Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a measure Friday that will revise the state’s child support or alimony laws, after three vetoes of similar bills and a decade of fighting over the issue.
Measure (SB 1416) includes removal of what is known as permanent alimony. DeSantis’ passage comes a year after he defeated a similar bill that sought to eliminate permanent alimony and establish a formula for alimony amounts based on the length of the marriage.
Along with eliminating permanent support, the measure will establish a process for ex-spouses making support payments to seek modifications to agreements when they want to retire.
It will allow judges to reduce or cancel alimony, alimony or maintenance payments after considering a number of factors, such as “the age and health” of the person making the payments; the usual retirement age for that person’s occupation; “the economic impact” that a reduction in support would have on the recipient of the payments; and the “retirement motivation and likelihood of return to work” for the person making the payments.
The bill will set a five-year limit on what is known as rehabilitative support.
Under the plan, people married for less than three years will not be eligible for alimony payments, and those who have been married for 20 years or more will be eligible to receive payments of up to 75 percent of the term of the marriage.
The new law will also allow support filers to request modifications if “a supportive relationship exists or has existed” involving their ex-spouses in the prior year. Critics argued that the provision is vague and could apply to temporary roommates who help alimony recipients cover living expenses for short periods of time.
TAILOR REACTIONS
The approval prompted an outcry from members of the First Wives Advocacy Group, a coalition of mostly older women receiving permanent alimony who say their lives will change without the payments.
“On behalf of the thousands of women our group represents, we are very disappointed in the Governor’s decision to sign the alimony reform bill. We believe that by signing it, he has put older women in a situation that will cause financial devastation. The so-called ‘family values’ party has just contributed to the erosion of the institution of marriage in Florida,” Jan Killilea, a 63-year-old Boca Raton woman who he founded the group a decade ago.
The years-long effort to end permanent alimony has been a highly contentious issue. It prompted tearful testimonials from members of the First Wives group. But it also drew impassioned pleas from ex-spouses who said they had been forced to work well past their retirement age because they were in trouble with child support payments.
Michael Buhler, president of Florida Family Fairness, a group that has pushed to eliminate permanent support, praised the passage of the bill.
“Florida Family Fairness is pleased that the Florida Legislature and Governor DeSantis have passed a bill ending permanent alimony and codifying into statute the right to retire for existing alimony payers,” Buhler said in a statement. “Anything that adds clarity and ends permanent support is a win for Florida families.”
Along with DeSantis’ veto of the 2022 bill, former Gov. Rick Scott twice vetoed similar bills. The issue sparked a fight near Scott’s office in 2016.
This year, however, the proposal received relatively little public pushback and earned the blessing of Florida Family Fairness and the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar, which have clashed fiercely over the issue in the past.
Supporters said it will codify into law a court decision in a 1992 divorce case that judges use as a guide when making retirement decisions.
But, as with previous versions, opponents worried that the bill would apply to existing permanent alimony agreements, which many ex-spouses agree to in exchange for giving up other assets as part of divorce settlements.
