§ / 01
Getting served, properly
Florida requires personal service of the initial petition: a sheriff’s deputy or certified process server hands the papers to the respondent, or to a resident of the household who is fifteen or older at the respondent’s usual place of abode. Proper service is what gives the court power over the person — skip it or botch it and any resulting judgment is exposed. Where the split is amicable, a respondent can simply sign an acceptance and waiver of service, skipping the knock on the door entirely and keeping the temperature down.
§ / 02
When a spouse cannot be found
If a diligent search cannot locate the other spouse, Florida allows constructive service by publication. It comes with a serious catch: publication generally gives the court power to dissolve the marriage, but not to order the missing spouse to pay support or to divide property beyond Florida’s borders. That is why locating a respondent for personal service is usually worth real effort — a divorce that cannot reach the money is often only half a divorce.
§ / 03
Counting the twenty days
The clock starts the day after service and runs on calendar days, rolling to the next business day if it ends on a weekend or court holiday. The deadline can be extended by agreement or by motion — and reasonable extensions are routinely granted. What is not safe is silence. If you have been served, the single most important thing you can do is get the papers to a lawyer in the first few days, while every option is still on the table.
§ / 04
The Answer — and the Counterpetition
The Answer responds to the petition paragraph by paragraph — admitted, denied, or without knowledge — and raises any affirmative defenses. Almost as often, it arrives with a Counterpetition: the responding spouse’s own claims for timesharing, support, exclusive use of the home, or fees. A counterpetition turns one set of demands into two, and it triggers a mirror deadline — the original petitioner now has twenty days to answer it. From that point the case is fully joined.
§ / 05
Default: the cost of silence
Ignore the petition and the petitioner can have the clerk enter a default, followed by a default judgment from the court — which can grant the relief requested in the petition with little or no input from the silent spouse. Undoing a default is an uphill motion requiring excusable neglect, due diligence, and a meritorious defense, argued from a position of weakness. Twenty days of attention is infinitely cheaper than a year of trying to reopen what was decided without you.
§ / 06
Temporary relief while the case runs
Divorces take months; life does not pause. Either spouse can move early for temporary relief — a temporary timesharing schedule, temporary child support or alimony, exclusive use of the marital home, or an order that one side contribute to the other’s attorney’s fees so both can litigate on even footing. The temporary hearing is often the first courtroom event of the case, and its outcome quietly shapes the negotiating leverage for everything after.
The Steady Hand
Served? Bring us the papers before day five. Response strategy needs runway — an Answer drafted in an afternoon reads like it, and a counterpetition filed thoughtfully can reset the balance of the whole case.