Tag: Alimony Reform

Three Men Family Law Case Update 2023

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

The Three Men and a Family Law Case Update is back. Many of the changes to timesharing and alimony would cause some to say 2023 has been an “active” year in Florida  family law. So, for anyone interested in discussing the latest developments in Florida family law, and hasn’t already registered, I will be speaking at the Three Men and a Family Law Case Update 2023 on Thursday, October 19, 2023 starting at 12:00 PM to 1:30 PM

Case Law Update

Join me and fellow Florida Bar Board Certified Marital & Family Law attorneys, Reuben Doupé and Cash A. Eaton, for an interactive discussion on some of the major Florida marital and family law changes that have redrawn the family law landscape in 2023.

The course is an online webinar, and we will be reviewing many of the most important recent appellate opinions within Florida Marital and Family Law. Reuben, Cash and I will cover a wide range of topics from Florida’s newest family law cases.

Sponsored by the Florida Bar Family Law Section, attendees will be eligible for 1.5 CLE credits.

Registration is still open so register here.

Surprise! Florida Alimony Reform Just Passed

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Sneaking in just before the new year, a Florida court issued two surprise decisions which are basically . . . alimony reform. Apparently, some judges have been questioning the constitutionality of awarding retroactive alimony to a spouse. This month, the First District Court of Appeal squarely addressed the issue.

Retroactive Alimony

Merry Christmas!

In the first of the two cases, a Former Husband founded a successful company. During their marriage, the parties’ lifestyle was lavish. When they separated, Former Wife was forced out of the business. Both parties have significant resources. However, Former Husband now earns several times more than Former Wife.

Before the final hearing, the parties settled all their claims against each other except for the Former Wife’s interest in the business, attorneys’ fees, and importantly, her demand for retroactive and prospective alimony.

A year after the conclusion of the trial, the trial court entered a final judgment. It adopted much of the Former Wife’s proposed order verbatim. The trial court awarded Former Wife durational and retroactive alimony.

The amount in durational alimony was set at $4,983 a month for six years. Former Husband was also ordered to pay a lump sum of retroactive alimony for a period spanning the date of the petition, April 13, 2018, to the date of judgment on January 15, 2021. The Former Husband appealed.

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about alimony in Florida. In every Florida divorce case, the court can grant alimony to either party. Not many people realize there are several types of alimony in Florida: bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational, or for the moment, permanent alimony.

Florida courts can award a combination of alimony types in a divorce. Alimony awards are normally paid in periodic payments, but sometimes the payments can be in a lump sum or both lump sum and periodic payments. Typically, courts consider any type of earned income or compensation along with recurring passive income, such as dividends on your investments, in establishing the amount of support you will be responsible to pay.

In Florida, once a court determines there is a need and the income available to pay alimony, it has to decide the proper type and amount of alimony. The court considers several factors, some of which can include things like: the standard of living established during the marriage; the duration of the marriage, and the financial resources of each party.

Florida courts can also award, as the First District Court of Appeal itself has long held, retroactive alimony when appropriate. In fact, retroactivity has been the rule in Florida rather than the exception.

Retroactive Alimony

Happy New Year!

Former Husband raised several issues on appeal, most relevant, he argued the trial court erred in awarding both retroactive and durational alimony because, among other arguments, the trial court failed to impute investment income.

The appellate court reversed the award of durational and retroactive alimony based on the argument about imputation. However, the panel agreed with the concurring opinion, in which Judge Robert E. Long commented:

“retroactive alimony is a fiction of the courts and is not supported by any provision of Florida law.”

The concurrence also noted that retroactive alimony was started in Florida in a 1982 case which found that while there is no authority in Florida to award retroactive alimony, there is no law against it.

The rationale for retroactivity was that other states approved awards of alimony retroactive to the date suit is filed. Additionally, it was inappropriate to look to other state’s decisions discussing retroactive alimony. Florida alimony is a unique creature of Florida state law. If the legislature finds another state’s alimony law compelling, it can adopt it. Judges cannot.

For decades, many judges were silently fuming about the rationale for awarding retroactive alimony. Since then, no Florida court has analyzed the issue. Instead, courts have just routinely affirmed retroactive alimony awards –  but not based on their legality.

Two months later, the First District Court of Appeal reversed another retroactive alimony award. This time the majority opinion held:

Retroactive alimony is a creation of the courts” prohibited by the separation of powers set forth in article II, section 3 of the Florida Constitution.

