Alimony Attorney in Tallahassee, FL

What changed in 2023

Senate Bill 1416 took effect July 1, 2023 and rewrote how Florida handles spousal support. The headline change is that permanent alimony was eliminated. Courts may no longer award support for life.

Three forms remain, along with temporary support while the case is pending:

• Bridge-the-gap. Helps a spouse transition to single life and covers identifiable short-term needs. It may not exceed two years and cannot be modified.
• Rehabilitative. Funds a specific, written plan for education, training, or credentialing so a spouse can become self-supporting. It is now capped at five years.
• Durational. Provides support for a set period after a short-, moderate-, or long-term marriage.

The two limits on durational alimony

Durational alimony is now constrained from two directions at once, and both matter:

• Length. It is not available at all for a marriage of under three years. Otherwise the term is capped as a percentage of the length of the marriage, with the cap rising across short-term, moderate-term, and long-term marriages, subject to limited exceptions.
• Amount. The award may not exceed the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need, or 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes.

That second cap is often the binding one. It also means alimony analysis now starts with a careful, documented picture of both parties’ net income. Not gross, and not last year’s number where this year differs.

Need and ability to pay

Before reaching any of the caps, the court asks two threshold questions: does the requesting spouse have an actual need for support, and does the other spouse have the ability to pay it? If either answer is no, the analysis stops. The requesting spouse carries the burden of proving need.

From there, the statute directs the court to weigh the standard of living during the marriage, its duration, each party’s age and physical and emotional condition, financial resources, earning capacity and time needed to acquire education or training, each spouse’s contribution to the marriage including homemaking and support of the other’s career, the responsibilities each will have for minor children, and the tax consequences.

Adultery can be considered, but only to the extent it had an economic impact, such as marital funds spent on the affair. It is not a general penalty.

Modification and supportive relationships

Durational and rehabilitative alimony can be modified when there is a substantial, material, involuntary, and permanent change in circumstances, such as a genuine job loss or a disabling illness, rather than a voluntary reduction in income. Bridge-the-gap alimony cannot be modified at all.

Alimony ordinarily terminates on the recipient’s remarriage or on either party’s death. Florida also allows a payer to seek reduction or termination when the recipient is in a supportive relationship, meaning one that functions economically like a marriage, and the 2023 law expanded this to reach relationships that existed within the preceding year.

Whichever side you are on

Alimony cases are won and lost on financial evidence. If you are seeking support, you need a documented budget and a credible account of your earning capacity. If you are defending against a claim, you need an accurate picture of the other side’s real needs and resources. Either way, guesswork does not survive cross-examination.