At Mack Law, P.A., you benefit from a divorce attorney who thrives in the courtroom, keeps cases on track, and will not settle for less than what you are entitled to under the law. Orlando-area divorces are filed in the Ninth Judicial Circuit for a $408 filing fee, require six months of Florida residency, and resolve five issues — parenting, property, alimony, child support, and everything else. We handle all of it, with particular depth in contested, complex, and high-net-worth cases.
We know the financial strain divorce creates, and we work to get you through the process as efficiently and cost-effectively as the facts allow — whether your case is uncontested, highly contested, military, or high-net-worth.
Divorce in Orlando at a glance
| Filing fee (Orange County Clerk) | $408, plus $10 to issue a summons |
|---|---|
| Residency requirement | One spouse in Florida for 6 months before filing (§ 61.021) |
| Grounds | No-fault — the marriage is "irretrievably broken" |
| Response deadline | 20 days after service to answer |
| Financial disclosure | Mandatory within 45 days of service (Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.285) |
| Parenting course | Required for parents of minor children (§ 61.21) — 4-hour DCF-approved course |
| Mediation | Required before trial in nearly every contested Ninth Circuit family case |
| Where | Ninth Judicial Circuit — Orange County Courthouse, 425 N. Orange Ave, Orlando 32801 |
| Typical timeline | Uncontested: roughly a month. Contested: several months to a year-plus |
Florida divorce basics: no-fault, residency, and where you file
Florida is a no-fault state. The only grounds you need are that the marriage is "irretrievably broken" — no proof of wrongdoing, no consent from the other spouse. One spouse must have lived in Florida for the six months before filing (§ 61.021, Florida Statutes), proven by a Florida driver license or ID issued six months back, or by a corroborating witness. Orlando-area cases are filed with the Orange County Clerk in the Ninth Judicial Circuit; the filing fee is $408 (plus $10 to issue a summons). Misconduct still matters where it touches money or children — dissipation of assets, or conduct relevant to parenting — but nobody has to prove fault to get divorced.
Mechanically, attorneys file through Florida's statewide e-filing portal; the Orange County Clerk's family division and self-help resources operate from the downtown courthouse at 425 N. Orange Avenue. Cases from Kissimmee and St. Cloud file in Osceola County (2 Courthouse Square) — also the Ninth Circuit — and Seminole County cases file in Sanford in the Eighteenth. Where you file is fixed by venue rules, not preference, and it determines your judges, your mediation program, and your calendar.
Three procedural paths — and choosing the right one
Simplified dissolution
Simplified dissolution (Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.105) is the fastest route, available only when there are no minor or dependent children, neither spouse is pregnant, you agree in writing on dividing every asset and debt, neither spouse seeks alimony, and both appear at a short final hearing. The trade: you waive financial disclosure beyond affidavits, trial, and appeal. Right for short marriages with simple finances; wrong for anyone who isn't certain the disclosed picture is complete.
Uncontested divorce
Uncontested divorce means the two of you reach agreement on everything — property, support, and a parenting plan if you have children — and the case moves on paperwork and a brief hearing. Most of our uncontested work is really negotiated work: the agreement is the product, and precision in drafting it is what prevents the expensive sequel. An uncontested case can finish in roughly a month; the calendar is driven mostly by how quickly terms get settled.
Contested divorce
Contested divorce is everything else — from a single disputed issue to a full financial and parenting trial. Contested does not have to mean scorched-earth: most contested cases settle at or before mediation once the financial picture is established. It does mean deadlines, discovery, and leverage, and the side that prepares earlier generally does better at every stage.
How a Florida divorce actually proceeds in Orange County
- Petition and service. The case opens with a petition for dissolution; the other spouse is served and has 20 days to answer (and often counter-petition). Your case is assigned to one of the Ninth Circuit's family divisions, and that judge's procedures shape the calendar from day one.
- Mandatory disclosure. Within 45 days of service, both sides must exchange financial affidavits, tax returns, pay records, and account statements under Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.285. This is automatic — not optional — and it is where complex cases are won or quietly lost. When the affidavit doesn't match reality, targeted discovery and imputation follow.
- Parenting course. Divorcing parents of minor children complete a short court-approved parent education course (§ 61.21) before final judgment — a four-hour, DCF-approved class available online; file the certificate early and it never becomes a bottleneck.
