After many court battles this spring, SB 1416, Florida’s most recent child support law, was passed on May 2nd and signed into law by Gov. Ron DeSantis on June 30th. Earlier this month, it became official law across the Sunshine State.
That means attorneys practicing family law in Florida and their clients can breathe easier when it comes to “endless” child support payments. However, it is important to understand what these changes mean for existing and non-existing child support agreements.
For one thing, SB 1416 deletes that very word “permanently”. This means Florida will – for a limited period – recognize spousal support in four categories: permanent, temporary, rehabilitating and “bridging” alimony. Accordingly, perpetual child support payments are now a thing of the past in our state, but that means family lawyers must properly educate themselves – and their clients – about the nature and duration of child support payments.
First, let’s talk about longer marriages: alimony payments depend on the length of the marriage. For a marriage that lasted more than two decades, Florida’s new law stipulates that alimony payments are only allowed for up to 75% of the marriage’s duration. This drops to 60% for marriages lasting between 10 and 20 years and to 50% for marriages lasting between 3 and 10 years. And for married couples who don’t make it to the age of three, no alimony is required at all.
Courts may also include issues of infidelity in their deliberations on alimony payments of any kind. These include rehabilitation alimony to help the applicant spouse pay for education so that they can support themselves from their ex-spouse; This type of maintenance may not last longer than five years. It will also be music to the ears of Florida residents who fear they will have to make child support payments well past the typical retirement age. Accordingly, courts can now consider the expected retirement age of the party paying alimony based on their past career and as determined by the Social Security Administration.
While opponents of this new law claim that elderly dependents could find themselves in a precarious financial position if the payments are no longer perpetual, the good news is that long-divorced people will not be affected by the law change.
Even DeSantis had reservations about changing the law, having vetoed an earlier bill last year that would have made so-called unchangeable agreements changeable. The governor’s patience in waiting for legislation has paid off in that the new law allows existing divorce and alimony agreements to remain in place, and now any non-modifiable agreement will remain as such after the new law is enacted. The same applies to existing changeable agreements: they cannot suddenly be set in stone by the new statutes.
This should give everyone peace of mind, but it’s also a serious reminder that marriage — in Florida, or any other state for that matter — is a serious arrangement that involves not only two people enjoying their lives, but their finances as well or better, worse, in some cases for life. This is true long after marriage, and financial concerns about alimony can linger for years or even decades.
However, thanks to forward-thinking Tallahassee lawmakers, the “permanent” aspect of Florida child support payments is now over.
Rebecca L Palmer is a family and marriage law attorney practicing in Orlando, Fla., managing partner of the Rebecca L. Palmer Law Group and can be reached at [email protected].
Comments are closed.