Boca Raton Divorce Law Blog

Most people who are divorcing or who have divorced in Florida know about the state’s new bill to eliminate lifetime spousal support if it’s signed into law. It’s unknown whether Governor Scott is going to sign the bill. The issue of lifetime alimony has been a heated one on both sides. Supporters would like to see the end of older laws that make women dependent, while opponents worry that women and children will face hardships if they don’t have this source of income.

It’s understandable that many men (and in some cases, paying women) would like to be free from making lifetime payments to their former spouses, especially if the receiving spouse is living with a new partner and doesn’t necessarily need the extra income. Supporters of alimony reform say that when one person receives free paychecks until the end of his or her life, it discourages a motivation to train for career skills and self-sufficiency. The new law would allow ex-spouses to receive alimony for a few years, based on the length of the marriage, which they say is ample time to gain job skills.

Sometimes non-custodial child abductions have happy endings, and we love hearing about them as much as anyone else does. Last week we discussed the international abduction of two Florida boys by their parents, who fled to Cuba in a sailboat.

After the parents were discovered in a hotel room acting erratically with weapons and drugs, while the boys were present, child custody was given to the care of their maternal grandparents. The father had tied up his mother-in-law and kidnapped his 2-year-old and 4-year-old sons in a late-night break-in.

While many Floridians might daydream about being billionaires, they probably wouldn't ever want to go through a divorce under those situations. Divorce is always stressful, but most people would be happy to avoid the complications and legal issues related to a high asset divorce. In most cases, wealthy couples with a great deal of shared real estate, business assets, and other marital property will require a skilled divorce attorney to help them through the process.

One of America's wealthiest businessmen is undergoing a divorce that will probably gain the attention of people around the world. Harold Hamm is number 35 on Forbes' list of the wealthiest people in the nation, worth more than $11 billion. His second wife filed for divorce last May, after claiming she discovered him having an affair in 2010. The end of their 25-year marriage may split up the control of Continental Resources, the successful oil company that she helped build with her husband.

For a long time, many divorced spouses in Florida have hoped the state's alimony laws would change. They say permanent spousal support puts an unnecessary burden on them, when they're forced to pay their ex-spouses up to 30 percent of their income until retirement age, and sometimes even longer. The Senate Rules Committee heard the debate of supporters of a new bill to eliminate Florida's permanent alimony law, before voting 12-2 in favor of the bill.

Supporters have said the bill would liberate them from crippling financial problems created by long-term monthly payments that tie them to their ex-spouses. The bill put down new guidelines for spousal maintenance that changed the definition of the length of marriage. Short term, moderate term, and long term marriages will now be less than 12 years, 12-20 years, and more than 20 years, respectively, under the new bill.