Florida divorce law is not designed to punish the “guilty” and reward the “innocent”. It’s called “no-fault” divorce for a reason — neither party is going to be held accountable for why the marriage failed. There are no grounds such as adultery, abandonment or mental cruelty that have to be proven. All you need to show is that the marriage is “irretrievably broken” – legal language meaning, “I just don’t want to be married anymore”. Some people call this no-fault system “divorce on demand”. However, fault may be considered by the court under special circumstances arising in the determination of children’s issues and the award of alimony.

If your spouse opposes a divorce, under the no-fault system, they can’t prevent you from getting one. So the threat, “I’ll never give you a divorce”, means nothing. If children are involved, the court may, but very rarely does, order the parties into marriage counseling for up to three months. This may slow the process down, but your spouse cannot stop it.