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Documents to Gather Before You Start

Reviewed by the Amicably document team · Updated August 30, 2026

Every form in an uncontested Florida divorce is filled out from information you already have: your identity and residency, your income, what you own and owe, and, if you have children, your parenting plan. Gathering that information before you start, rather than while a form is open, is what keeps your packet accurate the first time. This guide lists exactly what to have on hand, organized by category, with notes on which package needs what.

It's written for couples who already agree, or expect to, on ending the marriage on terms they can work out together. If a document on this list doesn't apply to your package, skip it; the checklist near the bottom breaks that down by route.

Proof of identity and Florida residency

Florida requires at least one spouse to have lived in the state for the 6 months before filing . The easiest way to prove it is a Florida driver license, state ID card, or voter registration card, and what matters is the card's issue date, not how long you have actually lived here: it needs to have been issued at least 6 months before you file . If neither spouse has one of those documents old enough, residency can instead be shown by a corroborating witness who has known you the whole time, using Form 12.902(i), notarized. Have whichever document applies to you ready before you start; it is the first thing every package's paperwork asks for.

Income, accounts, and debts

Financial information is the part most couples underestimate, because it touches almost every form in the packet. Gather it in this order:

1. Pay stubs or a recent income summary for both spouses, plus last year's tax return, for whichever financial affidavit applies to you.
2. A list of every bank, retirement, and investment account, joint or separate, with roughly current balances.
3. A list of every debt: credit cards, auto loans, personal loans, and any medical or tax debt either of you carries.
4. If either of you is self-employed or has income outside a regular paycheck, a rough monthly figure and where it comes from.

Which financial affidavit you file depends on your package. Simplified Dissolution cases that file a full settlement agreement are usually exempt from filing affidavits at all; when a county still expects them, or in Package 2 and 3, each spouse files their own: the short form for income under $50,000 a year, the long form for $50,000 or more . Couples who would rather keep income private can exchange the numbers with each other first, then sign a joint waiver instead of filing either affidavit; the exchange has to happen before the waiver is signed, not after.

Property and debts you share

Beyond income, the marital settlement agreement needs a full picture of what the two of you own and owe together and separately: the house, vehicles, and any retirement or investment accounts, along with which debts are joint and which are individual. You do not need appraisals or exact-to-the-penny balances to start; a clear list both of you agree is accurate is enough for the agreement to be prepared correctly. If a specific asset, like a retirement account or the house, still needs to be divided in detail, settle the practical split (who keeps it, who is bought out, and for roughly how much) before the agreement is drafted, since the form records the decision rather than makes it.

If you have minor children, or a pregnancy

What you need to gather depends heavily on whether children are part of the case.

The time-sharing draft does not need to be word for word final. It needs to be settled enough between the two of you that the parenting plan and child support worksheet can be prepared from it without guessing. Both parents also need to complete Florida's Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course , separately, with the petitioner's deadline 45 days after filing and the other parent's 45 days after being served ; the completion certificate becomes one more document to have on file before the final judgment.

A few more details the court needs

A short list of remaining details rounds out the packet. Each spouse's current mailing and email address, for where the court sends notices throughout the case. Both social security numbers, filed on a notice that is kept sealed from the public record rather than printed on the petition itself. And if either of you wants a former name restored as part of the judgment, decide that now: it has to be requested in the case itself or it is lost, and it can only restore a former name, not a brand-new one.

Documents that take longer to get

A few items in this list depend on someone else's timeline, so it is worth starting them as soon as you know you are filing rather than the week you plan to.

1. Start nowRequest a copy of last year's tax return if you do not have one on hand; the IRS and most payroll providers take longer than expected to send one.
2. Start nowIf your driver license, ID, or voter card is not yet 6 months old, that clock cannot be sped up, so confirm today whether you or your spouse already qualifies.
3. Early in your prepIf you have children, begin the parenting course; it has its own 45-day deadline separate from filing, and starting late turns it into a bottleneck.
4. Once your documents are readyRemote online notarization can typically be scheduled within days, so it is the one step that is fine to leave until your settlement agreement and other notarized forms are close to final.

The full checklist, by package

Match your situation against the table below to see exactly which categories from this guide apply to you.

Mistakes that slow down document gathering

Guessing at account balances instead of listing them. A settlement agreement built on a vague sense of what you own tends to need corrections later. Write the list down together, even roughly, before the agreement is drafted.

Waiting to start the parenting course. Its deadline runs from filing or service, not from when you get around to it, and both parents' certificates have to be on file before the final judgment.

Using an ID or voter card issued too recently. The court checks the issue date, not how long you have actually lived in Florida; a card issued four months ago does not meet the 6-month rule no matter how long you have lived here.

Gathering paperwork you do not need. Packages 1 and 2 do not need a parenting plan or child support worksheet; collecting them anyway just delays the parts of the list that actually apply to you.

Frequently asked questions