Divorce is the legal restructuring of a life. In Florida, it is also a no-fault process governed by a body of statutes that reward preparation and punish improvisation. Attorney Steven C. Fraser handles every divorce matter personally — from the first consultation through the final judgment — in Duval, Clay, Nassau, and St. Johns Counties.
Steven C. Fraser, P.A. (FL Bar No. 625825 · DC Bar No. 460026 · Florida Supreme Court Certified Family & Circuit Civil Mediator Cert. No. 37256 CFR) is a Jacksonville divorce attorney representing clients in the Fourth Judicial Circuit — Duval, Clay, and Nassau Counties — as well as St. Johns County. The firm handles contested divorce, uncontested divorce, no-fault dissolution under Fla. Stat. § 61.052, equitable distribution under Fla. Stat. § 61.075, simplified dissolution of marriage, and family mediation. Free consultation: 877-862-7188 or calendly.com/fraserlawfl. Office at 4651 Salisbury Road, Suite 400, Jacksonville, FL 32256 — by appointment only.
Florida abolished fault-based divorce in 1971. Today, under Fla. Stat. § 61.052, a spouse only has to plead one of two grounds to obtain a dissolution of marriage: (1) that the marriage is irretrievably broken, or (2) that one of the parties has been mentally incapacitated for a preceding period of three years. The first ground handles more than 99 percent of Florida filings.
Practically, this means you do not have to prove adultery, cruelty, abandonment, habitual intoxication, or any other traditional fault ground to end a Florida marriage. If one spouse says the marriage is irretrievably broken and the other disputes it, the court may order counseling for up to three months or it may enter judgment anyway. Contested denial of the ground is rare and almost never successful.
No-fault does not mean conduct is irrelevant. Adultery can affect alimony under Fla. Stat. § 61.08. Intentional dissipation of marital assets affects equitable distribution under Fla. Stat. § 61.075(1)(i). A parent's behavior directly affects timesharing and parental responsibility. But none of those issues are a prerequisite to the divorce itself — they are the battles fought within the divorce.
Every Florida divorce is either contested or uncontested at the moment it is filed. The label determines the procedure, the timeline, and the cost. It is also fluid — a contested case can become uncontested after mediation, and an uncontested case can unravel if one party reneges before the final hearing.
An uncontested divorce is filed only after both spouses have reached full written agreement on every issue the court must resolve. There is nothing for the judge to decide beyond approving the parties' stipulations and entering the final judgment. The typical timeline is 30 to 90 days from filing.
A contested divorce is any matter in which one or more issues remain unresolved. The parties proceed through mandatory disclosure, discovery, mediation, and — if necessary — trial. Contested matters range from narrow single-issue disputes to full-scale custody and high-asset litigation.
The firm's published fee schedule tiers contested representation by conflict level so the engagement matches the dispute: low, medium, and high-conflict retainers are defined in advance, not billed by surprise.
Under Fla. Stat. § 61.021, at least one party must have been a Florida resident for six months before filing a petition for dissolution of marriage. Residency must be sworn under oath in the petition and proved at the final hearing, typically by one of three methods:
For clients in Duval, Clay, and Nassau Counties, divorce is filed with the Clerk of Court in the Fourth Judicial Circuit. Duval County cases are heard at the Duval County Courthouse, 501 West Adams Street, Jacksonville, Florida 32202. Clay County cases are filed in Green Cove Springs; Nassau County cases in Fernandina Beach. St. Johns County cases are filed in the Seventh Judicial Circuit in St. Augustine.
Florida imposes a mandatory 20-day waiting period from the date the petition is filed before a final judgment may be entered. In uncontested matters, the case is often ready for final hearing shortly after the waiting period expires. In contested matters, the waiting period is almost always absorbed by discovery, temporary relief proceedings, and mediation.
Florida is an equitable distribution state — not a community property state. Under Fla. Stat. § 61.075, the court begins with a presumption that marital assets and marital liabilities will be divided equally, then adjusts based on statutory factors. The work is almost always in the characterization, the valuation, and the adjustment — not in the arithmetic of a 50/50 split.
Marital assets generally include anything acquired during the marriage regardless of which spouse's name is on the title, the enhancement in value of non-marital property caused by marital labor or marital funds, and interspousal gifts made during the marriage. Non-marital assets include property owned before the marriage, property acquired by non-interspousal gift or inheritance, and income from non-marital assets that was not treated as a marital asset during the marriage. Commingling can convert non-marital property into marital property; careful tracing can preserve the non-marital character.
Under Fla. Stat. § 61.075(1), the court may depart from equal distribution after considering factors including each spouse's economic circumstances, the duration of the marriage, any interruption of a career or educational opportunity, contributions to the marriage including homemaker contributions, the desirability of retaining the marital home for minor children, the intentional dissipation, waste, or depletion of marital assets within two years of filing, and any other factor necessary for equity and justice.
In practice, the assets that generate the most disputes are the marital home, retirement accounts divided by Qualified Domestic Relations Order, closely held business interests, restricted stock and deferred compensation, and appreciated non-marital property that has been commingled.
No two divorces move at the same speed. The chart below reflects typical Fourth Circuit timelines. Every case is different, and the final schedule depends on docket congestion, the parties' cooperation with mandatory disclosure, and whether mediation resolves the disputed issues.
Filed with a complete Marital Settlement Agreement; final judgment entered after the 20-day waiting period.
Mandatory disclosure, mediation, and resolution of one or two disputed issues. Often settled at or shortly after mediation.
Contested custody, business valuation, forensic accounting, or high-asset division. Some complex matters exceed 18 months.
The 20-day statutory waiting period is a floor, not a target. The real drivers of timeline are the completeness of the parties' financial disclosures, the degree of agreement on parenting, and whether either spouse insists on going to trial. Most Florida divorces settle before final hearing.
Every case is prepared as if it will be tried. Most Florida divorces settle, but they settle on the terms the stronger case can command. Preparing every case for trial — even the uncontested ones — is how this firm protects clients from last-minute surprises and from the temptation to accept a mediocre settlement because the file is not ready for the courtroom.
One attorney, start to finish. Your case is not handed off to a paralegal after the intake. Steven C. Fraser, Esq. (FL Bar No. 625825) personally drafts the petition, conducts the mediation, argues the temporary relief hearing, and stands up at the final hearing. There is one phone number and one email address, and they both reach the same person.
Certified mediator perspective applied to litigation. Attorney Fraser is a Florida Supreme Court Certified Family & Circuit Civil Mediator (Cert. No. 37256 CFR). That training changes how the firm approaches settlement: mediation is not the last refuge after discovery has consumed a retainer, it is a structured tool used early, deliberately, and repeatedly to compress the distance between the parties. Many contested matters resolve at the first formal mediation after financial disclosure.
Plain-English counsel. You will not leave a meeting confused about what the statute says, what your exposure is, or what the next step costs. If the honest answer is "this is going to be expensive and you will still end up in the middle," that is what you will hear.
Plain-English explainers on the specific questions that come up most often in a Florida divorce. If you have not yet scheduled a consultation, these are a good place to start.
Free 30-minute consultation. No intake gatekeepers, no call-you-back-in-a-week. The first conversation is with the attorney who would handle your case.