Alimony Basics

ALIMONY IS FOR SUPPORT OF A FORMER SPOUSE

Alimony is money that is paid from one spouse to another for their support and maintenance. It can be one lump-sum payment, payments over a specific period of time, or payments over a lifetime. Alimony is a way to help prevent one spouse from having their standard of living change drastically after divorce. It is often seen as a way to avoid the instant transition of one spouse from opulence to poverty due solely to the fact of a divorce.

Here is what the alimony statute says:

F.S. 61.08 Alimony.

(1) In a proceeding for dissolution of marriage, the court may grant alimony to either party, which alimony may be rehabilitative or permanent in nature. In any award of alimony, the court may order periodic payments or payments in lump sum or both. The court may consider the adultery of either spouse and the circumstances thereof in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded.

Decisional law (law established by the appellate courts as precedent) tells us that alimony is generally for one of three purposes: 1) permanent support of a former spouse, 2) rehabilitation to allow a former spouse to reach a specific goal, or 3) to assist a former spouse with any legitimate, short term need (commonly called bridge the gap alimony.

Temporary Alimony

Temporary alimony is oftentimes awarded to make it possible for each party to maintain their basic needs during the divorce itself. The court will do its best to provide for the needs as fixed by the parties' standard of living considering each party’s present ability to meet those needs. The court will look at both party's income, fixed expenses such as house payments, and joint liquid assets when setting an award of temporary alimony. In presenting a claim for or defense of temporary alimony, it is important to make a realistic assessment of needs and the ability of both parties to meet those needs. Temporary alimony ends when the divorce is granted.

Bridge The Gap Alimony

Courts sometimes award a fixed amount of alimony to help a spouse ease the transition from married to single life. Known as “bridge-the-gap” alimony, this award is designed to assist a spouse with any legitimate, identifiable, short-term needs, under circumstances where a lump sum amount is reasonable and the other spouse has the ability to pay this amount.

Some Examples:

Expenses associated with replacing household items that are awarded to the other spouse
Buying or leasing a replacement automobile
Moving expenses
Deposits for an apartment or for utilities
When there are few assets to distribute and a spouse with little or no credit history is in need of basic living requirements and lacks the ability to purchase them, bridge-the-gap alimony to cover the costs of setting up a new household might be appropriate.
A spouse does not need rehabilitation but has recently re-entered the work force at a temporarily lower rate of pay.
When the shift in economic lifestyle caused by a divorce is so dramatic for one spouse that he or she may reasonably need monetary help while adjusting to a more frugal lifestyle.
When one spouse will be temporarily out of work because of some medical condition or procedure.

Since bridge-the-gap alimony is designed for short term identifiable needs, it usually involves payments that do not extend more than one year. This is not a hard and fast rule, but if payments are needed for a longer period of time, rehabilitative alimony may be more appropriate. Bridge-the-gap alimony is a form of lump sum alimony that does not terminate upon the death of the person paying alimony or the remarriage of the person receiving alimony.

Rehabilitative Alimony

The purpose of rehabilitative alimony is to establish a capacity for self-support by the receiving spouse, at the standard of living established by the parties during the course of the marriage. This can be accomplished by redevelopment of previous skills or education and training for new skills. The goal is to have the recipient spouse reach a point where they are able to provide for themselves in the manner that they were provided for during the marriage. Rehabilitative alimony should be limited in amount and duration to the time necessary to support the recipient through training or retraining.

The law specifies to the court what to look at when determining rehabilitative alimony. First a court will look at the parties' economic situation, such as assets, liabilities and income sources. The court will also look at the standard of living established during the marriage, duration of the marriage, the age and physical and emotional condition of each party, and sometimes, the time required for one of the parties to obtain education or training which will help them find a job. A court will examine the contribution of each party to the marriage, such as services rendered in homemaking, child care, education and career building of the other party.

In order to receive rehabilitative alimony, a rehabilitation plan must be presented to the court. Basically, a rehabilitation plan is a detailed statement that sets forth the specific training or retraining that will be sought, the cost of the training, the time that it will reasonably take for the training to be completed, the expected outcome of the training, and the expected post-training earning level. It is often necessary to have a rehabilitation expert to assist in the presentation of such a plan.

Because rehabilitative alimony is specifically for rehabilitation, the trial court may not order rehabilitative alimony to automatically terminate upon remarriage. Such a determination should be made by the trial court at the time of remarriage based upon the particular circumstances of the parties rather than merely the legal relationship. Also, depending upon the future circumstances, rehabilitative alimony can be converted to permanent alimony, especially if something unanticipated occurs that renders the rehabilitative plan ineffective.

