Palm Beach County Same-Sex Divorce Lawyer
Ending a marriage cleanly means a fair split of what you built, a workable plan for any children, and a judgment that holds up for the long run. Williams & Varsegi, LLC is a boutique firm that practices exclusively in divorce and family law, and it represents married couples of every kind, including a Palm Beach County same-sex divorce lawyer team for spouses ending a same-sex marriage. The firm serves clients across Palm Beach County and Broward County, including Boca Raton, Delray Beach, Coral Springs, and Parkland.
Florida does not run a separate divorce system for same-sex spouses. The same statutes on residency, equitable distribution, alimony, time-sharing, and child support apply to every married couple. What differs is the fact pattern. Many same-sex couples spent years together before they could legally marry, which makes the length of the marriage, the classification of assets, and parental status the questions that most often decide the case.
Why Choose Williams & Varsegi, LLC for a Same-Sex Divorce in Palm Beach County
Williams & Varsegi, LLC practices exclusively in divorce and family law and brings over twenty years of experience to clients throughout Palm Beach and Broward County. The firm handles everything from high-net worth, high-conflict cases to uncontested and simplified matters, so the approach can be matched to what your case actually needs. Clients work directly with experienced attorneys who know their case, rather than being handed off to people who have never read the file.
Emerald Williams, Lawyer, and Katie lead the firm’s client work. Clients describe Katie as responsive and knowledgeable, and one client said she represented her for more than three years and made a long process smoother and less anxious. Another wrote that Emerald kept every promise she made at the first consultation. The firm carries a 5-Star Rating in client reviews, and clients repeatedly single out the staff for being on time and easy to work with.
Those traits matter in a same-sex divorce because the issues are often unusual. Property may have been acquired long before the wedding date. A child may be biologically tied to only one spouse. The firm is skilled at negotiation and experienced in litigation, has extensive courtroom experience, and works with forensic accountants, business valuators, and other experts when the numbers get complicated.
Issues That Shape Same-Sex Divorces in Palm Beach County
- Length of the marriage: For alimony, Florida counts the marriage from the wedding date to the date the divorce petition is filed. A couple together for 18 years who married for 6 is treated as a short-term marriage, since under 10 years is short-term, 10 to 20 is moderate, and 20 or more is long-term. Pre-marriage years can still be argued as context in some disputes.
- Marital versus nonmarital property: A home, business, or investment account acquired during the relationship but before the wedding raises classification questions. Florida sets apart each spouse’s nonmarital assets first, then starts from the premise that marital assets are divided equally unless there is justification for an unequal split.
- Parental status and time-sharing: When both spouses are legal parents, Florida applies a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing serves the child’s best interests. When only one spouse is a legal parent, the case turns on documented legal parentage, which should be reviewed carefully before anything is filed.
- Child support: The statutory guideline amount presumptively sets support, based on both parents’ net incomes and the overnights each parent has. The time-sharing adjustment applies once a parent has at least 20 percent of overnights, roughly 73 nights a year.
- Alimony: Florida recognizes temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony. Permanent alimony no longer exists for cases filed under the current law, and durational awards cannot be made after a marriage lasting under 3 years.
- Business interests and professional practices: Palm Beach County couples often own closely held companies, practices, or rental property. The marital portion must be identified and valued, and the Legislature has amended how some of these assets are defined.
- Premarital agreements: A written, signed agreement is enforceable without any consideration beyond the marriage, but it can be challenged for fraud, duress, coercion, overreaching, or unconscionability combined with a lack of fair financial disclosure.
- Relocation: A move of at least 50 miles for at least 60 consecutive days is a relocation under Florida law and carries its own notice and court-approval process when children are involved.
What to Do Before and After You Decide to Divorce
Start with residency. At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before the petition is filed. If that is satisfied, the divorce ground is simple: Florida requires only that the marriage is irretrievably broken. The only other ground, mental incapacity, requires an adjudication of incapacity lasting at least the preceding three years, and it rarely applies.
Gather financial records before anything is filed: tax returns, bank and brokerage statements, retirement account statements, mortgage and deed documents, business records, and credit card statements. Gather the paper trail that proves when assets were bought and by whom. In a same-sex divorce, the dates matter more than usual, because pre-wedding purchases and shared accounts are where classification fights start.
If you have children, collect birth certificates and any adoption orders, parentage judgments, or other court documents showing who the legal parents are. Do not assume that being named on school or medical forms settles the question. Raise it with your lawyer first.
Family cases in Palm Beach County are heard in the Family Court division of the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit. If you live in southern Broward County, your case would instead be handled by the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit’s Family Division in Broward. Where you file depends on where the spouses reside.
A few mistakes come up repeatedly. Do not move money into accounts only you control or sell assets quietly; Florida requires full financial disclosure, and hidden assets draw penalties. Do not move out of state with a child without checking the relocation rules first. And do not sign a separation agreement without understanding it, because the date of a valid separation agreement can fix the cut-off for classifying marital assets and liabilities. Otherwise the cut-off is the date the petition is filed.
