Tiger's divorce not so unusual in Florida

PANAMA CITY — The destruction of Tiger Woods’ marriage to Elin Nordegren was public and messy.

The dissolution of that marriage in a Bay County courtroom, by contrast, was private and tidy. The entire proc-ess was completed in about an hour, from Nordegren’s filing a petition for divorce to Judge Judy Pittman Biebel’s signing the final judgment.

If it seemed unusually sudden and private, it wasn’t, said local divorce attorney Carol McCauley. McCauley has 20 years of experience and was one of four attorneys involved in the Woods-Nordegren split. McCauley wouldn’t talk about Woods’ case specifically, but he spoke generally about the process of getting divorced in Florida.

“There isn’t really anything new or anything unique” about a quick, private divorce, McCauley said.

Divorce in Florida and most other states became a much easier process in the 1970s, when no-fault divorces became legal. Before then, one party would have to show evidence that the other was guilty of serious marital misconduct, such as abuse, infidelity or alcoholism. That often caused more problems than it solved, McCauley said, because children looked on as one parent or the other was vilified in court.

The no-fault divorce statute made it much easier, cheaper and quicker to get divorced in Florida.

There’s nothing unusual about keeping details private, either. Woods and Nordegren agreed to the terms of their divorce in early July when both signed a marriage settlement agreement.

Many people file their marriage settlement agreements with the court, where it becomes part of the public re-cord and can be accessed by anyone who cares to read it. But there’s no law that says people must disclose it.

“The parties have the right to agree to withhold the marriage settlement agreement,” McCauley said.

Tiger and Elin did not disclose the agreement.

The difference between filing the often-revealing documents is whether a person has an attorney, McCauley said.

“Some people are better informed than others,” he added.

At the same time, there’s no such thing as a typical divorce, either, McCauley said. Tiger’s divorce seemed to happen very quickly, but that’s not so unusual either, McCauley said.

He used the example of someone who is scheduled for a military deployment. In such a case, a divorce could happen quickly so the couple isn’t bound for six months or a year while one is away. A soldier shouldn’t have to go into life-threatening combat with a divorce hanging over his or her head, McCauley said.

All that’s necessary for a speedy divorce is for both parties to waive their right to a 20-day delay period. Woods signed one that said the parties had been separated and “an injustice would result from the delay and the delay would generate unnecessary public attention.”

For someone as recognizable as Woods, escaping public attention might never be possible. But a speedy, pri-vate divorce for an average citizen is, McCauley said.