Florida rewrote its alimony law, and the changes were substantial, not cosmetic. Permanent alimony no longer exists for new cases, durational awards are capped by formula, and retirement has a defined pathway to modification for the first time.
Anyone divorcing in Florida now, or holding an older order, needs to understand what changed and what did not.
What Remains Available
Temporary alimony
Support paid while the dissolution is pending, intended to maintain the financial status quo so that neither spouse is forced into a poor settlement by short-term pressure. It ends when the final judgment is entered.
Bridge-the-gap alimony
Short-term support to help a spouse transition from married to single life, meeting identifiable short-term needs. It is capped at a short maximum period and cannot be modified in amount or duration.
Rehabilitative alimony
Support to allow a spouse to establish the capacity for self-support through education, training, or work experience. It requires a specific, defined plan and is capped at a maximum period.
Durational alimony
Support for a set period following a marriage of any length. This is now the workhorse of Florida alimony, and it replaced what permanent alimony used to do.
The Length Brackets
Durational alimony is not available at all after a marriage below a defined short threshold, absent exceptional circumstances.
Above that, the maximum duration is expressed as a percentage of the length of the marriage, with the percentage rising as the marriage lengthens. Short-term, moderate-term, and long-term marriages each carry their own cap.
The amount is limited too. Durational alimony may not exceed the recipient’s reasonable need or a defined percentage of the difference between the parties’ net incomes, whichever is less.
The combined effect is that both how much and how long are now bounded in ways they were not before, making outcomes considerably more predictable.
Permanent Alimony Is Gone Going Forward
For cases decided under the new framework, permanent alimony is no longer an available award.
This change generated the most attention, and it matters most to spouses in long marriages who left the workforce. Someone who stopped working at thirty to raise children and is divorcing at fifty-eight would previously have been a strong candidate for permanent support. That option no longer exists.
It is replaced by durational alimony at the longer end of the brackets, which, for a long marriage, can still be a substantial period. It is bounded rather than open-ended.
Existing permanent alimony awards were not retroactively eliminated. Orders already in place continue to operate, subject to the modification rules that apply.
Rehabilitative Plans Need Specifics
A spouse seeking rehabilitative alimony must present a defined plan, and Florida requires it to be specific, not aspirational.
The plan should identify the education, training, or work experience sought; the institution or program; the cost; the length; and the employment and earnings expected at the end. A general intention to improve one’s position does not satisfy the requirement.
Rehabilitative alimony can also be modified or terminated where the plan is not being followed, which gives the payer a legitimate interest in how it is drafted.
Retirement Now Has a Framework
Under the previous law, a payer reaching retirement age had to argue that retirement constituted a substantial change in circumstances, and outcomes varied.
Florida now provides a defined pathway. A payer may seek modification or termination based on retirement, and the court considers factors including the payer’s age and health, the customary retirement age in that occupation, the motivation for retiring and its timing, and the economic impact on both parties.
This gives payers something the old system did not — a structured basis for planning. It does not make retirement automatic grounds for termination, and a payer who retires early specifically to escape the obligation will find the motivation factor working against them.
Who Qualifies in the First Place
Before considering any type or duration, the court decides whether a spouse has an actual need for support and whether the other can pay. Both must be established.
Where need and ability are shown, the court then considers the statutory factors — the standard of living established during the marriage, the duration of the marriage, the age and health of each party, the financial resources of each, each party’s earning capacity and employability, contributions to the marriage including homemaking and child rearing, responsibilities for minor children, and the tax treatment of any award.
Florida also directs courts to consider adultery and the circumstances of the parties, which is one of the limited ways conduct enters a no-fault dissolution. In practice, it matters most where marital funds were spent on the affair.
Supportive Relationships
Florida allows modification or termination where the recipient is in a supportive relationship with someone they are not married to.
Courts examine the substance of the arrangement — whether the parties hold themselves out as a couple, live together, share expenses, support each other financially, have joint accounts or property, and how long the relationship has lasted.
Proving it generally requires evidence rather than suspicion, and courts may use surveillance, financial records, and testimony. This is one of the more actively litigated areas in Florida post-judgment practice.
Modifying an Existing Award
Alimony other than bridge-the-gap can generally be modified where there is a substantial, material, involuntary, and permanent change in circumstances.
Each of those words does work. Involuntary excludes a self-created reduction in income. Permanent excludes a temporary setback. Substantial excludes a modest fluctuation.
Parties can also agree to make alimony non-modifiable, which forecloses later adjustment in either direction. That is a significant term, and it is accepted more often than it is fully understood.
Life Insurance to Secure the Obligation
An alimony award is worth nothing if the payer dies. Florida allows a court to order the payer to purchase or maintain life insurance, or to provide another form of security, to protect the award.
This is requested less often than it should be. A recipient depending on alimony for a defined period has an obvious interest in that income surviving the payer, and the cost of term coverage is generally modest relative to the amount being protected.
Where insurance is ordered, the agreement should address who owns the policy, who pays the premium, how the recipient verifies it remains in force, and what happens if it lapses. An obligation with no verification mechanism is often found to have gone unfunded for years.
Tax Treatment
For orders entered after 2018, alimony is not deductible by the payer and not taxable to the recipient under federal law.
This changed the economics of these negotiations considerably. Under the previous rules, shifting income to a lower-bracket spouse created a saving both sides could share, giving each a reason to agree. That incentive no longer exists.
Older orders entered before the change may still operate under the prior treatment, and modifying such an order can affect that. Confirming rather than assuming is worth it when revisiting a long-standing award.
What This Means Practically
For a spouse seeking support, Griffin Family Law builds the case around maximizing duration within the applicable bracket and establishing genuine need with documentation.
For a payer, it provides a ceiling that did not previously exist and a defined route to address retirement.
For anyone with an older order, the interaction between the previous framework and current law is worth reviewing, particularly where retirement is approaching, or circumstances have changed.
Anyone holding an older permanent alimony order should also understand that the reform did not eliminate it, but the surrounding law has moved. Where retirement is approaching, or circumstances have shifted materially, a review is worthwhile rather than assuming nothing can change.
If alimony is an issue in your St. Johns County case, call Griffin Family Law. The brackets make outcomes more predictable, and knowing the range before you negotiate is worth a great deal.