Florida alimony modifications expressly provide trial courts the discretion to retroactively modify alimony awards “as equity requires.” But Florida Statutes do not expressly allow a trial court to award retroactive alimony in the first instance.

The most recent opinion is here.

Congratulations to Shannon Novey who represented the appellant.

No Charm for Florida Alimony Reform

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

The third time is not a charm for Florida Alimony Reform 2022. Declaring the bill unconstitutional, Governor, Ron DeSantis vetoed SB 1796. This is the third time a Republican governor has vetoed an alimony bill, and comes a few hours after another important decision is made.

Lucky Charm Alimony

No Lucky Charms for Alimony Reform

If politics makes strange bedfellows, what is behind governor DeSantis’s veto? Interestingly, the alimony reform bill was sponsored by the state chairman of his own Republican party, and opposed by the National Organization for Women and the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar.

Even more interesting, the veto was signed mere hours after the U.S. Supreme Court released its long-awaited opinion which overturned Roe v. Wade.

Florida’s own abortion ban, HB 5, is currently before the Florida Supreme Court. But on Friday afternoon, many wonder how the Republican controlled legislature and Gov. DeSantis will react in the era of Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

The alimony reform bill this year, in part, would have done away with permanent alimony and set up maximum payments based on the duration of marriage. The bill also required a court to prioritize bridge-the-gap alimony first, followed by rehabilitative and durational alimony.

The bill also addressed equal timesharing:

Unless otherwise provided in this section or agreed to by the parties, there is a presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the best interests of the minor child who is common to the parties.

Finally, the bill provided for bifurcation of a divorce proceeding after 365 days has elapsed since the petition was filed, and authorizes the court to enter temporary orders on substantial issues until such issues can be ultimately decided.

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about alimony reform in Florida. In every Florida divorce case, the court can grant alimony to either party. Not many people realize there are several types of alimony in Florida: bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational, or for the moment, permanent alimony.

Florida courts can also award a combination of alimony types in a divorce. Alimony awards are normally paid in periodic payments, but sometimes the payments can be in a lump sum or both lump sum and periodic payments.

Typically, courts consider any type of earned income or compensation — that is, income resulting from employment or other efforts — along with recurring passive income, such as dividends on your investments, in establishing the amount of support you will be responsible to pay.

In Florida, once a court determines there is a need and the income available to pay alimony – sometimes referred to as the ability to pay alimony – it has to decide the proper type and amount of alimony.

In doing so, the court considers several factors, some of which can include things like: the standard of living established during the marriage; the duration of the marriage, the age and the physical and emotional condition of each party and the financial resources of each party, including the nonmarital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each.

Magically Unpalatable

One of the most-controversial parts of SB 1796 was how it changed the process for modifying alimony when people retire. The bill threatened to impoverish older ex-spouses who have been homemakers and depend on the payments.

Commentators remarked that the portions of the bill allowing for modification of alimony based on retirement of the payor were retroactive, and that retroactivity made the bill unconstitutional. In fact, governor DeSantis pointed this out in his letter:

“If CS/CS/SB 1796 were to become law and be given retroactive effect as the Legislature intends, it would unconstitutionally impair vested rights under certain preexisting marital settlement agreements,” the governor wrote.

Many ex-spouses who appeared before legislative committees to speak against the bill said they agreed to give up assets at the time of their divorces in exchange for permanent alimony awards.

The Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, which lobbied against the bill, thanked the governor for understanding the bad precedent the retroactivity of the measure would have established.

A statement attributed to Family Law Section Chair, Philip Wartenberg and immediate past chair, Heather Apicella, stated:

“If signed into law, this legislation would have upended thousands upon thousands of settlements, backlogging the courts and throwing many Floridians’ lives into turmoil”

People and organizations on both sides of the issue heavily lobbied DeSantis’ office. As of last Friday, the governor had received 5,939 emails in support of the bill and 1,250 in opposition, along with 349 phone calls in favor and 289 against the measure.

When asked for a tally of phone calls and emails about the bill, DeSantis’ office also provided excerpts from messages pleading with the governor for a veto.

The WFSU article is here.

Florida Alimony Reform 2021

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Florida Alimony Reform 2021 is back in the news as the Legislature once again takes up how alimony and child sharing are handled in family law courtrooms. This year’s bills in the House and Senate have many changes, including the elimination of permanent alimony and an equal timesharing presumption.

