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WHAT WE BELIEVE REGARDING ALIMONY REFORM

To achieve a constitutionally acceptable reform of alimony laws, Florida Alimony Reform believes that the process of dissolution is placing undue burdens on Floridians who simply wish to change their fundamental constitutional right of association and exercise their fundamental constitutional right of privacy by altering their marital status when they dissolve their marriage. Accordingly:

(1). Floridians must be able to end their marriage with a well defined goal of minimal intrusion by the state and that the intrusion has a well defined and reasonable time limit.

(2). Alimony statutes must be reformed to be duration limited so that they are in accordance with other statute mandated entitlements such as child support, welfare, and unemployment compensation.

(3). There will be a rubuttable presumption that the standard of living after a divorce will be lower than what was had during the marriage to ensure both parties receive equal protection under the law.

(4). That an equitable division of assets occur with a propensity to achieve as close to a 50/50 distribution of all marital assets and liabilities as possible, apart from any transitional alimony award, unless exceptional circumstances occur.

(5). Alimony must not be calculated or used to supplement a child support order.

(6). Unbridled judicial discretion must be removed from alimony statutes.

(7). The judiciary is a constitutional mandate to protect citizens from the legislative and executive branches of government. Therefore, the adversarial aspect of alimony must be removed to eliminate the profit motive.

(8). Citizens seeking to dissolve their marriage are not victims of each other.

(9). Reaching a reasonable retirement age and retiring from one’s profession will eliminate any future alimony obligation unless exceptional circumstances occur.

Contact us at : 352-577-5706 or info@FloridaAlimonyReform.com

PostHeaderIcon What Florida Attorneys Say

PRO-REFORM, PRO-GUIDELINES QUOTES


1. Jeffrey Feulner, Atty. writes in his Men’s Divorce Law Blog , Orlando:

“The current state of alimony in Florida is in need of revisions. The laws no longer represent fair practices for the payer of alimony. As a result, alimony payers will often find themselves trapped in very costly payments for the rest of their life, or other drastic situations. Therefore, two new bills have been proposed and are being pushed through the Florida government to revise out of date alimony laws.

“Currently, in the state of Florida alimony is left to the sole discretion of the judge seeing the case. This means is that alimony has the potential to vary widely from case to case. Some variables include the duration of alimony payments, which in some cases is for life, tax treatments and consequences of alimony, the proportion of the person’s net income which alimony can be, cohabitation rules, and more. As a result, some men (and women) can pay alimony that is a major portion of their net income until the day they die, placing a significant financial and emotional strain on the person that may not always be proportional to the duration of the marriage.”

2. Richard West, past chair of the Florida Family Bar Law Section, was interviewed in a January 2012 Huffington Post article , “Florida and New Jersey Alimony Injustices.” West’s practice includes collaborative law.

"One of the problems is that there is no predictability in awards in amount or duration. I recognize the need for judicial discretion, but cases need to be settled, not litigated. If there were guidelines, it would enhance the ability to settle …. Alimony is somewhat archaic. It will become outmoded. Our statutes are rooted in the past."

3. Amy Goodblatt, Orlando attorney, was interviewed in the same Huffington Post article , "Florida and New Jersey Alimony Injustices.”

“There are good things in the bill. It gets rid of permanent alimony. That's the best thing since sliced bread. And I like the bill because it's generated conversation…. Most practitioners would be grateful for guidelines, because it's difficult to tell people what to expect. Decisions are judge-specific. The same judge on a different day makes a different decision. This makes it difficult to settle cases. People would settle more if they had quantifications.

"The court system may be cost prohibitive to a lot of people. Fifty percent of cases are pro se [people representing themselves] and judges hate pro se cases."

4. Clay Morgan, Melbourne attorney. Interviewed in a Jan. 2012 Florida Today article , “Times Have Changed, So Should Alimony?”

“You can try a case with five judges down here and come up with five numbers from each judge. It’s not like child support, which has guidelines...Alimony is a litigious area for us…. I think reform is needed, and the reason is that it’s so arbitrary you can’t advise people what they’re going to get hit with. It could be anything in front of these judges. Maybe reform would limit litigation.”


ANTI-REFORM, ANTI-GUIDELINES QUOTES


1. Cynthia Swanson, Gainesville Atty. Quoted in reader comments section in Huffington Post article , “Space Shuttle Sinks, Alimony Wars Soar,” August 2011

“When I read the stories of frustrated alimony payors, I always wonder, "Did you have an attorney represent you? Did you hire an attorney experienced in presenting alimony cases? Or did you get your friend who does real estate closings represent you? Were you honest and up front with your lawyer? Were you cooperative in obtaining documents and other items your lawyer needed? Did you behave in a calm and civilized manner throughout your divorce? Did you (or your lawyer on your behalf) put on good, relevant evidence in court hearings?

“If the answer to all these questions is yes, then it sounds like you put on the best case you could. And if you still "lost," maybe you really did happen to draw a young, inexperienced, or incompetent judge. While I believe the vast majority of trial judges are smart, knowledgeable, and able to set aside any biases any might naturally have, it is possible that you drew a judge who is ill suited to family law, or otherwise just not competent. And by "you," I mean alimony complainers in general....” Comment posted Sept. 2, 2011, 01:07AM.

2. Cynthia Swanson, Gainesville Atty. Quoted in reader comment section of ABA Journal article , “Wife of Man Paying Alimony Despite Advanced Alzheimer’s Among Those Pushing Reform,”

“As the lone commentator who is NOT on the FAR mailing list, I would like to point out that the “bizarre” stories highlighted above do indeed sound bizarre, and in fact sound like they are not true, or they are not giving ALL THE FACTS. Most stories of this type only bemoan the payor’s obligation to pay and say nothing about the payee’s need. As for the story of the man with Alzheimer’s disease, it does sound like a difficult situation, but there are no facts given as to his total income (which I assume is great since the judge did not order a reduction in alimony) or of his ex-wife’s needs…. Florida’s alimony laws are not in great need of reform. ” Comment posted Jan. 19, 2012, 1:32PM CST.