How to Get Through a Divorce: 4 Steps to an Uncontested Divorce in Florida

If you and your spouse agree that the marriage cannot be saved and are able to communicate amicably or at least agree that you want an uncontested divorce, there are four steps that can make a divorce about as painless as it can get. The first step would be to sit down together and draw up an agreement out of court. This will save you both a lot of money in legal fees if you can do it this way. The agreement once reached can be submitted to the judge using the following four steps:

1. Either your spouse or yourself will file the papers called a petition with the court along with the required state documents (your local courthouse can give you the details of what documents you need to present with the petition).

2. Whomever has filed the paperwork will have them legally served to the other party via a serving company or the local sheriff's office, depending on the requirements of your county. If you are the one being served, do not get agitated or scared if a sheriff's deputy shows up to serve you. This is a normal legal procedure and does not indicate that you are in some sort of legal trouble. Some people get nervous when an officer shows up on their doorstep.

3. Once you are given notice of the time/date and place, you and your spouse must appear in court to state in front of the judge that you both agree that the marriage is really over. This doesn't usually take more than five or ten minutes.

4. The judge will approve the divorce decree by signing the order and will enter the judgment into court records. Then it is a matter of the paperwork being processed. You will both receive notice in the mail of the final order of the judgment. Keep this for your records.

Remember that this method of divorce only applies when both parties can agree on everything.