The Sausage Factory

As  WLRN reports:

“I was married for 17 years to a man who quit working the minute we were married. I supported about seven different businesses that he ran into the ground. He abused drugs and alcohol. And he was abusive to me and our two children.”

Shultz says she was ordered by the court to pay her ex-husband $5,250 per month for the rest of her life. I cannot retire because I have alimony payments to pay every 30 days,” Shultz says. House Bill 1559 would also allow payments to end when the person providing the alimony reaches full retirement age as determined by the U.S. Social Security Administration—with exceptions.

Under existing case law, someone paying alimony can apply to have their alimony adjusted or terminated upon reaching the normal retirement age for their job or profession.

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about subject of alimony in Florida before. In every Florida dissolution of marriage case, the court can grant alimony to either party – husband or wife.

Not many people realize there are several types of alimony in Florida: temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational, and permanent. In determining the type, amount, duration, and later modification or termination of an alimony award, the court has broad discretion but may only award alimony after initially determining that one spouse needs alimony and the other spouse is able to pay alimony.

If a court awards or denies an alimony request, it must consider enumerated factors and may consider the adultery of either spouse or any other factor it finds necessary to achieve equity and justice between the parties. An alimony award may be modified or terminated when the circumstances or financial ability of either party changes, including changes due to a receiving spouse’s supportive relationship or a paying spouse’s retirement.

Florida courts can also award a combination of alimony types in a divorce. Alimony awards are normally paid in periodic payments, but sometimes the payments can be in a lump sum or both lump sum and periodic payments.

In determining whether to award alimony or not, the court has to first make a determination as to whether a wife or a husband, has an actual need for alimony, and whether the other party has the ability to pay alimony.

Typically, courts consider any type of earned income or compensation — that is, income resulting from employment or other efforts — along with recurring passive income, such as dividends on your investments, in establishing the amount of support you will be responsible to pay.

In Florida, once a court determines there is a need and the income available to pay alimony – sometimes referred to as the ability to pay alimony – it has to decide the proper type and amount of alimony. In doing so, the court considers several factors, some of which can include:

  • The standard of living established during the marriage.
  • The duration of the marriage.
  • The age and the physical and emotional condition of each party.
  • The financial resources of each party, including the nonmarital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each.

Other factors, such as the earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of the parties and, when applicable, the time necessary for either party to acquire sufficient education or training to enable such party to find appropriate are also considered.

No Time Like Equal Time?

A very strange component of the Florida alimony bills is that the bills deal with parenting time with children. The proposed bills would create a presumption that 50/50 time-sharing of children would be in the child’s best interest — meaning both parents would have equal time with their child.

Right now, timesharing is analyzed in detail. The existing law requires judges to evaluate several different factors in determining an appropriate parenting plan for a child. Rep. Emily Slosberg (D-Delray Beach) questioned the change during a meeting on the bill:

“So, under your bill, if there is hypothetically one parent who is drug-addicted and another parent who has really been caring for the child—under your bill, this would create a presumption that 50/50 is in the best interest in the child.”

“Absolutely not,” bill sponsor Miami Republican Rep. Anthony Rodriguez (R-Miami) said in response. “I mean, you walk into the courtroom, and there is a presumption of 50/50 time-sharing, but, in that scenario, specifically in the scenario representative, it is obvious that the judge would not grant 50/50 time-sharing to a drug-addicted parent.”

“There is a clear nexus between alimony and time-sharing, and we believe that when you walk into the courtroom, the focus of the divorce should be the children. And there should be an equal time-sharing of such, and if for whatever reason that should not be the case, then the judge can decide that,” Rodriguez says. Rodriguez says his bill allows for the presumption of 50/50 time-sharing to be rebutted by a judge.

Obvious? Philip Schipani is a family law attorney who represents clients who have special needs children. He says judges don’t always have a full understanding of a family’s situation. He worries the presumption created under Rodriguez’s bill will put an extra burden on his clients.

“And right now, I have a pending case—a child with special needs—this presumption if they put a 50/50—the father hasn’t seen the child for four years. Not only [does] the child [have] severe special needs, the husband’s a recovering drug addict who hasn’t seen the child in years. So, then you slap this presumption on, and then I have an extra burden to overcome. Not only do I have to explain the child’s condition, explain the drug addiction, I have to overcome this presumption as well,” Schipani says.

The WLRN article is here.

 

Can Men Get Alimony?

