How to Divorce After You Just Moved to Florida

“Jurisdiction” is a common spelling word or vocabulary word in the fifth grade, when social studies classes attempt to teach you how governments and societies work. It means a court’s authority to issue a legal decision or court order about a case. When you are a fifth grader, the concept sounds unfathomably boring, if you can even grasp why jurisdiction exists at all. For example, the civil courts of Florida have jurisdiction to rule on lawsuits about car accidents that happened in Florida, regardless of whether the people involved in the accident live in Florida or somewhere else. Likewise, if a retiree spent part of the year in Florida and part of the year in another state, the Florida probate courts have jurisdiction to administer the person’s only if Florida was the decedent’s domicile; you can figure this out based on which state issued the decedent’s driver’s license or voter registration card. The Florida criminal courts have jurisdiction over cases like drug possession or domestic violence, arising from local incidents and investigated by local law enforcement, but the federal courts have jurisdiction over cases related to Internet crimes or criminal operations that took place in multiple states, such as drug trafficking. Jurisdiction is a straightforward matter in family law cases, except when it is not. If you are planning to divorce in Florida, and you want to make sure that the Florida courts have jurisdiction in your case, contact a Boca Raton divorce lawyer.

Residency Requirements for Florida Divorce Cases

Most of the divorce judgments that the family courts of Florida issue involve cases where both spouses have lived in Florida for years, but that does not describe everyone who is eligible to file for divorce in Florida. The courts of Florida have jurisdiction over divorce cases as long as the spouse who files the divorce petition, has lived in Florida for at least six months before filing the divorce petition. These are some examples of couples who divorced in Florida, despite not fitting the “born and raised Floridians” mold:

• A couple moved to Florida, and the wife realized almost immediately that, not only was moving to Florida a mistake, but so was staying married to her husband. She filed for divorce as soon as the couple had lived there for six months.
• A man from North Carolina moved to Florida for a new job, with the expectation that his wife and children would soon follow. They never did, and he eventually filed for divorce in Florida.
• A young German girl did a study exchange program in Florida, accompanied by her mother, while her father stayed in Germany. During the study abroad year, the parents’ marriage soured, and once six months had gone by, the mother filed for divorce.

Likewise, the Florida courts may have jurisdiction over parenting plan cases if one parent moved to Florida after the divorce, and the children spend part of the year there.

Contact Schwartz | White About Jurisdiction in Florida Family Law Cases

A South Florida family law attorney can help you achieve a divorce if you recently moved to Florida, or if you moved here without your spouse.  Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.

Source:

businessinsider.com/moved-to-florida-for-husbands-job-bad-idea-left-divorced-2025-7