Looking at Your Need For Rehabilitative Alimony

Here are some thoughts on the factors used to determine rehabilitative alimony.

Your ability to become self-supporting
You need to be realistic in your approach to becoming self-supporting. There is a job for everyone, but not all of us have the capacity to earn at high levels, even with the best training money can buy. If you have some background with the field that you wish to pursue then it will be more likely that the court would endorse such a plan and award rehabilitative alimony. On the other hand, if you seek to enter an entirely new field for yourself, with little or no experience, it becomes less likely that a court will agree that that is an appropriate plan. And if you can only become partially self-supporting at the level that you previously enjoyed, that is not a reason to reject a rehabilitation plan, as other forms of alimony may be available.
Your education, skills or training an previous employment

What background do you have? Is the plan of rehabilitation reasonable considering your education, skills, employment history, or training?
The standard of living enjoyed during the marriage

The purpose of rehabilitative alimony is to establish a capacity by the receiving spouse for self support, with the standard of living as a measurement. For example, if a wife wants her husband to pay so that she can to go to medical school to earn $250,000 per year, but throughout the marriage they never had more than $50,000 per year of combined income, then the rehabilitation plan does not conform to the standard of living. The wife is certainly entitled to pursue whatever educational opportunities she desires, but she is unlikely in this example to get rehabilitative alimony to allow her to do so.
The duration of the marriage
In short term marriages (less than 7 years), any form of alimony is unlikely, but a reasonably short rehabilitative plan may be acceptable under some circumstances. In long-term marriages, the presumptive form of alimony is permanent, but again rehabilitative may be appropriate under the circumstances. The length of the marriage may also affect the length of the rehabilitative alimony.
Your age
In general, the older you are, the more likely alimony of some sort is warranted. However, your age may very well be a negative factor in how effective a rehabilitation plan would be. For example, a 56 year old man who needs to earn a bachelor’s degree, then a masters degree, then work for three years before he will become self-supportive at the marital lifestyle level may find that by the time he achieves that end he will be at or beyond retirement age and not be able to earn what the plan set as a goal. Similarly, older people are generally less “trainable” in fields for which they have no experience.
Disability and your physical and emotional health

Health and physical ability play an important role in alimony, as they impact both need and the reasonableness of a rehabilitation plan on the one hand, and ability to pay on the other.
The financial resources of each party, the non-marital, and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each person
Before alimony is considered, the court will distribute the marital assets. Once that is accomplished, a clearer picture may be had for alimony because the potential recipient spouse may have received some income producing property in the distribution, which reduces or eliminates their need. Also, the existence of significant nonmarital assets or liabilities or other resources can greatly affect the alimony equation, on both sides.
The time required to obtain an education or training

The court's award of rehabilitative alimony must have a termination date consistent with the plan of rehabilitation, which is itself tied to the time that will be necessary to achieve the desired result.
Contributions to the marriage affecting present employability

Sometimes a spouse has spent so much time in child rearing and/or homemaking that it may take an unreasonable amount of time to get back into the work force and get back on the career ladder. Other similar concerns are important factors as well.
Marital misconduct
Evidence of adultery, in divorce actions, is limited to the impact it has to the depletion of the parties’ financial resources. Such evidence, though, can affect the award of alimony. For example, if one spouse spent significant marital assets to further an affair, it may be considered in an alimony award. If both parties will suffer economic hardship as a result of any division of available resources the court might make, the court can consider marital misconduct that may have caused the difficult economic situation and adjust the award accordingly.

Permanent Alimony

Permanent alimony is a periodic payment for the support a spouse during his or her lifetime. Its purpose is to provide the necessities of life to a former spouse who lacks the resources or ability to be self-sustaining. Permanent alimony is often appropriate where one spouse did not work during a relatively long marriage, either to raise the children or at the other spouse's request.

Looking at Your Need For Permanent Alimony

Here are some thoughts on the factors used to determine permanent alimony.

