Family-law problems are usually not one question. They are a set of decisions about children, money, housing, records, and court dates that need to fit together in a written case. This Tampa page explains the Florida framework in plain language, including the local Thirteenth Judicial Circuit process, so you can see what information matters before a petition, response, agreement, or hearing becomes harder to manage.
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Six boxes, about thirty seconds. You pick when to be called back, and that is when the phone rings.
Or call (813) 845-8721This general information is for Tampa families sorting through court papers, financial records, parenting terms, and changing circumstances. It does not predict an outcome or replace legal advice.
Petitions, standing orders, notices, financial affidavits, and proposed agreements can all carry deadlines or terms. Organizing them early gives a legal professional something concrete to evaluate.
Florida plans address time-sharing, school, health care, communication, exchanges, and everyday responsibility. A schedule that works on paper may fail if it ignores the child’s actual routine.
The current statute uses need, ability to pay, and defined forms of alimony. Marriage length matters to durational limits, but it does not decide a particular case by itself.
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit’s family-law standing order for minor-child cases includes parent education, disclosure, and mediation requirements that should be read with the filed papers.
Nothing is filed and nothing is owed until you decide what to do next.
Determine whether the issue is pre-filing, service of papers, a response, mandatory disclosure, mediation, a proposed agreement, a support modification, or a scheduled hearing.
Set aside full copies of court papers, pay and tax records, account statements, existing orders, calendars, school or care information, and drafts. Note every date printed on a notice.
A Tampa family-law attorney can assess the relevant Florida statutes, evidence, and local procedure in context. General online information cannot decide what an order or agreement should say.
Illustrative photographs only. No specific Tampa case, client or property is shown.
The relevant work depends on the procedural stage, the records available, the child’s actual needs, and the Hillsborough County requirements attached to the case.
A new filing, a served petition, an incomplete disclosure, a mediation requirement, and a scheduled hearing call for different work. The first page of the most recent order is often the best place to start.
Support and property questions become harder when income, accounts, debts, benefits, or valuations are missing. Full source records are more reliable than recollection or selected screenshots.
Florida asks how a plan serves this child, including continuity, routines, school and health needs, communication, travel, and each parent’s demonstrated ability to meet daily responsibilities.
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit publishes family-law administrative orders and a standing order for minor-child cases. Those local requirements belong beside the statewide rules and forms.
Four family-law situations commonly need careful attention in Tampa. The important details are in the documents, the financial record, and the family’s day-to-day reality.
Florida stopped treating a parenting schedule as a prize to be won. Since July 1, 2023, section 61.13 opens with a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing serves the child, and a parent who wants something different must rebut it by a preponderance of the evidence. The plan also has to fix school, health care, communication and exchange terms. Bring the real school week rather than a wish list.
Guideline support rests on figures that go stale fast: net income, health insurance, day care, and the overnight count written into the plan. At 20 percent of the year's overnights the calculation switches to a gross-up method, and the transfer amount can move sharply in either direction. Reopening an order takes a guideline difference of at least 15 percent or $50, whichever is greater. A handshake does not amend anything.
A notarized acknowledgment of paternity can be rescinded within 60 days. After that window closes it establishes paternity outright, and undoing it requires fraud, duress or a material mistake of fact. Until parentage is established under chapter 742, an unmarried father is not a natural guardian, and the mother holds primary residential care by statute. Support can also be ordered back two years.
Permanent alimony is no longer one of the forms Florida recognizes. For initial petitions pending or filed on or after July 1, 2023, the statute lists temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational support only. Durational awards are capped against the length of the marriage, and the amount may not exceed 35 percent of the gap between the parties' net incomes. Actual need and ability to pay are decided first.
These descriptions do not decide a case or recommend a filing. Preserve the relevant information, read the current court papers, and obtain advice tailored to the facts before signing or submitting terms.
Checked against primary sources on 2026-08-22. Every claim below links to where it came from.
