How your Florida uncontested divorce works

No. You do not have to live in Florida, and you do not have to travel to Florida. Every step is handled online — the guided intake, signing with a remote online notary over video, and electronic filing with the court — and there is no court appearance in a typical uncontested case. We regularly help clients who live in another state or another country, including outside the United States. What matters is the residency rule: at least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before filing (F.S. 61.021).

Where you married does not decide where you can divorce — residency does. To file in Florida, at least one spouse must have resided in Florida for the six months immediately before the case is filed (F.S. 61.021). If one of you still meets that, you can file in Florida even if the other spouse lives out of state or abroad. If neither of you has lived in Florida for six months, Florida generally is not the right place to file, and you would file where one of you now meets the local residency requirement. Ask Victoria and she can help you figure out where you stand.

The firm represents you — the spouse who hires it — not your spouse. In an uncontested case your spouse still signs the agreed documents (typically an Acceptance/Waiver of Service and the Marital Settlement Agreement). We prepare those documents and coordinate getting them to your spouse for signature; your spouse signs as an unrepresented party and can sign from wherever they live, including abroad, using the same remote online notary. Because the firm represents only you, it does not give your spouse legal advice, and your spouse may choose to have their own attorney review the documents first. This path only works if your spouse is willing to sign — if your spouse cannot be located, will not cooperate, or disagrees with the terms, the case is contested and this flat-fee service is not the right fit.

It can. If your spouse already opened a divorce case that is still pending, that existing case usually has to be finished, dismissed, or used as the vehicle for the uncontested paperwork before a new filing makes sense — you generally cannot have two open dissolution cases for the same marriage at once. Tell Victoria during intake if a prior case was ever filed; the attorney will check on it and advise the cleanest path forward.

The flat $750 is the attorney (legal) fee. Paid separately are the court filing fee (approximately $424 total, which includes the roughly 4% card convenience fee and varies by county), the remote online notary ($50 per signing session, paid directly to the notary), and — if your agreement transfers real estate — county recording fees for any deed. A payment processing fee (2.9% + $0.30) is added as a separate line item at checkout. We tell you the exact amounts for your situation before you start.

It is a short video call — usually 5 to 10 minutes — with an independent Florida remote online notary, not with the firm. Once your documents are ready and you have confirmed the details are correct, the notary emails you a link and you pick a time that works. You will need a phone, computer or laptop and a current, non-expired photo ID, which you photograph during the session. You and your spouse do not have to be in the same place: if you are in different locations you each join on your own device, and if you are together on one device that works too. On the call you sign electronically and the notary notarizes the documents, then returns them to the attorney. If anything has to be re-signed later, it is the same short process again. The notary is independent of the firm, is not an attorney, and does not give legal advice.

You pay the notary directly — the firm never charges the notary fee and it is never billed to a card on file. The notary currently charges $50 for a full document packet, or $25 for a single document, and the fee is per signing session: if you and your spouse sign together it is one fee, and if you sign separately each session is charged. The notary sends a payment link before or during the call. This is separate from the flat $750 attorney fee and from the court’s filing fee.

Two clocks matter. First, the prep: how quickly you finish the guided intake and how quickly both spouses sign. Most clients are divorced about one to three weeks from the day they hire us. Florida's dissolution statute sets a 20-day period after filing but expressly allows the court to enter judgment sooner (F.S. 61.19) — in our uncontested cases it routinely does. Court schedules vary and no timeline can be guaranteed. If you have minor children, both parents must complete a short online parenting course before final judgment, which can be done while your documents are prepared.