Age
Generally, the older the person is the more likely they are a candidate for permanent alimony. Peak earning years for most people occur between the ages of 40 and 55, but that statistic assumes that the person has been in the workforce for 20+ years. A spouse just entering the workforce for the first time at age 40 and above may never reach the twenty year mark, nor enjoy the kind of earnings that they would have if they started at an earlier age.
Physical and emotional condition of each party
Does either party have physical or emotional problems? Is there any physical disability? Is the person physically and emotionally able to work at a job or career providing a lifestyle consistent with the standard of living enjoyed during the marriage? If the disability is permanent, the other spouse is often looking at permanent alimony.
The duration of the marriage
In general, the longer the marriage, the more likely one spouse may need permanent support. The more typical permanent alimony situation would involve marriages longer than 15 years, depending on the other factors considered by the court. Look for a disparity in income and future prospects for income that developed over the length of the marriage, rather than rely upon the length of the marriage alone.
Education, income and work experience of both spouses

These factors give a rough assessment of each person's strengths, skills, and education that may qualify them for future employment. Look for evidence that one person has given up opportunities over a long period of time while the other person was developing skills and building a career.
Standard of living established during the marriage

The standard of living established during the marriage bears a logical relationship to a party's present needs, particularly when the marriage is of long standing. What is the cost of necessities over the course of a year? What did you typically spend during your marriage, with attention to the last 3 to 5 years of the marriage?
The non-marital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each spouse
If both parties have approximately the same income and same assets at the time of the divorce, an award of alimony would be inappropriate. If both parties have approximately the same income and assets after the Husband's child support obligations are considered, an award of alimony would also be unfair.
All sources of income available to either party
Services rendered in homemaking, child care
Contribution to education and career building of the other party
Other services and finances contributed to marriage
Present custody and the age and status of health of children
Marital misconduct
Tax consequences
Alimony is generally income to the recipient and deductible by the payor. The income tax consequences should be considered in making an award of alimony.
Disparity of relative incomes following dissolution
Retirement or pension benefits
The Court may treat retirement benefits as property or as source of alimony, but not both.

Lump Sum Alimony

Lump sum alimony is similar to rehabilitative and permanent alimony except that it is a fixed and definite amount and is in the nature of a final settlement. It is a vested right that may not be increased, decreased, or terminated by retirement, death, cohabitation or remarriage. Although this sounds like a property right, lump sum alimony can only be granted where alimony would otherwise be awarded, but a Court must find some special justification for granting a lump sum.

Justification is simply some good reason or useful purpose. Some examples are:

The parties are so hostile that their relationship needs to be severed completely.
A vested amount is needed because of frail health or physical disability of the paying spouse. In effect, lump sum alimony can provide post mortem alimony where appropriate.
The paying spouse doesn't have the cash flow but does have property which can be given to the recipient spouse to be liquidated for his or her support.
The recipient spouse has a special need for an immediate cash payment for medical expenditures or to pay debts.
The paying spouse has dissipated assets in the past and is likely to keep doing so. Lump sum alimony is needed to protect the recipient's future income stream.

The trial court may order the transfer of non marital assets to pay lump sum alimony. There must be justification for an award of lump-sum alimony, and the ability to meet the award without substantially endangering the paying spouse's own economic status.

You have much more discretion than a court has to agree upon lump sum alimony. There are many reasons for both parties to agree on a fixed amount of alimony that is paid out over time. Those payments may steadily decrease in amount over time as the spouse receiving alimony projects their income will rise. Some reasons to consider reaching an agreement on lump sum alimony are:

The spouse receiving lump sum alimony is in control of their finances and can plan their future with some certainty.
Regardless of what happens to the other spouse=s financial circumstances, they are entitled to receive alimony without fear that it will be reduced or terminated.
Regardless of what happens to improve the alimony recipient=s finances (new employment, inheritance, etc.), they are entitled to receive alimony without fear that it will be reduced or terminated.
The spouse receiving alimony is not restricted in forming new relationships or to live with another person or remarry without that becoming the reason for alimony to be reduced or to terminate as a matter of law.
The spouse receiving alimony is responsible for and should plan for their future
The spouse paying alimony can plan their future with some certainty. They know exactly what they have agreed to pay and for exactly how long those payments are to be made. They can begin saving for the future as their financial circumstances improve.
The disadvantage for the spouse paying alimony is that if they lose their job or encounter a reduction in their income that will not be a basis for reducing or terminating alimony. The risk of this occurring depends on how long a time payments are made. Generally, the longer a time the more risk of adverse change over that period of time.

Life Insurance As Security For Alimony

The Court may also require a life insurance policy or bond to secure the payment of alimony in the event the obligor dies before the person receiving alimony dies or lump sum alimony is paid off. Existing policies are most commonly used for this purpose, but new policies can be acquired and tailored to circumstances. For example, decreasing term insurance with a death benefit that declines by the amount of alimony paid each year would be a good choice to secure payment of a fixed amount of alimony payable over a defined period of time.

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