For Florida dissolution and support cases pending or filed on or after July 1, 2023, section 61.08 lists temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony; permanent alimony is no longer listed. The statute classifies marriages as short-term (under 10 years), moderate-term (10 to 20 years), or long-term (20 years or more), and sets presumptive durational limits of 50%, 60%, and 75% of the marriage length respectively.
Why it matters: A Tampa resident who remembers the former permanent-alimony framework may be working from outdated assumptions. Support analysis now starts with actual need and ability to pay, then applies the current statutory form and duration rules to the particular evidence.
Source: leg.state.fl.us
Florida generally bars entry of a final dissolution judgment until 20 days after the original petition is filed, unless delay would cause injustice. In most original and supplemental family cases, mandatory disclosure is served within 45 days after service of the initial or supplemental petition on the respondent and includes a financial affidavit plus listed financial records.
Why it matters: The 20-day rule is only a minimum, while disclosure can require tax, income, account, debt, property, retirement, and insurance records. Missing information can slow an agreement or make a proposed support or property term difficult to evaluate.
Sources: leg.state.fl.us · flcourts.gov
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit's standing temporary order for Hillsborough County family-law cases with minor children requires both parents to complete an approved parent-education course within 60 days after filing. Without both certificates in the court file, the court may not sign a final judgment; the order also requires mediation before temporary-relief and final hearings can be scheduled.
Why it matters: A Tampa case involving children has local steps in addition to statewide family-law statutes and forms. The standing order should be read with the petition, notices, and any division-specific directions rather than treated as background paperwork.
Sources: fljud13.org · fljud13.org
Florida law sets a minimum, not a typical completion date. Under section 61.19, a final judgment of dissolution generally cannot be entered until 20 days have passed from the filing of the original petition. The court may enter a final judgment earlier when delay would cause injustice. That 20-day rule does not mean every Tampa case finishes in three weeks. A matter can take longer because service has not occurred, financial information has not been exchanged, a parenting plan or support terms remain unresolved, a standing order requires steps to be completed, mediation is needed, or the court calendar controls the available hearing date. The useful question is which required piece is still open in the actual case. Keep the filing date, service information, and any judicial notice together, and do not treat a statutory minimum as a promise about the final date.
Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.285 requires mandatory disclosure in most original and supplemental family cases, with stated exceptions including simplified dissolutions and certain constructive-service cases where the respondent does not answer. The official compliance form says the documents are served on the other party within 45 days after service of the initial or supplemental petition on the respondent. They can include a financial affidavit, three years of tax returns, six months of income records, financial statements, real-estate documents, bank and brokerage statements, retirement records, debt information, insurance information, and records supporting claims about property or debt. Most of those source documents are exchanged rather than filed in the court file. Because the required list and any local order can matter, do not withhold, move, destroy, or selectively edit financial records. A complete, organized record is safer than attempting to reconstruct details after a dispute develops.
The Thirteenth Judicial Circuit’s standing temporary order for Hillsborough County family-law cases with minor children requires both parents to complete an approved parent-education course, whether the case is contested or uncontested. The order says the course must be completed within 60 days after the action is filed. If certificates for both parents are not in the court file, the court may not sign a final judgment. The same local order requires financial affidavits and mandatory disclosure under Florida Rule 12.285, and it states that mediation is required before temporary-relief and final hearings can be scheduled. Those are local procedural rules, not a substitute for advice about the merits of a specific case. Read the standing order that accompanies the petition and any later division-specific instructions; a Tampa case may have requirements that do not appear on a statewide checklist.
Keep the papers, dates, financial records, and any proposed parenting plan in one place. A Tampa family-law attorney can review the particular facts and the Thirteenth Judicial Circuit procedure that applies. This website provides general information only and cannot give legal advice or predict a court result.
Call (813) 845-8721No obligation · Written for Tampa · Hillsborough County