Category: Alimony

Currently, there are several different types of alimony in the state of Florida. If you are going through a divorce, understanding what options are available and what each type offers can be beneficial. The current options include:

• Temporary: This is designed to cover the needs of the non-income earning individual until their divorce is finalized.
• Bridge the gap: This is created to help with short-term marriages (under seven years) and helps one spouse make the transition from being married to being single.
• Rehabilitative: Is to ensure the non-working spouse can re-enter the work force and provides a specific plan for education.
• Durational: Alimony that is for marriages that lasted seven to 17 years and cannot last longer than the marriage. Will provide compensation for the non-working spouse, but doesn’t last forever.
• Permanent: Created for long-term marriages to provide support for the non-working spouse for the rest of their life.

The Elimination of Permanent Alimony

There is a bill in the Florida legislature that would eliminate permanent alimony for everyone, regardless of their situation. This legislation eliminates the existing designations for short-term marriages, moderate-term marriages, and long-term marriages. Instead, there are two formulas that would determine the upper and lower ranges allowed for alimony payments for the entire period it is ordered. read more

Florida is one of the few states that continues to have what is known as permanent alimony, which requires one spouse to pay alimony for the remainder of their spouse’s life after divorce.

This law is largely viewed to be outdated, and the Legislature for the state of Florida has attempted to reform the law for each of the past four years, with no success.

The Legislature put the bill up to a vote at the House in February, which is where the process began. If you’re using a Florida divorce attorney when going through a divorce, permanent alimony should be discussed. read more