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Many spouses wonder whether men are entitled to alimony in a divorce. This is especially true for Dancing With the Stars’ Gleb Savchenko, who responded to his estranged wife, Elena Samodanova’s, alimony demand with an alimony request of his own.

Alimony Reform 2

Dancing with the Lawyers

According to news reports, in three court documents, the Dancing With the Stars pro, 37, asked for joint legal and physical custody of their children.

Additionally, he requested that his wife, Samodanova, 36, provide him with alimony and that she pays his attorney’s fees. He’s seeking to terminate the court’s ability to provide Samodanova with financial assistance as well.

Savchenko and Samodanova announced their separation in November 2020 after 14 years of marriage. Samodanova, the choreographer of So You Think You Can Dance, is seeking primary custody of their children and child support. She also requested that her estranged husband provide spousal support and take care of her legal fees.

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about subject of alimony in Florida. In every Florida dissolution of marriage case, the court can grant alimony to either party – husband or wife. Not many people realize there are several types of alimony in Florida: bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, durational, or for the moment, permanent alimony.

Florida courts can also award a combination of alimony types in a divorce. Alimony awards are normally paid in periodic payments, but sometimes the payments can be in a lump sum or both lump sum and periodic payments.

In determining whether to award alimony or not, the court has to first decide as to whether a wife or a husband, has an actual need for alimony, and whether the other party has the ability to pay alimony.

As Savchenko and Samodanova will discover, proving the ability to pay is one of the central issues in their competing claims for alimony.

Typically, courts consider any type of earned income or compensation — that is, income resulting from employment or other efforts — along with recurring passive income, such as dividends on your investments, in establishing the amount of support you will be responsible to pay.

In Florida, once a court determines there is a need and the income available to pay alimony – sometimes referred to as the ability to pay alimony – it has to decide the proper type and amount of alimony.

In doing so, the court considers several factors, some of which can include things like: the standard of living established during the marriage; the duration of the marriage, the age and the physical and emotional condition of each party and the financial resources of each party, including the nonmarital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each.

Paying to the Stars

More news reports show the parties attended mediation in an effort to resolve the issues prior to the filing of this action and reached an agreement on several issues.

The controversy, Samodanova believes her estranged husband is capable of paying her alimony because he earns approximately $406,614 a year.

The businesswoman claimed that she is unemployed and stated her only source of income comes from the dance studio she co-owns with the reality star, which brings in $37,250 annually — or $3,105 per month — but has been closed since February 2020 due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Samodanova stated that Savchenko’s financial assistance would allow for their children to continue having “a high standard of living.”

Florida Alimony Reform

Meanwhile, two new bills were introduced into the Florida Legislature this week which dramatically impact alimony in Florida.

The bills prioritize certain forms of alimony; bridge-the-gap alimony followed by rehabilitative alimony, over any other form of alimony. The court cannot grant permanent alimony unless, and only if, the parties enter into an agreement for permanent alimony.

The US article is here.

 

Alimony Reform, Marriage Length, and Permanent Alimony

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Does the length of your marriage matter for alimony anymore? Some people are asking that after a recent decision by a Florida appeals court re-wrote the rules for measuring what a long-term marriage is. The Regular Session of the Florida legislature convened in January, and alimony reform is a hot topic in Tallahassee.

Trouble in Tallahassee

The Florida House of Representatives is currently convening in Tallahassee to debate House Bill 843 on Dissolution of Marriage. The bill makes a few changes to the divorce statutes, especially alimony.

The bill also redefines the amount and duration for bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational alimony, prohibits ordering a spouse who retired prior to a divorce to pay any alimony, except temporary alimony, unless the court determines otherwise and allows payors to modify alimony up to 12 months before his or her anticipated retirement.

The bill removes presumptions about the length of a short, moderate, or long-term marriage, eliminating permanent alimony (but allowing it if agreed to), prioritizing bridge-the-gap alimony, followed by rehabilitative alimony, before any other form.

Meanwhile, across town in Tallahassee, a recent appeals case from the First District Court of Appeal may throw fuel on the fire. After 16 years and 11 months of marriage, a husband asked for dissolution of the marriage.

The judge granted permanent alimony to the wife. The husband appealed saying the trial court should not have awarded permanent alimony, and should instead have given her durational alimony.

Why? The husband argued they were only married 16 years and 11 months — that’s just one-month shy of the statutory presumption of a “long-term” marriage under Florida statutes. But the trial court treated his marriage as if it were a long-term marriage of 17-years or more – even though it clearly was less.

