A major alimony reform bill cleared the Florida Senate on Thursday. Now, it’s up to the House to decide if permanent alimony should be abolished and if some existing alimony orders can be modified.
The bill is a lobbying triumph for an advocacy group called Floridians for Alimony Reform. It has argued that too many spouses have been ordered to pay too much for too long -- life in some cases -- after the dissolution of relatively short marriages.Overriding concerns that the bill would hurt some women with children, and upend some alimony arrangements that had been closely negotiated, the Senate voted 29 to 11 to pass it. If the House also agrees, and the governor signs the bill, the period of alimony would be limited to half the length of the marriage and end when the payer retired.