The Florida Divorce forms offered on the Florida Supreme Court website can be used by do-it-yourselfers, but the forms are only a starting point. You will have to add information to some of the basic forms so they clearly give the facts of your case. If your case is contested, this becomes even more important. If you don’t ask for it, the court can’t give it to you. So if you want to
- stay in the house to raise the kids, you have to ask for exclusive use and possession of the marital home;
- restore your maiden name, you have to ask for it and state your former name in the petition;
- sell the marital home, you have to ask for partition of the property and provide specific information about the legal description, the owners, the mortgage, etc.
The sample forms cover only the most basic requirements to dissolve your marriage. If you make mistakes or leave out facts in the petition, the final judgment may be affected and you could wind up spending thousands of dollars for attorney’s fees to fix your pro se divorce.