The simplified procedure is the shortest shape: both spouses petition together, exchange the required financial information, and appear together at a brief final hearing. Its trade-off is its strict shape — the moment minor children, alimony, or a non-appearing spouse enters, the regular uncontested path applies instead.
The regular uncontested path runs on a written marital settlement agreement covering property, debts, and (if agreed) alimony. One spouse files the petition; the other answers or waives service; the agreement does the heavy lifting. With minor children, Florida adds a parenting plan, the child-support guidelines worksheet, the children's residence-history (UCCJEA) declaration, and a parenting course both parents complete before final judgment.
Two honesty points the ads usually skip: Florida law generally bars entry of a final judgment until at least 20 days after the petition is filed (courts may act sooner only on the statute's required showing), and a clerk ACCEPTING a filing is not a judge SIGNING a judgment — clerk review, the statutory floor, and the county's docket all add real time.
Agreed is not the same as simple. A home usually means a refinance-or-transfer term with a date; retirement division usually takes its own qualified order (QDRO or equivalent) after the judgment; and support numbers come from the guidelines worksheet. An agreement that skips those mechanics commonly stalls exactly there.
If the agreement breaks down, nothing is wasted: the responding, disclosure, evidence, and hearing-preparation workflows pick up from the same organized record — and if there is any violence, coercion, or fear around the agreement, safety comes before any paperwork at all.
Attorney-review note: Complex-but-agreed cases (real property, retirement/QDRO, business interests, interstate facts) are where enhanced attorney review earns its keep — agreed doesn't mean simple, and the reviewing attorney quotes their own fee before any engagement.