The Florida Legislature recently passed SB 1796, a controversial law that changes the way child support is implemented and completed. It is currently on the governor’s desk, waiting to be signed or rejected.
The bill removes the court’s ability to award permanent alimony for new and past cases. It sets a payment period – spouses married for three years or less are no longer entitled to alimony, while marriages of 20 years or longer are entitled to payments for up to 75% of the marriage’s duration.
The bill also revises the process for changing alimony payments if the payer wishes to retire – it requires payers to give one year’s notice of their intention to retire and to stop making payments at retirement can, except in certain circumstances.
In addition, the bill aims to introduce a 50:50 child custody time-share feature under the “presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child’s best interest.” This provision stems from Florida House of Representatives Bill 1395 and treats children as assets that must be shared equally.
As a family law attorney with more than 25 years of experience, I understand the implications this bill will have if enacted. Some attorneys have already shelved cases in anticipation of the bill being signed, leading to an early backlog, increasing litigation costs and swamping the justice system. The short-sighted and misguided intentions of the bill will hit families hard. No divorce agreement is the same; You are unique and deserve to be treated as such.
The alimony portions of the bill have the ability to pull the rug out from under ex-spouses who have been promised lifetime alimony and create an unnecessary crisis for those with years or decades-old divorce settlements.
Additionally, the 50-50 time-sharing provision completely ignores the myriad factors that must be considered when deciding how much time children need with each parent. It also puts pressure on parents who charge less alimony to spend more time with their children, even though the lower alimony could be detrimental to their livelihood. It can also be used as a tool to reduce child support payments. This one-size-fits-all approach will cause even more suffering to children and families.
Divorce is complex; There is no easy way to navigate it. It takes an emotional and financial toll on both parties involved, but this bill will not ease the struggles of the divorce process. It will only exacerbate them by trying to standardize something that differs from case to case.
If you have a Florida divorce settlement, consult with your family law attorney and review all of the steps needed to prepare your child support agreement to amend it or waive it entirely when this bill goes into effect.
Rebecca L. Palmer is an Orlando family and marriage attorney and a managing partner of the Rebecca L. Palmer Law Group.
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