EXCLUSIVE – After more than a decade of thwarted attempts to reform alimony in the state of Florida, Gov. Ron DeSantis is signing a landmark bill banning permanent alimony payments.
The Republican presidential candidate previously vetoed a change to the law that some said would apply the provision retroactively to previous alimony agreements. He considered this provision to be unconstitutional. But a senior DeSantis administration official said the governor was confident this latest version would not apply retroactively, thereby meeting the requirements of the state constitution.
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“This bill will hopefully reduce litigation costs by standardizing the process rather than allowing too much subjectivity in deciding how alimony is awarded,” the DeSantis official said.
The bill also provides legal recourse for those who continue to pay maintenance to an ex-spouse who has entered into a common law marriage with a new partner. The reform limits “rehabilitative alimony”—that is, temporary alimony provided while the unemployed spouse finds a job—to five years and imposes the assumption that both parties will have a lower standard of living due to the non-compliance of their marriage. The law also provides for a better staggering of maintenance payments and prohibits them for marriages that last less than three years. A previous bill signed into law earlier this week will primarily require judges to begin family court proceedings with the assumption that both spouses will receive equal custody of minor children
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The previous law made Florida a national outlier. It was only one of seven states that allowed permanent alimony. Critics of permanent maintenance point out that it not only reduces the employment rate, but also disadvantages the paying spouse in divorces through no fault of their own.
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