DIY Divorce in Florida

Florida Divorce: 3 Points on Being the First to File

DIY Divorce asked for your Florida family law questions last week. The top question asked was, "Should I file first?" Believe it or not, the answer is that in Florida it doesn't really matter much whether you are the Petitioner or Respondent.

We're a no-fault state so you don't have to prove your spouse has done something wrong. The the only grounds for divorce (dissolution of marriage) in Florida are that 

• your marriage is irretrievably broken   
• your spouse has been declared legally incompetent for 3 years or longer

Back in the days you had to prove fault, being a Petitioner was expensive. That's not true today.

So here are three points to consider about being the first to file a Florida divorce:

1. The Petitioner pays the filing fee and attends the final hearing.
2. The date the Petition is FILED with the court is the cut-off date for marital assets. (There's lots of fine print with this point!).
3. Hearings are set based on the judge's schedule so being the Petitioner doesn't give you any advantage in setting hearings

If you're served with a petition, don't panic. As you can see, there's not really an edge to the Petitioner. However, if you are truly concerned that your Petitioner spouse may drop the case, you should pay the fee and file a counter-petition with your answer. A Florida divorce counter-petition is a separate case-within-a-case. You'll be the Petitioner in the that one and can move the counter-petition forward, no matters what your spouse does (or doesn't do).

So consider these 3 points before making your decision about whether you should be the first to file a divorce petition in Florida.

Related Posts:

8 Documents You Need to File a Florida Divorce
Serving a Florida Divorce Petition
Served With a Florida Divorce Petition?
Your Responsibilities When Representing Yourself in Florida Divorce

Florida Divorce - A Request for Admissions is a Time Bomb

Carefully think about whether you can continue to represent yourself when your spouse has an attorney. As a DIY'er you have many responsibilities you need to meet. And frankly, lawyers will likely try to exploit your lack of legal knowledge. One such tactic that seems to be popular right now is sending a Request for Admissions.

Request for Admissions = Time Bomb

First, you need to realize that there is no form available to respond to the Request for Admissions. You will have to make your own form and indicate whether you "admit" each statement or "deny" it.

Second, if you do not respond to the Request for Admissions on time, you automatically admit those facts. You have 30 days to respond to the Request.

What this means to you, as a do it yourselfer, is that If you miss any statements in your response or don't file a response, you will have automatically admitted those facts.

Such admissions could end your case. If your spouse doesn't want a divorce and sends you a Request for Admissions that includes "The marriage is not irretrievably broken." If you admit that fact, you will not meet the divorce requirements in Florida and the judge won't grant you a divorce.

If you receive a Request for Admissions be careful and consider hiring help. This can be one of the most tricky areas for a do it yourselfer. Don't help toss your case out of court. Pay attention and be sure to respond to all Requests for Admissions in your Florida divorce.

Related Posts

Served With a Florida Divorce Petition?

Florida Divorce: Two Ways to Prove Spouse's Income

File an Answer in Your Florida Divorce!

No Answer Filed?

Florida Divorce - Your Responsibilities When Representing Yourself

Florida Divorce: Who Are You Going to Learn From?

Florida divorce & learning - a strange combination you think? Not really, if you think about it.

• Have you studied law and court procedure? 
• Do you know when you need to "improve" the official divorce form?
• How many motions have you written? 
• Do you understand the timing and sequence of a Florida divorce case?

You wouldn't make a cake without learning baking terms - flour the pan, sift dry ingredients. And you wouldn't drive a car without learning the rules of the road - stop on red, pull over for emergency vehicles. Surely you should spend some time learning about the terms and rules of Florida divorce. Your financial future and your children's lives depend on it.

But how do you know where to turn and who can teach you?

As I've mentioned before, I read many blogs in the course of a week. They cover topics from divorce to technology to marketing to learning. While reading Jeff Herring's latest post, I started thinking of you - the do it yourself divorce Joe or Jane. How can you tell who you should be learning from?

Jeff lists 3 different types of teachers:

Type 1 - Someone who has read a book or gone to a seminar on a topic, has never successfully done it, and is now going to teach you how to do it. I recommend my RLH response here: Run Like Hell!

Type 2 - Teacher has successfully done what you want to learn, is going to teach you, but is no longer doing it. Approach with caution: while you might be able to learn some good tips and strategies, you will be learning what got them where they are, not what they are doing right now to be successful. You won’t learn leading edge new stuff.

Type 3 - Teacher has successfully done what you want to learn, is going to teach you, and continues to do what is being taught. With this kind of teacher you get it all: what got them to where they are, what they are doing now to continue to grow, and what are the new next steps and strategies to keep you moving forward.

My recommendation: Learn from and follow only those who have done it, are teaching it, and continue to do it in their own businesses every day.

DIY Divorce in Florida offers a Tele Test Drive Florida Divorce class. Check it out if you are thinking about representing yourself in a Florida divorce.

Florida Divorce, Name Changes & Taxes

If you were divorced recently, there are a couple of things you’ll want to do to ensure the name on your tax return matches the name registered with the Social Security Administration. 

After a divorce, taxpayers who change back to their previous last name may run into complications if they don’t notify the SSA of the change. IRS computers would not be able to match the new name with their Social Security Number.

Informing the SSA of a name change is easy. File a Form SS-5 at your local SSA office. It usually takes about two weeks to have the change verified.

Can You Help Other DIY'ers Going Through Florida Divorce?

If you've been through a Florida DIY divorce you can help other people get answers to the questions they're looking for. Can you spare a few minutes and email us a question that you had or have about representing yourself in a Florida divorce.

For more than 25 years I've represented people in Florida divorce cases. I know the questions they ask at the start of their divorce cases. And we've answered the most frequently asked question that we got when we opened last year.

IDY Divorce in Florida needs YOUR contributions to an updated Frequently Asked Questions section for the DIY Divorce Blog. In order to make it the most comprehensive source of answers for your Florida DIY divorce questions, I'm asking you to send me your questions.  pam (at) diydivorce dot com                                          

For questions received in the next 72 hours, I'll personally email you the answer. And your question may make it to the DIY Divorce Blog FAQs. In order to help the most people, DIY Divorce reserves the right to edit your question.

The one thing I'm certain of, if you're wondering so are other people.

So help us help you and all the other DIY divorce folks throughout Florida.