The earliest a final judgment can be entered is 20 days after filing, unless a judge finds that delay would cause injustice. A simple uncontested case can finish quickly. A case with a business, a contested parenting plan, or disputed property takes longer and usually involves discovery and mediation before any trial.
Dividing Assets and Support When the Marriage Followed a Long Relationship
The court must make specific written findings identifying nonmarital assets, marital assets, and marital liabilities, with individual valuation of significant assets, whether the split is equal or unequal. That requirement is useful for same-sex couples with long histories, because it forces a clear accounting of what each spouse brought in and what was built together.
Alimony turns on need and ability to pay, and the statute caps the monthly amount at the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or 35 percent of the difference between the spouses’ net incomes. Bridge-the-gap alimony lasts no more than 2 years, and rehabilitative alimony no more than 5. Durational alimony cannot exceed 50 percent of the length of a short-term marriage, 60 percent of a moderate-term marriage, or 75 percent of a long-term one. Because length is measured from the wedding date, a couple who waited years to marry may find the alimony ceiling lower than their shared history would suggest.
Alimony can also change later. Under the current statute, a court must reduce or terminate alimony on finding a supportive relationship with an unrelated person, and an obligor who reaches retirement age and has actually retired or taken steps to retire may seek a reduction. Those rules apply to cases filed after the 2023 amendments, so older orders may follow different rules.
Palm Beach County Same-Sex Divorce FAQs
Do Florida courts treat same-sex divorces differently from other divorces?
No. The same dissolution statutes apply to every married couple. The residency requirement, the no-fault ground, equitable distribution, alimony rules, and child support guidelines are identical. The practical differences come from the facts, such as length of the relationship and parental status.
How long must I live in Florida before filing?
At least one spouse must have lived in Florida for six months before the petition is filed. You do not need to have married in Florida.
Do I have to prove my spouse did something wrong?
No. Florida is a no-fault state, and the ground is that the marriage is irretrievably broken. Adultery can still be considered when a court sets the amount of alimony if it had an economic impact.
How fast can the divorce be finalized?
A final judgment cannot be entered until 20 days after the petition is filed, unless the judge finds that delay would cause injustice. Uncontested cases can finish soon after that. Contested cases take considerably longer.
Is the time we lived together before marrying counted for alimony?
The statute measures marriage length from the wedding date to the filing date. Years together before marriage are not automatically added. They may still be relevant to other disputes, such as how property was acquired and contributed.
How is property divided?
The court first sets apart each spouse’s nonmarital assets and debts, then starts from an equal division of marital assets and liabilities. It can depart from equal if there is justification, and it must explain the result in written findings.
What if only one of us is a legal parent of our child?
That changes the case significantly. Time-sharing and support depend on who holds legal parentage, so documents like birth certificates, adoption orders, or parentage judgments need to be reviewed at the outset. Speak with an attorney before filing anything.
Will we have equal time with our children?
Florida law presumes that equal time-sharing is in a child’s best interests, but the presumption can be rebutted. Modifying a parenting plan later requires showing a substantial and material change in circumstances.
Can I get a lower alimony award because we married late in the relationship?
It is possible. Because marriage length is counted from the wedding date, a couple who married late may fall into the short-term category even after decades together, which limits both the type and the duration of alimony available.
What if our assets include a business?
The marital portion of a closely held business must be identified and valued, often with a business valuator. Whether the business is marital, nonmarital, or partly both depends on when it was started and how it grew, and the statute defining these interests was amended by the Legislature.
Does a prenuptial agreement still control?
If it is in writing and signed by both spouses, it is generally enforceable. It can be set aside for involuntary execution, fraud, duress, coercion, overreaching, or unconscionability coupled with inadequate financial disclosure. It also cannot reduce a child’s right to support.
Is it worth hiring a lawyer if we agree on everything?
Often yes. Even an uncontested divorce benefits from a legal review so the agreement addresses every issue, including retirement accounts, parentage, and tax consequences, before the judgment locks it in.
Serving Same-Sex Divorce Clients Across Palm Beach County and South Florida
Williams & Varsegi, LLC represents clients throughout Palm Beach County, from West Palm Beach, Palm Beach Gardens, Jupiter, and Lake Worth Beach to Boynton Beach, Delray Beach, and Boca Raton. The firm also serves Royal Palm Beach, Wellington, Greenacres, Riviera Beach, and Belle Glade, as well as the smaller communities between them.
The firm’s work extends into neighboring Broward County, including Coral Springs and Parkland, along with nearby communities such as Deerfield Beach and Fort Lauderdale. Whether your case belongs in the Fifteenth or the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit depends on where you live, and the attorneys will tell you which court applies to your situation.
Talk to a Palm Beach County Same-Sex Divorce Attorney
If you are considering ending your marriage, the right first step is a conversation about your specific facts: when you married, what you own, whether children are involved, and what you want the outcome to look like. A Palm Beach County same-sex divorce attorney at Williams & Varsegi, LLC can lay out realistic options, whether that means an uncontested filing, mediation, collaborative divorce, or litigation. Call the firm to schedule a consultation.
