Alimony Updates in Florida (Florida Bar Exam)

Not long ago, Florida updated quite a lot about its alimony laws. This post will outline those updates, all of which should be applied to any Family Law essay testing alimony on the Florida bar exam. 

First, perhaps the most significant change, is that Florida eliminated permanent alimony. The other types of alimony weren't entirely eliminated, but I'll note some changes. 

There are a number of factors to consider when determining an award of alimony:

~Whether the party seeking support has a need for support and whether the party that will be providing support has the ability to pay. The burden to prove both of these considerations is on the party seeking support.

~The standard of living of both parties throughout the marriage and the anticipated needs of both parties.

~The duration of the marriage. This is an important one, especially when awarding durational alimony.

~The parties' age, physical condition, and mental condition.

~The income/resources of both parties and the income earned both from marital and non marital assets.

~The earning capacity, educational levels, and employability of both parties.

~The contribution that both parties made to the marriage including childcare, career building, etc. 

~The responsibilities that each party will have after the divorce in raising their children.

Before getting into the types of alimony, a couple of definitions are required:

Short-term marriage: a marriage that lasts less than 10 years.

Moderate-term marriage: a marriage that lasts between 10 and 20 years.

Long-term marriage: a marriage that lasts more than 20 years.

The term for each of the above begins on the date of marriage and ends on the date of filing for divorce. With the above in mind, it'll be important to understand the types of alimony available in Florida as a result of recent changes:

Bridge-the-gap alimony: This type of alimony is available to assist a party in the transition from married life to non-married life.  This type of alimony cannot exceed 2 years. 

Rehabilitative alimony: This type of alimony is intended to provide education or support so that a party can become self sufficient. This type of alimony cannot exceed 5 years.

Durational alimony: Some material changes with this one. Durational alimony is alimony that is temporary. This type of alimony may not exceed 50% of the length of a short-term marriage, 60% of the length of a moderate-term marriage, or 75% the length of a long-term marriage. Under exceptional circumstances, the length can be extended, but these percentages provide a strong default rule.

To protect an award of alimony, a court might order the person paying the award to purchase or maintain a life insurance policy or bond or to otherwise secure the payment of alimony with any other assets suitable for this purpose. The court can apportion the costs to either or both parties of maintaining a life insurance policy.

Lastly, it's important to understand how awards of alimony might be modified. The court is authorized to reduce or terminate an award of alimony when the party paying the award has reached the normal retirement age (the customary age for that party's profession), assuming that the party retires or makes a good faith attempt to retire. The court will examine the following factors to determine whether modification is appropriate:

~The age/health of the person paying the award.

~The type of work by the person paying the award.

~The customary age of retirement in the profession of the person paying the award.

~The likelihood that the person paying the award will return to work, and the motivation for retiring.

~The needs of the party receiving alimony and the ability of that party to provide for his/her own needs.

~The impact that termination or reduction of alimony would have on the party receiving it.

~The parties' assets before, during, and after the marriage, and whether waste occurred of assets received at the time of divorce. 

~The income earned by both parties during and after divorce. 

~The retirement, pension, and Social Security benefits received by the parties after the marriage.

~Whether the party paying the alimony award has complied with that obligation. 

If the person paying alimony believes that modification of the alimony award is appropriate, that party may file a Supplemental Petition for Modification six months prior to the date of retirement.