Florida Alimony Reform-State Economic Disaster

     Tomorrow is "D-Day." Will Governor Scott veto the Alimony Reform Bill or not? So, for today, rather than summarize and highlight the very scary parts of this bill, I’d rather set out for you a likely scenario in a "typical" case, where, although the bill is beneficial to a potential "permanent alimony payor" in turn, it creates an adverse effect as an economic drain on Florida’s social welfare system.

      Let’s assume Bill and Barbara marry at age 25. For three years Barbara uses her college degree in marketing, and works for a small company. Bill finishes his masters and becomes a CPA, working for an international accounting firm. In the fourth year Bill and Barbara start a family and Billy is born. Bill and Barbara jointly decide Barbara should become a full-time stay at home mom, as Bill is excelling in his career and they don’t need a second income. Moreover, Barbara takes on the role of perfect corporate wife by entertaining in their home and tending to everyday details of the household, freeing up Bill to concentrate on his career. Two years later, little Betsy comes along. Over the next 18 years, Barbara becomes the perfect PTA mom, soccer mom, corporate entertainer and house organizer. Bill is pulling in the big bucks and life is wonderful...until Betsy goes off to college and Bill decides to trade Barbara in for a newer model, just over 25 years after their wedding.

      Barbara is now over 50. She has not worked outside the home in 22 years. Her marketing skills are obsolete. Under the new alimony law here’s the maximum of what Barbara gets in alimony:
*12 ½ years of alimony (half the length of the marriage)
* A maximum of 38% of Bill’s gross income (presumably not bad for those 12 ½ years)      Now, what does Barbara do? At age 50+ it is unlikely she can rehabilitate herself into a new career (and who really has the strength and fortitude to do this at that age?) If she has some sense she will understand that, even though the alimony she receives now may be sufficient (maybe?) It will come to an abrupt end as she nears 63. So she gets a job paying $10 an hour? And she works at about that rate (maybe a little more or less) as she ages and becomes less marketable (affirmative action aside, let’s face it, a young, newly educated person with more longevity is more likely than not to get the job over Barbara). If Barbara is frugal she can "save" a little. If Barbara had her husband take care of all the finances, she might not even have a clue...

      So 12 ½ years go by, and Barbara nears retirement...What do you think she will get from social security with 12 ½ years of wages under her belt (assuming we still have a fund to pay this from)? Answer: not a lot...! Okay, I realize that Barbara can get benefits of up to 50% under her ex-husband’s social security benefits while he is still alive (provided she did not remarry and provided that these benefits would eclipse those she would receive on her own) but he still gets it all.

      What does all this mean? Well, it means there are going to be a lot more people down the road who, as they enter their senior years, can no longer live on what they have available. So guess who is going to foot the bill.... Yup, you got it- our state, which translates into you and me. Glad the legislature can serve those special interests...the sour grape suckers who have no taken their personal financial problems in paying alimony to their former spouses, into a pending statewide tsunami.



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Florida Alimony Reform Bill on Governor's Desk-Does it Matter?

  Status of Alimony Reform in Florida

   So where does the legislature and, for that matter Governor Scott, stand on the Alimony Reform Bill (Senate Bill 718) at this moment?

Well, in brief, it looks like this:

The Florida House adopted the bill slammed through the Florida Senate +(SB 718)

•   A second engrossed (so they still keep changing the "final" version) was published April 24^th.
•   The bill sits on +Governor Rick Scott’s desk.
•   The Governor must sign or veto the legislation within 15 days of receipt, or it automatically    becomes the law without his signature.

      Now my colleagues tell me ( I was just at a Broward County family law seminar on Fridaya this week is D-Day. So, Governor Scott can sign the bill or sit on his hands. Either way it will become the law unless he vetoes the bill.

     Here’s the rub...even if +Governor Scott has to foresight to see that the Alimony Reform Bill may alleviate a certain class of individuals from these individuals’ personal financial drain, and exercises his veto power, the bill can return to the House and Senate, and with 2/3rds vote, IT AUTOMATICALLY BECOMES LAW!

   Tomorrow I’ll take you through a scenario that the special interest groups ignored, and the legislature failed to contemplate. Specifically, you’ll see how ALL OF US will end up paying the price by transferring economic responsibility from the individual to society. In this instance, really bad economic theory about to become reality in Florida.

Florida Alimony Reform Update: Senate Bill 718 Passes April 4, 2013

Last week I summarized and provided some detail on Senate Bill 718, more commonly referred to as the alimony reform bill, including amendments passed on the second reading last week.

Well, what a surprise, late yesterday the Senate passed the bill, but did incorporate a few more amendments that assist prospective alimony recipients.

In a nutshell, the Senate raised the maximum amount of alimony that may be awarded, based on the payor’s gross income, as follows:

In Short Term Marriages (10 years or less): from 20% to 25%

In Mid Term Marriages (over 10 years but less than 20 years) from 30% to 35%

In Long Term Marriages (greater than 20 years) from 33% to 38%

Keep in mind, these percentages are the ceilings...not the floors, and the bill emphasizes courts considering bridge-the-gap alimony (maximum of 2 years, and rehabilitative alimony before contemplating duration alimony   .

And, the Senate added that Courts may award a maximum of 40% of the payor’s gross income when durational alimony is combined with rehabilitative alimony. Of course, we all know that a person who stayed home to raise a family for 18 years, hasn’t worked outside the home, and is now 48 or 50 years of age (or older), can just jump back into school and develop a career in a few years to adequately support one’s self through retirement.

This Bill still has to be signed into law by Governor Scott. In case you are opposed to these changes, you can sign an on line petition at  http://www.change.org/petitions/florida-governor-rick-scott-veto-sb-718-and-hb-231.

There’s still more crazy legislation pending to write about, as well as more on this bill coming up over the next week.