Florida and the Length of Marriage

In Florida, the duration of a marriage always played a very important role in divorce cases. I’ve written about the types of alimony awards available in Florida before. For instance, Florida Statutes dealing with alimony specifically limit the type of alimony awards based on the duration of the marriage.

For determining alimony, there is a rebuttable presumption that a short-term marriage is a marriage less than 7-years, a moderate-term marriage is greater than 7-years but less than 17-years, and long-term marriage is 17-years or greater.

Florida defines the duration of marriage as the period of time from the date of marriage until the date of filing of an action for dissolution of marriage.

In addition to alimony, the duration of marriage is also a factor in property divisions. When a court distributes the marital assets and liabilities between the parties, the court begins with the premise of an equal split.

Changes to Alimony?

The appellate court ruled that despite the statute, being one month shy of the statutory definition of “long-term” was a de minimis period given the length of the marriage, and that the family law judge was allowed to overcome the presumption as to the length of the marriage to qualify it as a long-term marriage.

In Florida, we have a rebuttable presumption that a long-term marriage warrants an award of permanent alimony. This court argued that even if the parties’ marriage falls into the “grey area” between a long and a short-term marriage, the family judge can consider other factors beyond the duration of the marriage.

Other factors can include the earning capacity of the recipient of alimony. For instance, there was evidence that the wife’s health precludes employment. While she was just 53 years of age at the time of the divorce, her age was not a valid basis to deny permanent alimony absent evidence her relative youth would allow her to earn income sufficient to support a lifestyle consistent with that she enjoyed during the marriage.

What impact will this decision have on the Legislature, since they are considering scrapping permanent alimony altogether, and re-writing the rules around what the duration of a marriage is?

The new bill will require courts to consider the standard of living established during the marriage, and make specific consideration of the needs and necessities of life for each party after the marriage is dissolved, including a rebuttable presumption that both parties will inevitably have a lower standard of living than that which they enjoyed during the marriage.

The court of appeals opinion is here.

 

Florida Alimony Reform Sausage

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

It’s been said laws are like sausages, it is better not to see them being made. If true, then it’s best you not read the two new Florida alimony reform bills recently introduced into the Florida House and Senate. For the unafraid, below are a few provisions of the House bill worth watching.

Alimony Reform

The Current Chorizo

In Florida, alimony is awarded to a spouse when there is a need for it, and the other spouse has the ability to pay for alimony. As I have written before, alimony can take various forms.

For example, alimony can be awarded to “bridge the gap” between married and single life. This is usually a short-term form of alimony, and in fact, can’t exceed two years.

Alimony can be rehabilitative – to help a party in establishing the capacity for self-support by developing skills or credentials; or acquiring education, training, or work experience.

Durational Alimony is awarded when permanent periodic alimony is inappropriate. The purpose of durational alimony is to provide you with economic assistance for a time after a short or moderate term marriage, or even long marriages, if there is no ongoing need for support on a permanent basis.

Permanent Alimony is awarded to provide for your needs and necessities of life as they were established during your marriage, if you lack the financial ability to meet your needs and necessities of life following a divorce.

The House Hot Dog

Alimony reform is a nationwide phenomenon.

Currently, there are two bills in Florida trying to be passed to amend our alimony statute and impact other statutes. However, many state bills, like Florida’s, are in progress, or are constantly evolving.

This year’s two bills fundamentally change many family law statutes and cases. Briefly, what we consider to be long and short marriages would change. This is an important measuring stick, because the types of alimony granted can change depending on the duration of a marriage.

Right now, for purposes of determining alimony, there is a presumption that a short-term marriage is less than 7 years, a moderate-term marriage is greater than 7 years but less than 17 years, and a long-term marriage is 17 years or more.

Under the new House bill, a long-term marriage would be 20 years or more, a mid-term marriage would be more than 11 years but less than 20 years, and a short-term marriage would be a marriage of less than 11 years.

Another proposed change concerns the type of alimony. Right now, when a court determines the type and amount of alimony, the court weighs several factors, including, the standard of living, the age and the physical and emotional condition of the parties and sources of income available to pay alimony.

Under the new House bill, a trial court awarding alimony would have to prioritize an award of bridge-the-gap alimony, followed by rehabilitative alimony, over any other forms of alimony. Additionally, the new bill eliminates permanent alimony.

