New Florida Alimony Laws

The new law applies to cases filed OR pending on or after July 1, 2023. It eliminates permanent alimony, shifts the definition of short-term, moderate-term, and long-term marriages, and provides guidance as to amount for durational alimony awards). While there are some points in the law that lend themselves to future litigation and questions of application, for purposes of ease of use it might be best to provide a bullet point explanation of alimony for each of the length of marriages as follows (keep in mind length of marriage is date of marriage until date of filing for dissolution of marriage):


SHORT-TERM MARRIAGE (marriage of less than 10 years) Available Alimony Possibilities:
  1. Bridge the Gap Alimony:(may not exceed 2 years in duration and not modifiable in amount or duration)
  2. Rehabilitative Alimony:(may not exceed 5 years in duration)
  3. Durational Alimony: (not available for marriages lasting less than 3 years)
  4. . Duration is limited to 50% of length of marriage
  5. . Amount of alimony is capped at the need of the receiving party or 35% of the difference between the parties net incomes (whichever is less).
MODERATE-TERM MARRIAGE (married between 10 years and less than 20 years) Available Alimony Possibilities:
  1. Bridge the Gap Alimony:(may not exceed 2 years in duration and not modifiable in amount or duration)
  2. Rehabilitative Alimony: (may not exceed 5 years in duration)
  3. Durational Alimony:
  4. .Duration is limited to 60% of length of marriage
  5. . Amount of alimony is capped at the need of the receiving party or 35% of the difference between the parties net incomes (whichever is less).
LONG-TERM MARRIAGE (20 years or more) Available Alimony Possibilities:
  1. Bridge the Gap Alimony: (may not exceed 2 years in duration and not modifiable in amount or duration)
  2. Rehabilitative Alimony: (may not exceed 5 years in duration)
  3. Durational Alimony:
  4. .Duration is limited to 75% of length of marriage
  5. . Amount of alimony is capped at the need of the receiving party or 35% of the difference between the parties net incomes (whichever is less).
***Please note that the above is only a bullet-point explanation for ease of review. The facts of your particular case may merit differential treatment from the above. In fact, the law, as written, allows for deviations depending on particular fact patterns. If you have any questions as to how the new law may affect you or your case, please contact an attorney for further discussion. We would be honored of you choose The Smith Family Law Firm, P.A. 407 790 4800.

Posted by Roy Smith on Jul 03rd 2023