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Florida law does not require you to be married for any minimum length of time before filing for divorce, as long as one spouse meets the residency requirement and the marriage is irretrievably broken. However, the duration of your marriage affects more than most people realize. Under Florida’s 2023 alimony reform, marriages under three years are ineligible for durational alimony. Short marriages carry different property division dynamics. The decisions you make now, including when and how you file, shape those outcomes. What you need is an Orlando divorce attorney who can make sure you have the full picture before you act.
Florida Has No Minimum Marriage Duration Requirement
Florida is a no-fault divorce state. Under state law, a marriage may be dissolved when it is “irretrievably broken,” and there is no minimum time you must be married before reaching that conclusion. You can file for dissolution of marriage the day after your wedding, provided one spouse meets the residency requirements and the marriage is irretrievably broken.
This comes as a surprise to many people, but it is the law. Neither spouse needs to prove wrongdoing, establish fault, or show they waited a reasonable amount of time before filing. The only legal question is whether the marriage is beyond repair.
What Is the 6-Month Residency Requirement for Divorce in Florida?
While Florida places no limit on how recently you were married, at least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months immediately before filing a petition for divorce. Only one spouse needs to satisfy this requirement, not both.
For most Orlando-area residents, this is not an obstacle. But if you recently relocated to Florida for a job, a relationship, or family reasons and have not yet reached the six-month mark, you may need to wait before filing here. Your spouse can also file if they meet the residency requirement independently. If you are close to the six-month mark, keep a record of your move-in date. It will matter when you are ready to file.
Is There a Waiting Period After You File for Divorce in Florida?
Once you submit your divorce petition, Florida law requires the court to wait at least 20 days before entering a final judgment of dissolution. A judge may waive this period only when the delay would cause injustice. That standard is rarely met.
In practice, 20 days is the floor, not the typical timeline. Court scheduling, mandatory financial disclosures, and any unresolved issues between the parties all extend the process. Our guide on how soon you can divorce after marriage in Florida walks through the full timeline step by step.
How Does Marriage Length Affect Your Florida Divorce?
You can file immediately after getting married, but how long you were married shapes what your divorce will actually look like. Areas matter most for anyone ending a short marriage include:
Alimony
Florida’s 2023 alimony reform tied alimony eligibility to marriage duration. Under Florida’s updated alimony statute, durational alimony cannot be awarded when a marriage lasts less than three years. Marriages under 10 years are classified as short-term, which caps any durational alimony at half the length of the marriage. Bridge-the-gap and rehabilitative alimony remain available even in very brief marriages, but both require a showing of financial need and the other spouse’s ability to pay.
Property Division
Florida courts begin equitable distribution with a presumption of equal division of marital assets and debts. Marriage duration is one of the statutory factors a court may use to award an unequal split. In very short marriages, this often simplifies the analysis. Most assets each spouse brought in before the wedding are non-marital property and stay with their original owner. The marital estate itself is smaller. That said, if money or property became commingled during the marriage, careful review is still worthwhile.
Prenuptial Agreements
If you and your spouse signed a prenuptial agreement before the wedding, its terms generally govern property and support rights in a Florida divorce, often replacing the standard equitable distribution and alimony analysis. Reviewing that agreement with an attorney before you file is an important first step.
Should You Consider an Annulment Instead?
An annulment does not simply end a marriage. It declares the marriage never legally existed, which matters when you want to eliminate any shared property or alimony claims. Florida law requires specific grounds for an annulment. A short marriage alone is not enough.
Recognized grounds include bigamy, mental incapacity at the time of the ceremony, fraud or material misrepresentation going to the essence of the marriage, duress, underage marriage without proper consent, and in some cases physical inability to consummate the marriage. If none of the allowed circumstances apply, annulment is not available regardless of how brief the marriage was.
Our overview of annulment vs. divorce in Florida explains the grounds and what each path involves.
What Is the Fastest Way to Get Divorced in Florida?
For couples who agree on all issues and have no minor children, simplified dissolution of marriage offers the fastest route. Both spouses must sign the petition jointly, appear together at a final hearing, and waive any alimony request. When both spouses are in full agreement, a simplified dissolution can be completed in as little as 30 days after filing. When disputes arise over property, support, or other issues, a contested divorce takes considerably longer, often several months to a year or more. Our overview of the divorce process in Florida covers what to expect at each stage.
Talk to an Orlando Divorce Attorney About Your Options Today
No matter how long your marriage lasts, you deserve a clear picture of your legal position before taking the next step. At Bernal-Mora & Nickolaou, P.A., our Orlando divorce attorneys, Ophelia Bernal-Mora and Andrew Nickolaou, are both Board Certified Specialists in Marital and Family Law. Contact us today to schedule a consultation.
