Tag: florida alimony

Florida Alimony Reform 2023

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Gov. Ron DeSantis signed a bill that will reform Florida alimony in 2023. The Florida alimony reform bill was signed after three vetoes of similar bills and a decade of legislative battles. But this year things changed. The 2023 proposal got the support of The Florida Bar Family Law Section, which had fought against poorly worded alimony reform bills in the past.

Alimony Reform

Florida Alimony

I’ve written about alimony in Florida before. 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, and before July 1st, 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 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.

Florida Alimony Reform

Last week the governor signed into law CS/SB 1416, which makes significant changes to alimony awards. The most talked about feature of the new law is that permanent alimony, which is sometimes called lifetime alimony, is eliminated.

The elimination of permanent alimony leaves only bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational forms of alimony. However, rehabilitative alimony has now been limited to five years. Additionally, durational alimony is now not awardable to people married for less than three years. But, if a couple has been married 20 years or longer, they will be eligible to receive payments for up to 75 percent of the length of the marriage.

Another big change is the new law’s limits on the amount of durational alimony. Durational alimony is now calculated to be the lesser of the recipient spouse’s reasonable need or no more than 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes.

Another change is in the area of supportive relationships. Courts reduce or terminate alimony in cases in which they find that a supportive relationship exists. The new law also places the burden on the payor of alimony to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that a relationship exists. Once proven, the burden shifts to the recipient spouse to prove by a preponderance of the evidence the court should not reduce or terminate alimony.

The new law also impacts modifications by codifying a 1992 Supreme Court decision that judges use as a guidepost when making decisions about retirement. If a payor of alimony wants to retire, he or she may apply for modification of the alimony award no sooner than 6 months prior to the planned retirement. The bill provides several factors courts have to consider in determining whether to modify or terminate alimony. The new law became effective July 1, 2023.

The new law is here.

Dr Dre and Temporary Alimony

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

Nicole Young will be receiving a substantial amount of temporary alimony during her ongoing divorce from Dr Dre. According to reports, a judge just ordered the music mogul to pay his wife $293,306 per month in temporary spousal support.

Temporary Alimony

Nuthin but a Two Hundred G Thang

Dr Dre, of course, is an American rapper and producer. As a member of N.W.A and later as a solo artist, he sold hundreds of millions of albums and singles during his career. He and music producer Jimmy Iovine co-created “Beats By Dre” which was later acquired be Apple in 2014 for $3 billion. At the time of the sale, Jimmy and Dre both owned 25% of Beats by Dre and each reportedly earned $750 million from the deal.

In June of 2020 it was reported that Dre’s wife of 24 years had filed for divorce. At the time of the filing some estimated that Dre’s net worth was $820 million. While Nicole’s temporary alimony award would be considered “ok” for most people, the amount is much less than what she asked for.

In September 2020, Nicole asked for $2 million per month to cover her needs. The recent temporary alimony award amounts to a temporary alimony of more than $3.5 million a year.

In addition to the monthly cash payments, Dr Dre will also reportedly have to pay for the expenses of their Malibu and Pacific Palisades homes and will pay for Nicole’s health insurance. The couple has two adult children.

Florida Temporary Alimony

I’ve written about alimony before. In every Florida dissolution of marriage 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, permanent alimony, and of course, temporary 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.

Pursuant to Florida law a judge can award temporary alimony to either spouse if there is a well-founded request while a divorce action is pending. The standard for awarding temporary alimony is the same as when the trial court considers a request for permanent alimony, namely, the parties’ standard of living along with the need of the petitioning spouse and the ability of the other spouse to pay.

Even if you are in a short-term marriage, you can be awarded temporary alimony because the duration of a marriage, standing alone, is not justification for denying temporary relief.

Additionally, even if you have a prenuptial agreement which specifically waives temporary alimony, in Florida temporary alimony cannot be waived by agreement, and may be considered void and against Florida public policy. Instead, a Florida court determines temporary alimony by balancing the needs and ability to pay.

Forgot About Dre

Young filed for divorce from Dr Dre in June 2020 after 24-years of marriage. The divorce proceedings have been anything but amicable. Young accused the acclaimed rapper and producer of emotional and physical abuse; which Dre has strongly denied.

Technically, they are already divorced. Dr. Dre’s marriage was legally dissolved by a family judge after Dre filed a motion for bifurcation, requesting the judge dissolve the marriage and reserve on the remaining issues so they can be resolved later. The divorce case has yet to be finalized.

The Yahoo news report 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.

…

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.

…

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.

 

Fast Break Alimony

Posted by Ron Kauffman on

According to various reports, former NBA lottery pick, Shelden Williams, may get a massive, lump sum, $400,000 alimony check from his WNBA star wife, Candace Parker. This post is about lump sum alimony.

Slam Dunk

That is the reported marital settlement agreement between Williams, and his wife, WNBA Los Angeles Sparks star, Candace Parker. Parker, one of the biggest stars in WNBA history, married Williams two years after he was selected 5th overall in the 2006 NBA Draft.

Despite the fact that her husband reportedly made more than $12m during his 6-year NBA career, Parker has apparently done better, and agreed to shell out the $400,000 alimony payment. In exchange, she won’t have to pay ongoing spousal support.

Florida Lump Sum Alimony

Lump sum alimony is not a form of alimony, but really a method of payment of alimony or equitable distribution.

I’ve written about various types of alimony before. Any form of alimony, durational, bridge the gap, etc., may be paid as lump sum alimony. Lump sum alimony can also be paid in installments.

Lump sum alimony is available where special circumstances exist to pay other forms of alimony in a lump sum. It may be comprised of real property too. A lump sum payment establishes a fixed monetary obligation which vests immediately, is non-modifiable, and does not terminate upon death or remarriage.

So, if the need for alimony exists, there must be some special circumstances to explain why non-modifiable award is appropriate.

Special circumstances may include a payor who has a history of non-payments. It may also be appropriate if the parties are of advanced age and close to retirement.

Full Court Press

Drafted No. 1 overall by the Sparks in 2008, Parker led the franchise to a championship during the 2016 season and was named MVP of the WNBA Finals. She has also played overseas for professional teams in Europe and China.

Williams was the fifth overall pick in the 2006 NBA draft by the Atlanta Hawks. The former Duke star played six seasons in the NBA before playing in France and China until 2015.

Parker and Williams married in 2008. They also have an 8-year-old daughter. According to reports, the couple agreed to joint legal and physical custody over their daughter. Child support is also interesting. According to reports, neither party will pay child support to the other. Instead, they both agreed to equally fund her education and split any major costs associated with her care.

The Bleacher Report article is here.