§ / 01
What the petition actually says
Florida is a pure no-fault state. The petition does not accuse anyone of anything; it alleges that the marriage is “irretrievably broken” and asks the court for relief. That relief is the whole ballgame. A well-drafted petition frames every issue the case might ever touch — the parenting plan, equitable distribution of assets and debts, alimony, child support, attorney’s fees, exclusive use of the home, restoration of a former name. A court generally cannot award what was never pled, so the first draft is not a formality. It is the anchor for the entire case.
§ / 02
The six-month residency rule
At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for the six months immediately before filing. It is a jurisdictional requirement — get it wrong and the judgment itself is vulnerable. Residency is typically proven with a Florida driver’s license or ID card issued at least six months before the filing date, or with testimony from a corroborating witness. Military members stationed in Florida generally satisfy the requirement even if their legal domicile is elsewhere. For recent arrivals, the fix is usually patience: file on the right day, not a week early.
§ / 03
Where you file — venue
Dissolution cases are filed in circuit court, ordinarily in the county where the spouses last lived together as a married couple, or where the respondent lives. In our part of the state that means the Ninth Circuit for Orange and Osceola counties, the Eighteenth for Seminole and Brevard, the Seventh for Volusia, and the Fifth for Lake. Venue is not just geography — each circuit has its own administrative orders, case-management style, and judicial culture, and an experienced local practice plans for that from day one.
§ / 04
The paperwork that rides along
The petition rarely travels alone. A summons must be issued for service. If there are minor children, Florida requires a UCCJEA affidavit disclosing every address the children have lived at for the past five years, and a child support guidelines worksheet will follow once the numbers exist. A social security affidavit is filed for support enforcement purposes. Filing fees run roughly four hundred dollars depending on the county, plus the cost of a process server, and the clerk can waive fees for those who qualify as indigent.
§ / 05
Standing orders take effect immediately
In many Central Florida circuits, an administrative standing order attaches automatically the moment a dissolution case is filed and served. The details vary by circuit, but the themes are constant: do not relocate the children, do not drain or hide accounts, do not cancel insurance, keep paying the ordinary bills. These orders exist to freeze the status quo while the case is decided — and violating one in the first month is a self-inflicted wound that judges remember for the rest of the case.
§ / 06
Simplified vs. regular dissolution
Florida offers a simplified dissolution for couples with no minor children, no pregnancy, agreement on every financial issue, and a mutual waiver of alimony and appeal — both spouses must appear together. It is a fine tool for genuinely simple estates. Everything else, which is to say nearly every case involving children, a home, retirement accounts, or a disagreement of any kind, proceeds under the regular dissolution process mapped on this page’s parent guide.
The Steady Hand
We treat the petition as strategy, not paperwork. Every form of relief your case might ever need is preserved in the first filing, so nothing is bargained away by omission — and nothing has to be begged back by amendment.