Stargel Proposes Alimony Reform Away From Lifetime Payments

• Support self-sufficiency and independence for the lower-earning spouse through alimony payments that continue during a transition period, which lasts more than a decade in long-term marriages;

• Maintain appropriate judicial discretion to fairly judge unique circumstances where the lower-earning spouse is physically or mentally unable to work to gain self-sufficiency, continuing alimony payments in special cases, and only until no longer needed;

• End lifelong alimony dependency, allowing each party of the divorce to move-on with independent lives;
• Obtain retirement rights for alimony payers, the same rights enjoyed by all other citizens;

• Protect second spouses from current case law, which requires judges to fully investigate second-spouses' income and assets and then force the alimony payer to pay an increased amount of alimony to a first spouse based now on a new “family income,” or face jail.

• End expensive legal battles over vague alimony laws and interpretations; and

• Provide equal and consistent treatment, where the outcome of a alimony case is not decided by the Russian Roulette selection of the family court judge.

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.