The Equal Time-Sharing Bratwurst

Florida has a public policy that each child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents separate or divorce and tries to encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities, and joys, of childrearing.

However, there is no presumption for or against the father or mother of the child or for or against any specific time-sharing schedule when creating or modifying a parenting plan of the child.

The new House bill would dramatically alter the law. The proposed bill would make it Florida law that equal time-sharing with a minor child by both parents is in the best interest of the child unless the court finds one of the stated reasons not to.

The House bill is available here.

 

Short Term Alimony for a Three-Minute Marriage

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

In Kuwait, a newly married woman demanded a divorce within three minutes of signing her marriage contract. The Kuwaiti marriage is one of the shortest on record. But here’s an interesting question: what if she asked for short term alimony?

Short Term Alimony

Sands of Time

What lead to such an abrupt change of mind about nuptials? According to Kuwaiti news sources, the newly married woman tripped before exiting the courthouse with her husband after the judge married them.

Her newly minted husband made the “classic” new husband mistake: he started laughing at her for tripping and then called her “stupid”.

The bride became so infuriated with her new husband’s naïve mistake, she returned to the courthouse and demanded a divorce from the judge who just married them.

The Kuwaiti judge agreed and served an annulment just three-minutes after he originally married them. The couple, who live in Kuwait, never even left the courthouse as husband and wife.

So, is she entitled to any form of alimony?

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about divorce and the length of a marriage before. Florida Statutes actually define what the length of your marriage means. For example, in order to determine alimony, there is a rebuttable presumption in Florida that a short-term marriage is a marriage having a duration of less than 7 years.

Florida Statutes define a moderate-term marriage as a marriage having a duration of greater than 7 years but less than 17 years. And, a long-term marriage is a marriage having a duration of 17 years or greater.

How do you measure the marriage term? In Florida, the length of your marriage is the period of time measured from the date of your marriage until the date of filing of an action to dissolve your marriage.

In the Kuwaiti case, a three-minute marriage would be considered “short-term” under Florida law. Is there short term alimony for a short term marriage? The Length of the marriage is very important when it comes to determining the kind of duration of alimony payments. For example, permanent alimony is generally for longer term marriages if the statutory criteria are met. In shorter term marriages and for moderate term marriages, permanent alimony may be considered, but the burden of proof is much higher.

Conversely, bridge-the-gap alimony is generally awarded to allow a person to transition from being married to being single. So, bridge-the-gap alimony is designed for short-term needs. In fact, the length of an award bridge-the-gap alimony may not exceed 2 years.

Durational alimony helps provide a person with economic help for a set period of time after short or moderate length marriages or following a marriage of long duration if there is no ongoing need for support on a permanent basis.

The length of your marriage also factors in to property divisions. When a court divides the marital assets and debts, the court begin with the premise that the distribution should be equal. One of the factors a court can look to in justifying an unequal distribution includes the duration of the marriage.

Are congratulations in order?

Many on the internet who heard about the case responded in support of her choice, lauding her decision because, as one put it, “If this is how he acts in the beginning of their lives together, then its best she leaves now.”

Another responded, “Marriage without respect is a failed one from the start.”

A Twitter user commented: “This woman is a queen” In another case a bride who insulted her husband-to-be when she arrived at the altar and demanded the groom change his outfit. It’s believed to be the shortest marriage in Kuwait’s history.

The Khaleej Times article is here.

 

Alimony Modification

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Florida law allows you to lower what you pay in alimony each month, increase your alimony payments, or terminate alimony payments altogether. A recent Florida case is an interesting example why alimony modification is a hot issue.

Alimony modification

Florida Alimony Modification

There are a few reasons why alimony can be modified. Dramatic changes in health, inability to go back to work (due to disability, injury, etc.), substantial raise in pay, big gifts or lottery winnings, loss of job, and of course, retirement are the major forces behind alimony modification.

I’ve written about alimony modification before. In Florida, to modify alimony, the payor has to show three fundamental things: a substantial change in circumstances, the change was not contemplated at the time of the final judgment of dissolution, and that the change is sufficient, material, involuntary and permanent in nature.

The Supreme Court of Florida has addressed the impact of retirement on support obligations in Florida. To determine whether a voluntary retirement is reasonable, courts must consider, in part, the payor’s age, health, and motivation for retirement, the type of work, and the age at which others engaged in that line of work normally retire.

