Lawmakers Again Eye Alimony Overhaul

By Dara Kam Florida News Service

After three vetoes of similar measures, a proposal to revamp state alimony laws—one of the most emotionally charged issues tackled by Florida lawmakers over the past decade—is back on track in this year’s legislative session.

Supporters of changing the laws and The Florida Bar’s Family Law Section, who’ve fiercely clashed over the issue in the past, say they’ve reached an accord on the latest version.

But left out of the mix are the “First Wives,” a group of mostly older women who have traveled to the state Capitol year after year to plead with Republican leaders to leave existing alimony agreements off the chopping block.

As in previous versions of the bill, the main source of contention this year is a proposal that would do away with what is known as “permanent” alimony. The measure would set up a process for exspouses who make alimony payments to seek modifications to alimony agreements when they want to retire.

Supporters of this year’s legislation (SB 1416 and HB 1409) say it would codify into law a court decision in a 1992 divorce case that judges use as a guidepost when making decisions about retirement.

The bills would allow judges to reduce or terminate alimony, support or maintenance payments after considering a number of factors, such as “the age and health” of the person who makes payments; the customary retirement age of that person’s occupation; “the economic impact” a reduction in alimony would have on the recipient of the payments; and the “motivation for retirement and likelihood of returning to work” for the person making the payments.

Philip Wartenberg, a family-law magistrate in Hillsborough County who is chairman of The Florida Bar’s Family

Law Section, said that, unlike a similar bill vetoed by Gov. Ron DeSantis last year, the proposal would not require judges to modify alimony payments when someone retires.

“It’s not a ‘shall,’ so it’s not an automatic right to retirement, which is what we opposed in last year’s bill, which we felt was truly one-sided in favor of payors,” Wartenberg told The News Service of Florida in a phone interview. “This is a ‘may.’ It’s very clear.”

But Robert Doyel, a former family-law judge who is retired, disagreed.

“The modification part of the bill doesn’t say anything about what it applies to, therefore it applies to every situation, every order, previously entered. So it is absolutely retroactive,” Doyel, a former law professor, told the News Service. “They’re conning you by saying it’s not retroactive.”

Supporters of changes have spent 10 years trying to overhaul the laws, which haven’t been updated in decades. Many of the advocates are wealthy professionals who maintain that lifelong alimony obligations have forced them to continue working long past the time when they wanted to retire.

Michael Buhler, chairman of the Florida Family Fairness committee, said in a statement that his group supports the deal brokered with the Family Law Section.

“Florida Family Fairness is pleased that we were able to come to an agreement with the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar to end permanent alimony and to create a statutory right to retire for alimony payors. Anything that adds clarity to this difficult process and ends permanent alimony is a win for Floridians,” Buhler said.

DeSantis’ veto last year marked the third time that bills have made it through the Republican-controlled Legislature only to have them nixed. Former Gov. Rick Scott twice vetoed such legislation, with a standoff over the issue leading to a nearfracas outside Scott’s office in 2016.