On the last day of June, at the end of a hectic Tallahassee legislative session, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis quietly signed into law a landmark bill ending the practice of permanent child support, which could force Florida residents to financially support their former spouses until death support.
Unlike many of the wildly popular conservative bills DeSantis signed into law in recent months, the child support legislation revealed a divide among Florida Republicans largely based on gender and views on traditional masculinity. Under the new law, couples married for less than three years are not eligible for alimony, and those married for 20 years or more are eligible for payments for up to 75 percent of the marriage’s length.
Although the bill passed easily through both houses of the House of Representatives, it met with strong supporters and critics from Florida residents because of its profound impact on personal finances and the emotional resonance of a divorce.
The law quietly pitted competing visions of traditional and modern masculinity against one another and divided Republicans, who otherwise agree on many of DeSantis’ political victories.
Critics who claim the bill is misogynistic often point out that men continue to be the child support payers in up to 97 percent of child support cases, meaning the law will disproportionately harm women. Meanwhile, supporters insist the bill will be gender-neutral.
Florida Family Fairness (FFF), an organization dedicated to relieving Florida residents of what they believe to be unjust and onerous financial responsibilities imposed by courts, commended the governor for his support of the bill.
“We are very pleased that Governor DeSantis has signed SB1416 modernizing Florida’s maintenance laws and providing much-needed policies and changes,” said FFF Chairman Marc Johnson National Review. “This law will benefit the families of future generations and I couldn’t be prouder to have played a part in fixing a broken system. There are positive changes still to come that will continue to benefit Florida families, but the enactment of SB1416 is a huge step in the right direction.”
On its website, FFF sheds light on two women’s accounts before a husband’s voice is heard. Johnson points out that as women’s roles in business are changing, more and more husbands are on the other side of the alimony equation.
The statistics are clear: the rise of women up the economic ladder since the 1970s has dramatically transformed American households. In 1972, only 5 percent of women were the sole breadwinners in their household; By 2022, that number had more than tripled to 16 percent, according to a 2023 Pew poll. Another 29 percent of those surveyed were in egalitarian households, with both partners working outside the home. Another 2021 Urban Institute study found that women headed nearly half of all American households.
In 1979, in Orr v. Orr, the Supreme Court ruled that state child support laws must be gender-neutral. “The old notion that caring for a home and its basic amenities is generally a man’s primary responsibility can no longer justify a sex-discriminatory law,” Deputy Judge William Brennan wrote for the majority at the time.
But critics of the bill, who claim it will disproportionately harm women, like to point out that child support rules have changed little over the decades. US census data from 2010 found that just 3 percent of the country’s 400,000 breadwinners were men. The Tallahassee Democrat reported in 2023 that men continue to shoulder the financial burden in 90 percent of Florida child support cases. For this reason, the women’s magazine Elle in 2018 called the maintenance the “last feminist taboo”.
“Women have become the target of this legislation because 98% of the dependents are women. Statistically, divorced women are at greater risk of falling into poverty after a divorce,” Jan Killilea, founder of the First Wives Advocacy Group, which campaigned against the bill, told NR.
Killilea is “a lifelong Republican” who “voted for DeSantis.” She says she’s “loyal to the Republican Party,” although “that doesn’t mean I’ve never voted for a Democrat in a local election.”
Killilea moved to Florida from Connecticut in 2005, but her 25-year marriage ended shortly thereafter, leaving her in a difficult financial position. According to Killilea, her husband was making $500,000, but an employment expert estimated her skills at around $12 an hour during the divorce proceedings.
“Permanent alimony is rarely granted. All child support payments are based on need and ability to pay. “The new law, which we’ve been fighting for a decade, benefits the wealthy breadwinners who let this snowball run downhill,” she said.
Killilea is not alone. Other Conservatives rallied, criticizing the bill as unfairly targeting older women. The governor “just impoverished all of Florida’s older women, and I know at least 3,000 women across the state of Florida are going Democrat and we’re going to fight him forever,” said another Republican and permanent child support recipient, told CBS News after the bill was signed.
This wasn’t the first time alimony reform was on the cards in Florida. In 2013, then-Republican Gov. Rick Scott vetoed a similar measure that had received broad support from the Legislature. Three years later, Scott again refused to sign a nearly identical bill when it landed on his desk with the blessing of the Florida House and Senate. The Tampa Bay Times called it “the most controversial bill of the 2016 legislature.”
Nor was it the first confrontation between Governor DeSantis and supporters.
In 2022, DeSantis vetoed a similar alimony reform proposed by Republican Rep. Joe Gruters over concerns that the wording was unconstitutional and would allow ex-spouses to retrospectively challenge existing payment systems. A senior DeSantis administration official noted that the governor opted to support the recent incarnation because of an amendment he said would prevent retrospective litigation, a key bulwark against a spate of lawsuits that courts in the notoriously contentious State of Florida would have charged further.
Although SB1416 won over some former skeptics, there were some Republican holdouts who were unconvinced that support reform – as drafted – was a step in the right direction. Republican Senator Clay Yarborough of Jacksonville, a social conservative who introduced legislation in March that would restrict sex reassignment surgery on minors, voted against the measure.
“The new law does not make it clear that it would not apply retrospectively,” stressed an official statement from Yarborough’s office. “Also, older Florida residents, particularly women, are at risk of negative impact and may be forced to turn to tax-funded assistance if they are unable to find employment after child support ends.” or otherwise generate the income needed.” For these reasons, I voted “no.”
Comments are closed.