case moves through the steps the court uses to get there: financial disclosure, mediation, hearings, and a trial date if the issue truly cannot be resolved any other way. Our divorce page walks through that sequence in more detail.
What an uncontested divorce actually requires
An uncontested case starts where a contested case hopes to finish. Before or at the time of filing, the spouses sign a marital settlement agreement that resolves everything: the parenting plan, child support with the guidelines worksheet supporting the number, the division of assets and debts, alimony or the waiver of it, and any agreement about fees and costs. The responding spouse files an answer confirming that nothing is in dispute.
The paperwork does not shrink because the parties agree. Florida still requires financial disclosure. Under Family Law Rule 12.285, the requirement to file a financial affidavit in a case seeking permanent financial relief cannot be waived by the parties, although other portions of mandatory disclosure can be modified or waived by agreement or by court order. A case involving children also calls for the child support guidelines worksheet and a UCCJEA affidavit. One spouse must have resided in Florida for six months before the petition is filed, and no final judgment may be entered until at least twenty days after filing, unless the court shortens that period for good cause.
Simplified dissolution is a narrower door than people expect
Florida also offers a simplified dissolution of marriage, filed jointly by both spouses. It is genuinely streamlined, and the eligibility rules are strict. Both spouses must agree the marriage is irretrievably broken, and all of the following must also be true:
- the spouses have no minor or dependent children in common, and the wife is not pregnant
- the spouses have agreed on how to divide all of their assets and debts
- neither spouse is seeking alimony
- both are willing to give up the right to a trial and the right to appeal
- at least one spouse meets the six month Florida residency requirement
- both sign the petition, and both appear at the final hearing
Read that list again with the fourth item in mind. Simplified dissolution asks you to close the door on trial and on appeal at the beginning, not the end. If you are genuinely confident about what your spouse owns, earns, and owes, that trade can make sense. If you are not confident, the process sets aside the tools you would use to find out.
Most cases do not stay in the category they start in
This is the part the labels hide. Many Florida divorces are filed as contested cases and finish with a written agreement rather than a ruling after trial. Filing a contested petition does not commit you to fighting, and it is often the step that gets real information on the table so that an agreement becomes possible.
Hillsborough County cases are heard in the family law division of the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit, at the George Edgecomb Courthouse, 800 East Twiggs Street in Tampa. The circuit refers family cases to mediation, and the issues raised in the pleadings are generally mediated before a hearing. Mediation is a process you go through, not a service you hire. The mediator is neutral and represents neither spouse. Your attorney is the person at that table representing you.
Settlement also does not have to be all or nothing. Spouses often sign a partial agreement covering the issues they have resolved, which narrows what is left for the court to one question, such as a single asset or one piece of the time sharing schedule.
Uncontested does not mean easy
People sometimes hear uncontested as shorthand for quick, painless, and something to handle without a lawyer. Plenty of people do prepare their own uncontested case and come out fine, and there is nothing wrong with choosing that road. It is still worth being clear about what the word does and does not promise.
An uncontested divorce is only as sound as the agreement underneath it. That agreement is a contract, and once the court adopts it, it becomes a judgment. Vague language about who pays a deductible, or how the holiday schedule works in a year with a fifth Thursday, becomes a real dispute two years later. An agreement signed without a full picture of the marital finances can give away something whose value you never learned. And equitable distribution in a final judgment is generally not modifiable afterward, while time sharing and support can be revisited on a showing of a substantial change in circumstances. The parts that are hardest to correct later are often the parts people are most tempted to rush.
Agreement describes today. The question worth answering before you sign is whether you would still agree if you knew everything.
What to do next
Before deciding which route fits, write two lists: what you and your spouse actually agree on, and what is still open. Most people find the second list shorter than they feared and more specific than they expected. Then gather the documents that answer the open questions, including tax returns, pay records, account statements, and retirement plan statements.
From there, a family law attorney can tell you which route your facts support, whether a complete agreement is realistic now or only after disclosure, and what your agreement needs to say so that it holds. If you would like to talk it through, you can reach Rechel & Associates at (813) 931-8111, or read more about how we handle divorce in Florida.