- Temporary relief. Where needed, the court sets interim rules — temporary support, exclusive use of the home, temporary time-sharing, attorney's-fee advances under § 61.16 — that stabilize the case for the months it takes to finish.
- Discovery and experts. Depositions, subpoenas, appraisals, business valuations, vocational evaluations — scaled to what the case genuinely needs.
- Mediation. The Ninth Circuit requires mediation in nearly every contested family case before trial. Prepared parties settle most cases here, on terms shaped by the evidence built in the steps above.
- Trial. The cases that don't settle are decided by a judge — there are no jury trials in Florida divorce. Trying cases well is rarer than it should be, and judges know which lawyers can.
The PEACE framework: every issue in your divorce
Florida divorces resolve five clusters of issues, and lawyers organize them with the acronym PEACE:
P — Parental responsibility and time-sharing
Since 2023, Florida applies a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the children's best interests (§ 61.13). The parenting plan — decision-making, schedules, holidays, travel — is built on the statutory best-interests factors.
E — Equitable distribution
Property division starts from a premise of an equal split of marital assets and debts (§ 61.075), with the real fights over what is marital, what things are worth — especially businesses and retirement and equity accounts — and whether any factor justifies an unequal division.
A — Alimony
Need and ability to pay under § 61.08, inside the 2023 reform's duration and amount caps. See our alimony page for how the current framework actually computes.
C — Child support
A guideline formula driven by both incomes and overnights — with real fights over hidden income and imputed earnings, especially for the self-employed.
E — Everything else
Prenuptial and postnuptial agreements, domestic violence issues, and attorneys' fees, which may be awarded where one party has the need and the other the ability to pay.
What changed in 2023 — and why most advice online is outdated
Two statutes rewrote Florida divorce in one summer, and most pages ranking for this search still describe the old law.
Alimony reform (SB 1416, effective July 1, 2023). Permanent alimony is gone for new cases. Durational alimony is now capped by the length of the marriage — it cannot exceed 50% of a short marriage (under 10 years), 60% of a moderate marriage (10–20 years), or 75% of a long marriage (20 years or more) — with the amount capped at the recipient's reasonable need or 35% of the difference in net incomes, whichever is less. Rehabilitative alimony is capped at five years, and the statute now addresses retirement directly. If your expectations — or your spouse's demands — were formed under the old law, the math has changed.
The equal time-sharing presumption (§ 61.13, effective July 1, 2023). Courts now begin from a rebuttable presumption that a 50/50 schedule is in the children's best interests. The parent opposing equal time-sharing carries the burden of showing why the statutory factors point elsewhere — distance, work schedules, safety, continuity. It reframes every parenting negotiation in the Ninth Circuit, and we build parenting plans with that starting point in mind.
Complex assets are the practice, not the exception
Business interests and valuations, executive and equity compensation, hidden-asset tracing, multi-property estates, military pensions — these are the matters this firm is built for. Where both parties are reasonable, we push hard for a swift, fair settlement. Where one party is spiteful, the Court has tools — including fee-shifting — and we use them. For seven-figure estates and business owners, start with our high-net-worth divorce practice page; for the medical and professional community, see physician & professional divorce.
Investment portfolios, equity compensation & digital assets
A brokerage statement is a starting point, not an answer. Dividing an investment portfolio correctly means classifying each position (marital, nonmarital, or mixed), then dividing with the tax embedded in every lot in view — a $500,000 account of appreciated stock is not worth the same as $500,000 of cash, and a division that ignores basis quietly shifts the tax bill to one spouse. Equity compensation adds a second layer: RSUs, options, and deferred bonuses granted for work during the marriage are marital even if they vest later, and Florida courts allocate unvested grants with time-based formulas that reward careful records. We model the after-tax outcome of every proposed split — including concentrated positions, margin balances, and private-fund interests with their illiquidity and valuation discounts — before recommending you sign anything. Cryptocurrency is treated the same as any other asset: exchange records and wallet tracing bring it onto the table, and volatility makes the valuation date (§ 61.075(7)) a negotiated weapon, not a formality.
