Family Law & Divorce around Broward County, Florida: custody friction, support records, and record pressure

Family law cases in Broward County are heard in the Family Division of the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit Court at the Broward County Courthouse (201 SE 6th St., Fort Lauderdale FL 33301), with filings through the Clerk of Courts (954-831-6565; browardclerk.org) and a robust self-help and family court services infrastructure including general and family magistrates who handle much of the docket. Florida is an equitable-distribution state — NOT a community property state — under Fla. Stat. §61.075: marital assets and liabilities (those acquired during the marriage) are divided fairly, which the law presumes means equally unless factors justify an unequal split, while non-marital property (owned before the marriage, or received by individual gift or inheritance) is kept by its owner. Florida divorce is no-fault: the sole ground for most cases is that the marriage is "irretrievably broken" (Fla. Stat. §61.052), so neither spouse must prove wrongdoing, though adultery and marital misconduct can affect alimony and, where marital funds were dissipated, the property division. To file, at least one spouse must have resided in Florida for six months before filing (Fla. Stat. §61.021). Broward's diverse, high-cost economy — with significant real estate, marine and business assets, retirement accounts, and a large international and retiree population — makes asset characterization, valuation, and the interplay of Florida and foreign assets recurring issues in the county's divorces.

Florida overhauled alimony in 2023. Senate Bill 1416 ABOLISHED permanent alimony for cases going forward and restructured the remaining forms under Fla. Stat. §61.08: temporary alimony (during the case), bridge-the-gap alimony (up to two years, to help transition to single life), rehabilitative alimony (up to five years, tied to a specific plan to acquire education or skills), and durational alimony (for a set term, generally not exceeding the length of the marriage, with statutory caps — the term cannot exceed 50% of a short-term marriage under 10 years, 60% of a moderate-term marriage of 10–20 years, or 75% of a long-term marriage over 20 years, and the amount is capped by the recipient's need or 35% of the difference in the parties' net incomes, whichever is less). The 2023 law also created a framework for modifying or terminating alimony upon the payor's retirement and clarified the treatment of supportive relationships. There is no separation requirement and no fixed waiting period beyond a statutory minimum of 20 days from filing to final judgment (which the court can waive for hardship), so an uncontested Broward divorce can conclude in a matter of weeks, while contested cases with disputed assets or children run months to over a year. Retirement accounts and pensions divided in the equitable-distribution process require a Qualified Domestic Relations Order (QDRO) to implement against the plan.

Child custody in Florida is governed by "parental responsibility" and "time-sharing," not "custody" and "visitation," under Fla. Stat. §61.13, with every decision made under the best-interests-of-the-child standard weighing an enumerated list of statutory factors. Florida courts favor shared parental responsibility (both parents retaining decision-making rights) unless it would harm the child, and a 2023 amendment created a REBUTTABLE PRESUMPTION that equal (50/50) time-sharing is in the child's best interest — a significant shift that starts negotiations and litigation from an equal-time baseline unless a parent proves equal time-sharing would not serve the child. Parents must file a detailed parenting plan (or the court imposes one) addressing time-sharing schedules, decision-making on education and health care, and communication. Relocation of a child more than 50 miles for 60+ days requires either the other parent's written agreement or court approval under Florida's strict relocation statute (Fla. Stat. §61.13001) — a frequent issue in a mobile, international county like Broward. Interstate and international custody disputes are governed by the UCCJEA and, for international abduction, the Hague Convention — recurring concerns given Broward's large Caribbean, Latin American, and European populations. Broward's Family Division offers parenting coordination and, for high-conflict cases, social investigations and guardians ad litem.

Domestic violence protection in Broward County runs through the courts and a strong network of advocates. Injunctions for protection against domestic violence (restraining orders) are filed at the courthouse with free assistance available from the Clerk's self-help program, and a judge can issue a temporary injunction the same day (ex parte) on a showing of an immediate danger, with a full hearing set within 15 days for a final injunction (which can be permanent). Florida recognizes injunctions against domestic, repeat, dating, sexual, and stalking violence (Fla. Stat. §741.30 and §784.046). Women in Distress of Broward County (24-hour crisis hotline 954-761-1133; womenindistress.org) is the county's certified domestic-violence center, operating emergency shelter, counseling, and legal advocacy; the Broward Sheriff's Office and municipal departments enforce injunctions, and violations are criminal. Survivors with immigration concerns retain independent protections — VAWA self-petitions, U visas (with law-enforcement certification), and T visas — regardless of an abuser's status, important in Broward's large immigrant communities, and a domestic-violence injunction can support early lease termination and address confidentiality through Florida's Address Confidentiality Program.

Child support in Florida follows the income-shares model of Fla. Stat. §61.30, using both parents' net incomes, the number of children, health-insurance and childcare costs, and the number of overnights each parent exercises to calculate a guideline amount from the statutory schedule; the substantial-overnight adjustment (when a parent has 20% or more of overnights) can significantly change the number, which interacts with the new equal-time-sharing presumption. The Florida Department of Revenue Child Support Program (1-850-488-KIDS; childsupport.floridarevenue.com) handles establishment, enforcement, and modification for many families, with tools including income deduction orders, license suspension, tax-refund interception, and contempt; private counsel handles contested and higher-asset cases through the circuit court. Support is generally payable until a child turns 18 (or 19 if still in high school with an expected graduation), with provisions for dependent adult children with disabilities. Modifications require a substantial change in circumstances. Self-represented litigants — a large share of Broward's family docket — can use the Florida Supreme Court approved family law forms, the Clerk's self-help resources, and Legal Aid Service of Broward County (954-765-8950), while the Broward County Bar Association (954-764-8040) refers to family-law specialists, and collaborative divorce and mediation (which the circuit requires before most contested final hearings) offer less adversarial paths.