Brandon Alimony Attorney

Florida law allows for an ex-husband or ex-wife to continue to be supported by the other spouse after the marriage has been dissolved. This support is called alimony and can be awarded in periodic payments or payments in a lump sum, or both. Originally, alimony was created to help the ex-wife after divorce. However, in today’s world the husband or wife can be required by law to support the other financially after the dissolution of marriage. This can depend upon the financial circumstances that surround the divorce.

The amount of alimony that one spouse is required to pay to the other is based upon several different factors, some of which are:

• The length of the marriage
• Contribution of each party while married
• Current financial resources of each party, which can include marital and non-marital assets
• The physical and emotional condition of each party
• The age of each party
• The standard of living during the marriage

The complete list can be found in Florida Statute 61.08.

There are many different forms of alimony that exist in Florida:

Permanent Alimony – This is alimony paid to support a spouse until death or remarriage
Temporary Alimony – This is alimony paid during the case until a final judgment is made.
Rehabilitative Alimony – This is alimony paid for a short period to assist a spouse in becoming a self supporting individual
Lump Sum Alimony – This is alimony that is payment of a court set amount.

Recent Florida Alimony Reform:

Gov. Rick Scott recently vetoed the bill that would have ended permanent alimony in Florida. If passed, Florida would have been the 5th state to abolish permanent alimony. The bill would have made it more difficult to get alimony in short-term marriage cases and prevented alimony payments from lasting longer than ½ the length of the marriage. The bill said that in a short-term marriage, less than 11 years, it would be assumed that alimony would not be awarded. If alimony were granted, it would not be more than 25 percent of the ex-spouse’s gross income.

Get Legal Representation

With any divorce, there are many different factors that have to be juggled and arranged in order to attain an agreement between both parties. Alimony depends on many factors, and because of this, it is one of the least predictable areas of family law. Each case and judge are unique and having experienced representation on your side is always a good idea. If you or a loved one has found themselves in the unfortunate situation of divorce, please do not hesitate to call The Curry Law Group to represent you. We serve the needs of the entire Tampa Bay area and welcome the chance to fight for you.