Inherited assets, gifts & the commingling trap
An inheritance or family gift is nonmarital property under § 61.075 — if it stayed separate. The moment inherited money lands in a joint account, pays down the marital home, or gets retitled in both names, Florida's presumptions start converting it into divisible marital property, and the spouse claiming it back carries the burden of tracing every dollar. Appreciation follows its own rule: passive growth of a separate inheritance stays separate, but growth produced by marital effort or marital funds — actively trading the inherited portfolio, running the inherited business — becomes marital. These cases are won with documents: account statements from the date of receipt forward, deeds, and a tracing analysis the judge can actually follow. If you have an inheritance to protect, the time to structure it is now, whether or not a divorce is on the horizon.
Trusts & asset-protection structures in divorce
Trusts change the questions, not the outcome of careful work. A revocable trust you control offers no divorce protection at all — its assets are treated as yours and classified like everything else. Irrevocable third-party trusts (the trust a parent built for your spouse) are generally not divisible property, but they are never invisible: distributions and distribution history count as income for alimony and child support, and Florida law gives support claimants statutory exceptions to spendthrift protection. Self-settled asset-protection trusts draw the hardest look — Florida does not recognize them domestically, and moving marital assets into out-of-state or offshore structures on the eve of divorce is the kind of transfer courts unwind, with fee consequences for the spouse who tried. We litigate both sides of this: compelling trust instruments, accountings, and K-1s when assets are sheltered, and defending legitimately structured family wealth — especially where a prenuptial agreement and trust planning were done together, which remains the strongest protection Florida offers.
Hidden assets & forensic accounting
When the financial affidavit doesn't match the lifestyle, we don't argue — we prove. Mandatory disclosure, subpoenas to banks and business partners, lifestyle analysis, and forensic accountants reconstruct what a spouse actually earns and owns; transfers made within two years before the petition are within the court's statutory reach, and dissipation — marital money spent on an affair, gambled, or moved to relatives — comes back into the ledger as an unequal-distribution factor. The self-employed spouse who "suddenly" earns half as much meets imputation of income.
Retirement division, QDROs & taxes
401(k)s, pensions, and IRAs divide without tax damage only when the paperwork is right: employer plans require a qualified domestic relations order (QDRO) entered with the judgment, IRAs transfer incident to divorce under their own rule, and military and government pensions each follow separate regimes. Alimony has been tax-neutral federally since 2019 — payors no longer deduct it — which changes settlement math most online calculators still get wrong. We draft the judgment and the QDRO together so nothing is left to unwind later.
Military divorce in Orlando — from an Air Force veteran
Michael Mackhanlall served as a U.S. Air Force airborne radio operator supporting combat search-and-rescue and counter-terrorism operations, with deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan. That matters here for a practical reason: military divorces layer federal rules onto Florida law, and translating between the two is easier when your lawyer has worn the uniform. The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can pause proceedings for active-duty spouses; military retired pay divides under the USFSPA, with DFAS paying a former spouse directly when the 10/10 rule is met; 20/20/20 former spouses keep TRICARE and base privileges; BAH and other allowances count as income for support; and parenting plans for service members need deployment clauses written before orders arrive, not after. Full detail on our military divorce page.
Special situations
Same-sex divorce
Same-sex marriages dissolve under exactly the same statutes, but the facts often need more careful handling: pre-2015 relationships longer than the legal marriage, parentage that doesn't match biology, and agreements made before marriage was available. The framework is the same; the lawyering is in the details.
Gray divorce
Divorce after 50 is arithmetic about the future: retirement accounts near distribution, Social Security timing, health coverage between now and Medicare, and alimony under the 2023 caps against a shorter earning horizon. Settlements here are retirement plans in disguise, and we treat them that way.
Relocation with children
After the judgment — or during the case — a move of 50 miles or more for 60 days or more requires either the other parent's written agreement or a court order under § 61.13001. Relocating without one is the fastest way to lose a custody case. The statute has its own petition requirements and deadlines; treat it as its own lawsuit.
Default divorce
A spouse who ignores service does not stop the case. After the 20-day response window, the clerk enters a default, and the court can enter final judgment on your petition and your evidence. It is the slower, cheaper cousin of the contested case — and completely routine.
Name restoration
Ask for it in the petition or counterpetition and your former name is restored in the final judgment — no separate case, no extra fee. Decide during the divorce; afterward it becomes a stand-alone name-change proceeding with fingerprints and a new filing fee.
Immigration considerations
Divorce can affect conditional residency, pending adjustment, and naturalization timelines. We coordinate with immigration counsel where status is in play so the family case doesn't create an immigration problem no one saw coming.
