State Guide
Age of Consent in Florida
A plain-English guide to the age of consent in Florida, cited to the Florida Statutes. Florida’s age-of-consent rule and its Romeo and Juliet law are two separate, easily confused things.
Registration relief only, not a defenseAge of consent in Florida, with a built-in exception (see below)
Minimum offender age for § 794.05 to apply to a 16 or 17 year old
Age gap for Romeo and Juliet registration relief
Florida’s Romeo and Juliet statute
Overview
Florida is commonly described as having an age of consent of 18, but the law is more specific than that single number suggests. Florida’s statute on sexual activity with 16 and 17 year olds, Section 794.05, only applies when the older person is 24 or older. For someone 16 or 17, sexual activity with a partner under 24 is not addressed by that statute at all, which functions as a built-in age-gap allowance rather than a separate defense.
Separately, Florida has a named “Romeo and Juliet” law, Section 943.04354. It is easy to assume this is what makes close-in-age relationships legal, but it is not. It is a sex offender registration relief mechanism: a person already convicted of certain offenses can petition a court to be removed from the registry, but only after conviction, only if a judge agrees, and only for specific offenses that are mostly not the same ones the age-gap allowance above already keeps out of court.
Florida at a glance
The core figures from this guide, in one place.
| Age of consent (commonly cited) | 18 |
|---|---|
| Governing statute, ages 16–17 | Florida Statutes § 794.05 |
| Offender age threshold for § 794.05 to apply | 24+ |
| Romeo and Juliet law | Registration relief only — § 943.04354 |
| Registration relief age gap | 4 years or less |
Age of consent in Florida
Florida Statute Section 794.05 makes it a second-degree felony for a person 24 years of age or older to engage in sexual activity with a person who is 16 or 17. The statute does not reach anyone younger than 24, so a 16 or 17 year old and a partner who is, for example, 19 or 22 are not covered by this particular law.
For anyone younger than 16, this allowance does not exist. Sexual activity with a person under 16 is addressed by Florida’s sexual battery law, Section 794.011, and its lewd or lascivious offense law, Section 800.04, both of which apply regardless of the other person’s age.
Florida’s Romeo and Juliet law
Section 943.04354 was enacted in 2007 to address young people convicted of a consensual, close-in-age offense being required to register as sex offenders for life. It does not decriminalize anything, does not prevent a charge, and is not raised at trial. It only becomes relevant after a conviction, when the person can file a one-time petition asking a court to remove the registration requirement.
To be eligible, the petition generally has to show: the offense was for specific qualifying crimes, most commonly sexual battery or a lewd or lascivious offense; the sexual activity was consensual with no force or coercion; the other person was in a set age range that most sources place at 14 through 17; and the person seeking relief was no more than four years older. Even meeting all of this does not guarantee relief — the court still decides, and the law generally allows only one such petition per person.
Two different mechanisms, not one
Florida’s age-gap allowance and its Romeo and Juliet law solve different problems and should not be confused.
| Mechanism | What it does | When it applies |
|---|---|---|
| § 794.05 age threshold | Keeps the conduct outside this statute entirely | Before any charge — built into who the law covers |
| § 943.04354 Romeo and Juliet relief | Removes a registration requirement | After conviction, by petition, at a judge’s discretion |
The close-in-age rule inside § 794.05
Florida’s age-gap allowance is unusual because it is not written as an exemption or a defense at all — it is built directly into who the statute applies to. Section 794.05 only reaches an offender who is 24 or older. That means the allowance is really about the older person’s age on its own, not the size of the gap between the two people specifically.
Applicable statutes
The codified Florida law this guide is drawn from.
Practical examples
Example 1. A 17-year-old and a 20-year-old. Because the older person is under 24, Section 794.05 does not reach this conduct at all — there is no offense under that specific statute regardless of the three-year gap.
Example 2. A 17-year-old and a 26-year-old. The older person is 24 or older, so Section 794.05 applies: a second-degree felony, regardless of whether the relationship was ongoing or consensual.
Example 3. An 18-year-old convicted of a qualifying offense involving a 15-year-old, four years younger, with no force involved. This person is not covered by the Section 794.05 allowance (since that provision does not apply to victims under 16), but could potentially petition under Section 943.04354 for registration relief after conviction — a separate, later, and discretionary process.
Frequently asked questions about Florida
What is the age of consent in Florida?
Usually described as 18, but Section 794.05 only reaches offenders 24 or older when the other person is 16 or 17. A 16 or 17 year old with a partner under 24 is not covered by that specific statute.
Does Florida have a Romeo and Juliet law?
Yes, but it is not a defense or an exemption from prosecution. Section 943.04354 only lets certain people already convicted petition to be removed from the sex offender registry, and a judge decides whether to grant it.
Is being close in age ever an actual defense in Florida?
Not in the way some other states structure it. Florida’s closest equivalent is that Section 794.05 simply does not apply to offenders under 24 in the first place, which is different from raising an affirmative defense in court.
Does a reasonable belief about the other person’s age count as a defense?
No. Sources describing Florida’s lewd or lascivious and unlawful sexual activity statutes indicate that a genuine, mistaken belief the other person was old enough is not treated as a defense.
Who can use the Romeo and Juliet registration relief?
Generally, someone convicted of a qualifying offense such as sexual battery or a lewd or lascivious offense, where the other person was in the young-teens-to-17 range and the age gap was four years or less, and the conduct was consensual. Sources vary on whether the minimum age is 13 or 14; see the ambiguity noted in this guide’s editorial notes.
Official sources
Primary and official sources this guide is built from.
About this guide
Who wrote it, who reviewed it, and when it was last checked.
RomeoAndJulietLaw.com Editorial Team
Drafted from the Florida Statutes and a Florida Senate Criminal Justice Committee interim report, cross-checked against multiple independent legal references.
Pending attorney review
This guide has not yet been checked by a licensed Florida attorney. It is sourced and cited, but should not be treated as attorney-reviewed until this line is updated with a named reviewer.
Primary source for this guide
Editorial notes
This guide reflects the Florida Statutes as of 24 July 2026. It has not yet been reviewed by a licensed Florida attorney. One unresolved ambiguity is noted: secondary sources disagree on whether the Romeo and Juliet registration-relief provision requires the younger person to be at least 13 or at least 14 — this guide states 14 as the better-supported figure but flags the discrepancy rather than concealing it.