In Florida there’s been a debate about whether these reasons for modifying alimony have to be “unanticipated” or can they be reasons everyone knew about. That dispute was recently settled here.

Retirement Accounts

In a recent Florida case, the trial judge and the spouses did not take into consideration the eventual income that the former wife would receive from her retirement and annuity accounts without penalty, once she reached retirement age when they drafted their settlement agreement more than 10 years ago.

Her former husband asked the court for an alimony modification – even though he had not retired and had the ability to pay the required alimony – because the former wife’s retirement accounts had appreciated, and she had reached the age of 59 ½, so she could take distributions without penalty.

The family court judge agreed to grant an alimony modification, and the former wife appealed. The former wife argued that her ability to access the retirement accounts without penalty was not an unanticipated change in circumstances, and alimony may not be modified in Florida for anticipated changes in circumstances.

The appellate court, agreed with the former husband, and sustained the alimony modification. Given that their agreement was silent as to what would happen once the former wife could access the funds in retirement accounts, the retirement accounts had not been taken into consideration to determine the former wife’s income.

The appellate decision is here.

 

The Alimony Race

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Yet another news outlet is reporting on the 2018 Alimony Race. NPR weighs in on why people are rushing to finalize divorces this year: so they can deduct alimony payments before the new tax law kicks in.

alimony race

On Your Mark

As NPR reports, divorce lawyers and accountants have been advising many of their wealthier clients to hurry up and get divorced, like, now or at least before the end of the year because under the new tax law starting in 2019, a generous tax break for alimony payments will be gone.

The New York Times’, Jim Tankersley, who covers tax and economics stories, had a few things to say:

TANKERSLEY: So right now, if you get divorced – let’s say you’re a husband who is paying alimony to your ex-wife. You can deduct that, if you so agree with your spouse in the divorce settlement, from your taxes. But what’s going to happen is you won’t be able to anymore.

…

CHANG: OK, so spouses who will be on the hook for alimony payments will be eager to get their divorce settlements finalized this year but also, I can imagine, spouses who will be receiving the alimony payments because I would think that my soon-to-be ex would have more of a reason to give me more alimony if he or she gets a bigger deduction out of it this year.

TANKERSLEY: Yes, but it affects different couples differently. For couples who make essentially the same amount of money, if they’re in the same tax bracket, this is just an accounting shift. The same total amount of money changes hands.

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TANKERSLEY: But for couples who make different amounts of money and are in different tax brackets, what they basically got before was a subsidy from the government for their divorce…

CHANG: What do you mean?

TANKERSLEY: …Because the higher-earning spouse was able to pass on income that would have been taxed at a really high rate but then instead was getting taxed at a low rate.

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TANKERSLEY: So that difference between the tax rates was just free money from the government. Now that goes away. So, if you’re the husband, for example, who earned more and is paying that alimony to a wife, now you have to pay the taxes at the higher rate. That free money disappears, and so you are probably going to say to your ex-wife, sorry, there’s no more money; I’m not going to give you even more than I was originally thinking I was going to have to pay. And so, you the ex-wife end up with less money overall. And in between, the government gets more money.

CHANG: And I can imagine most couples that have severely disparate incomes – it’s usually the woman who earns less. So, this tax law change will probably have women bearing most of the cost.

TANKERSLEY: That’s what divorce lawyers and tax professionals and financial planners have been telling me – is that, yeah, it’s largely women who receive alimony. And particularly with wealthy couples, it’s largely women who leave the labor force to take care of kids or for whatever reason. And women earn less in the economy for the same work than men do. This is a potentially big loss for women…

Why it Matters

Spouses negotiating alimony payments may try to pay less when the change takes effect because there will be no tax savings.

The deduction is a big deal to couples negotiating their divorce because if someone who earns, say, $250,000 agrees to pay $4,000 per month in alimony, it really costs the person about $3,000 after taking the deduction into account.

Without the break, many people will agree to pay only what would have been their after-tax amount. It is feared that more couples will end up fighting in court because they won’t be able to agree on alimony.

2019 Deadline

The alimony deduction repeal doesn’t take effect immediately and won’t kick in until 2019. That is why lawyers are advising clients to file for divorce now.

However, meeting the 2019 deadline won’t be easy.

Some states have mandatory “cooling-off” periods, others states have residency requirements. So, you can’t just file for a divorce today, and expect that you’re going to be divorced tomorrow.

The NPR interview is here.