Mediation, collaborative divorce & staying out of court
Nearly every contested family case in the Ninth Circuit goes to mediation before it may go to trial — and prepared parties settle most cases there. Preparation is the point: the side that arrives with the financial picture built controls the room. Florida's collaborative process (§§ 61.55–61.58) is a different tool — both spouses and specially trained counsel commit in writing to resolve everything outside court, with neutral financial and mental-health professionals, and the lawyers must withdraw if it fails. It fits privacy-sensitive professionals and business owners well. Either way, the quiet rule of out-of-court resolution holds: the negotiating leverage comes from being visibly ready to try the case if talks fail.
What it costs — honestly
The court charges $408 to open the case. Beyond that, cost tracks conflict: a genuinely uncontested divorce is typically a few thousand dollars in fees; a contested case with experts runs five figures. The three drivers are disputed issues, financial complexity, and the other side's reasonableness. We scope strategy and budget at the first consultation, staff leanly, and aim discovery at what moves the needle — and where there is an income gap, § 61.16 fee awards exist to keep the playing field level. Full breakdown: what a Florida divorce actually costs. Our consultations are flat-fee, researched in advance, and refunded if you don't find the session valuable — the terms are in the footer of every page because we mean them.
After the decree: modification & enforcement
Final judgments are final about the past, not the future. Alimony and child support can be modified on a substantial, unanticipated change in circumstances — job loss, retirement under the 2023 statute's framework, a support recipient's supportive relationship — and parenting plans can be revisited when circumstances materially change. Enforcement runs the other direction: unpaid support, ignored time-sharing, and unexecuted transfers are addressed through contempt and enforcement motions with fee exposure for the violator. Property division, by contrast, is essentially permanent — which is why we draft it like it can never be fixed. It usually can't.
Serving Orlando & Central Florida
Mack Law is a downtown-adjacent Orlando practice at 1607 Woodward Street, minutes from the Orange County Courthouse at 425 N. Orange Avenue. We represent clients across Orlando — Winter Park, Windermere, Dr. Phillips, Lake Nona, Baldwin Park, College Park, Thornton Park, MetroWest, Waterford Lakes — and appear throughout the Ninth Judicial Circuit (Orange and Osceola counties, including Kissimmee and St. Cloud) and the surrounding Seminole, Lake, Volusia, and Brevard county courts.
Why Mack Law
Michael Mackhanlall is a U.S. Air Force veteran — deployed to Iraq and Afghanistan, recognized as his unit's 2005 Airman of the Year — who brings the same preparation ethic to the courtroom. The firm is built for financial complexity: we run our own equitable-distribution and support models in professional software rather than waiting on opposing counsel's math, we try cases when trying them is the answer, and we hold the only 5.0 Google rating among Orlando's ten most-visible divorce firms. Consultations are flat-fee with a simple guarantee: if the session doesn't deliver value, we refund it.
Florida divorce FAQs
Court costs are modest: the Orange County Clerk charges $408 to file, plus $10 to issue a summons. Attorney's fees track conflict — a genuinely uncontested divorce typically runs a few thousand dollars; a contested case with experts runs five figures. The drivers are disputed issues, financial complexity, and the other side's reasonableness. Where there is an income gap, § 61.16 fee awards can level the field.
A simplified or fully uncontested case can finish in roughly a month, driven mostly by hearing availability in the Ninth Judicial Circuit. Contested cases typically run several months to a year or more, depending on discovery, experts, and mediation timing. Complete financial disclosure early is the single biggest accelerant; a party who hides the ball is the biggest delay.
Since July 1, 2023, Florida law applies a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the children's best interests (§ 61.13). A judge can still order a different schedule based on the statutory best-interests factors — distance between homes, work schedules, safety issues — but the starting point is now 50/50, and the parent opposing it carries the burden.
The court starts from an equal division of marital property and debts under § 61.075, but the litigated questions are which assets are marital, what they are worth, and whether statutory factors justify an unequal split. Nonmarital property — what you brought in, inherited, or protected with a prenup — is not divided at all if it stayed separate.
Yes. Senate Bill 1416, effective July 1, 2023, eliminated permanent alimony for new cases. Durational alimony is now capped by marriage length — up to 50% of a short marriage, 60% of a moderate marriage, and 75% of a long marriage — with amount caps tied to need and net income, and rehabilitative alimony is capped at five years.
