More Florida women support alimony reform

Many divorced people in Florida have advocated for alimony reform in the past. Now, more men and women are supporting alimony reform and say that the laws need to be modernized.

Many men in Florida have been advocating to change the state’s alimony laws for many years. Why are more women supporting alimony reform? In recent years, more women in Florida have voiced their support for changing alimony laws because more women are having professional careers and earning more than their husbands. This results in more women being required to pay alimony after getting divorced.

Supporters of changing the state’s alimony laws say that men and women should be treated equally. They also argue that divorced individuals should not have to pay more money to their ex-spouses because this often leaves them less money to spend on their own families.

It’s not just ex-spouses that want alimony laws to be changed. Many fiancés and second wives as well as other relatives of individuals who have gotten divorced believe alimony laws need to change because they are also being affected by the outdated laws.

Many advocates for changing Florida’s alimony laws want new guidelines for determining alimony awards, saying that the current system gives judges too much discretion that leaves many ex-spouses paying high alimony amounts for long periods that sometime last longer than the marriage did.

Advocates for alimony reform expect a new bill to be presented in the 2014 legislative session that will make alimony laws fair to both spouses. However, it is not clear if there is more support in Congress or by Gov. Rick Scott to see this bill become a new law.

Source: Sun Sentinel, “Some women now pressing for changes in alimony law,” Donna Gehrke-White, Aug. 3, 2013