Alimony changes head to state Senate
TALLAHASSEE — Could the fourth time be the charm?
After governors have vetoed three previous attempts to change Florida’s alimony laws, the latest revamp is headed to the full Senate for a vote.
The Florida Bar’s Family Law Section and supporters of overhauling alimony laws clashed for a decade. But the former foes have banded together this year to endorse a plan to do away with “permanent” alimony and make a series of other changes.
A group of mostly older women who rely on the payments, however, are pleading with lawmakers to block the overhaul, saying they’ve been left out of the discussions over changes that could upend their lives.
Several members of the “First Wives Advocacy Group” addressed the Senate Rules Committee before the panel approved the proposal (SB 1416) on Wednesday.
As with previous versions of the bill, their main source of concern is a proposal to do away with permanent alimony. The measure would set up a process for ex-spouses who make alimony payments to seek modifications to alimony agreements when they want to retire.
Supporters of the legislation 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.
Senate bill sponsor Joe Gruters, a Sarasota Republican who has shepherded similar legislation in the past, tried to assure the committee Wednesday that this year’s version would not unconstitutionally affect existing alimony settlements, a concern raised by Gov. Ron DeSantis when he vetoed an alimony bill last year.
This year’s proposal “went to what is currently case law,” Gruters said, pointing to the 1992 ruling.
But Leisa Athey, a permanent alimony recipient, said the bill only incorporates “strategically selected parts” of the decadesold case.
Athey said judges sometimes agree to permanent alimony when assets have been dissipated by an ex-spouse.
“When people get divorced, there’s not always equitable distribution,” Athey said. “So the way judges combat that is they award permanent alimony, so that each party just walks away with an equitable share.”
Under the proposed changes, alimony recipients will have no recourse if, for example, a business has been dissolved or handed over to someone else, Athey argued.
“How do they go back and get their half of the shared business?” she said. “That’s over and done with. … Listen, it happens all the time in divorces.”
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 contend that lifelong alimony obligations have forced them to continue working long past the time when they wanted to retire.
DeSantis’ veto last year marked the third time that bills have made it through the Republican-controlled Legislature only to be rejected. Former Gov. Rick Scott twice vetoed such legislation, with a standoff over the issue leading to a near-fracas outside Scott’s office in 2016.