Legally, little — Florida is no-fault and filing first confers no presumption. Practically, the filer chooses the timing, arrives organized, and frames the first motions. Where dissipation or asset movement is a risk, filing starts the statutory clock that lets the court examine transfers made within two years before the petition.
If you want the statutory framework rather than the strategy — grounds, residency, disclosure, equitable distribution and the 2023 alimony rules in one place — see our guide to Florida divorce laws.
No. That the marriage is irretrievably broken is the only ground you need, and your spouse cannot block the divorce by refusing to agree. Conduct still matters where it has consequences — spending marital money on an affair is dissipation, and behavior bearing on the children is relevant to the parenting plan.
You can still get divorced. After service, your spouse has 20 days to respond. If they don't, the court can enter a default and ultimately a final judgment based on your petition and your evidence. A spouse cannot stop a Florida divorce by refusing to participate — silence just means they lose their voice in the terms.
Filing alone forces nobody out. Where the situation requires it, the court can award one spouse temporary exclusive use of the home — most often the parent with the children — as part of temporary relief. At final judgment the home is valued and either awarded with an offset, refinanced, or sold, depending on the equitable-distribution math.
Almost entirely, yes. Negotiated settlements, mediation — which the Ninth Circuit requires in nearly every contested case — and Florida's collaborative process resolve the substance out of court; a short final hearing or paperwork finishes the case. The negotiating leverage comes from being visibly ready to try the case if talks fail.
Florida's rules are built for exactly this. Mandatory disclosure forces both sides to produce financial records within 45 days; subpoenas and forensic accounting fill the gaps; temporary support and fee awards under § 61.16 fund the case while it is pending. Bring what you have — tax returns, statements, even photographs of documents — and we build the rest.
Then the job is to paper it correctly — a marital settlement agreement and, with children, a parenting plan that says what you actually mean, survives future disputes, and handles the details couples forget: tax filing status, refinance deadlines, QDROs for retirement accounts, life insurance securing support. Fixed-scope representation usually fits these cases well.
Military divorces layer federal rules onto Florida law: the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act can pause proceedings during active duty; military retirement divides under the USFSPA, with DFAS paying a former spouse directly when the 10/10 rule is met; 20/20/20 former spouses keep TRICARE; and allowances like BAH count as income for support. Mack Law is veteran-owned — we speak the language.
Yes. Ask for name restoration in the petition or counterpetition and the judge includes it in the final judgment — no separate proceeding, no extra filing fee. Doing it later means a stand-alone name-change case with fingerprinting and a new court file, so raise it during the divorce even if you are undecided.
Court files are generally public records in Florida, but the sensitive core is protected: financial affidavits and account information receive confidential treatment under the family-law rules, and a well-drafted settlement can keep financial terms out of the public file entirely. For business owners and professionals, privacy strategy is part of case strategy from day one.
We do something better. Consultations are billed at a flat fee: we research your matter before the call, stay on the phone as long as you need, and if you don't feel the consultation delivered value, we refund the fee. A free intake call is usually a sales call; ours is a working session with an attorney who has already read your facts.
Related services at Mack Law
High-Net-Worth Divorce
Business valuation, goodwill, executive compensation, forensic accounting, and privacy — for seven-figure estates.
Property Division
Equitable distribution, marital vs. nonmarital characterization, businesses, and commingling disputes.
Alimony
Exposure and entitlement under Florida's 2023 alimony reform — durational caps, need and ability to pay.
Imputation of Income
Vocational evaluations, historical earnings, and earning-capacity fights that decide the support numbers.
Talk it through — confidentially.
Call (407) 749-1034 or request a confidential consultation*. Prompt responses, usually the same business day.
*Consultations are billed at a flat fee. We research your matter thoroughly before the call and stay on the phone as long as you need — and if you don’t feel the consultation delivered value, we’ll refund the fee.
This page describes Florida law in general terms as of its last update and is not legal advice about any specific situation. Statutes and rules cited include §§ 61.021, 61.075, 61.08, 61.13, 61.13001, 61.16, 61.21, 61.30, and 61.55–61.58, Florida Statutes, and Fla. Fam. L. R. 12.105 and 12.285. Filing fees are set by the Orange County Clerk and may change.