Dissolution of Marriage (Divorce)

In Florida a divorce is referred to in the law as a dissolution of marriage. Florida is a no-fault state, which, in general, means that it does not matter whose fault it is that the marriage is being dissolved and it is not necessary to prove grounds in order for the court to dissolve the marriage. In most cases all that must be proven is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. If either party denies that the marriage is irretrievably broken, the Court has the power to abate (stop) the action for a certain period of time and order the parties to attend marriage counseling in an effort to save the marriage.

Some dissolution of marriage actions involve a very limited number of issues while others involve many complex issues and even sub-issues. Generally the issues involved in such an action are addressed in a certain order as follows: (1) parental responsibility and timesharing issues related to the children born of the marriage; (2) equitable distribution of assets and debts; (3) alimony; (4) child support, liability for medical insurance for the children and liability for life insurance to secure child support; (5) liability for attorney’s fees and court costs for the adverse party and all other issues that need to be addressed.

In Brevard County and most other counties in Florida all contested dissolution of marriage cases will be referred to family mediation. It is important to make a good faith attempt to settle all issues in a dissolution of marriage action and the Court will make efforts, including referring the case to family mediation, to encourage the parties to come to an agreement on some, if not all, of the issues involved. It is often said that there are no better persons in the world to resolve issues in a dissolution of marriage action than the parties to the action.

Whether your case settles prior to mediation, is referred to mediation or ends up in a trial on all or some of the issues, it is important that you have aggressive and competent representation. At Trader Legal our attorneys will help you in trying to obtain a reasonable settlement of your dissolution of marriage action in order to avoid the expense, aggravation and uncertainty of a trial, but if your case cannot be settled on a reasonable basis, we will aggressively represent you at trial. Give us a call today at (321) 723-6731 to schedule a consultation!