Alimony There are 6 types of alimony in Florida: permanent alimony, durational alimony, rehabilitative alimony, bridge-the-gap alimony, temporary alimony and lump sum alimony. Each type of alimony serves a different purpose.  It is important to understand that many factors influence whether alimony will be awarded by the Court. The information contained herein should be considered only as general information and not legal advise contact a Family law attorney should you have questions regarding your specific  case.

Alimony in Florida is one of the more unpredictable areas of family law. Unlike child support, there is not a guarantee of alimony, nor a set amount if alimony is granted by the court.

How is alimony calculated? While child support obligations are clearly defined, the rules surrounding alimony aren't as clear. There are no set alimony guidelines on a national, state or even local level. A judge decides on whether alimony should be awarded and how much on a case-by-case basis. However, a judge looks at several factors in order to determine a fair alimony order.

Needs Of A Spouse: If one party won't be able to meet all the financial needs, the judge may award alimony. This usually occurs when there is a large gap in income between the two parties.

Length Of Marriage: There are several states where the length of the marriage contributes to a judge's decision. A few states have a timeframe for alimony awards Florida has  new guidelines see Florida statues for a complete detailing

Ability To Pay: The judge will also consider the ability to pay for the paying party.

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Calculations For Alimony
Because alimony is generally up to the judge's discretion, it's difficult to put out a catch-all formula. With child support, incomes and number of children are plugged in, and a monthly amount for child support results. Alimony cannot be calculated as neatly. Calculation of alimony payments is done by examining incomes and available assets. You can have the same set of facts and get 10 different decisions in 10 different courts. Some states have alimony guidelines - providing a specific alimony calculator, but not Florida. Florida alimony statutes require the judge to consider a list of factors when deciding the issue of alimony. 

In mediation we will look at these same set of  factors : 

(a) The standard of living established during the marriage.

(b) The duration of the marriage.

(c) The age and the physical and emotional condition of each party.

(d) The financial resources of each party, including the nonmarital and the marital assets and liabilities distributed to each.

(e) The earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of the parties and, when applicable, the time necessary for either party to acquire sufficient education or training to enable such party to find appropriate employment.

(f) The contribution of each party to the marriage, including, but not limited to, services rendered in homemaking, child care, education, and career building of the other party.

(g) The responsibilities each party will have with regard to any minor children they have in common.

(h) The tax treatment and consequences to both parties of any alimony award, including the designation of all or a portion of the payment as a nontaxable, nondeductible payment.

(i) All sources of income available to either party, including income available to either party through investments of any asset held by that party.

(j) Any other factor necessary to do equity and justice between the parties.

The mediation process in determining Alimony :

Determining spousal support arrangements ("alimony"  and "spousal maintenance" in many states' and in Florida ) is widely perceived as one of the most challenging of issues in divorce.

Many people underestimate mediation's power in spousal support cases, because of the mistaken belief that a collaborative approach will be ineffective in resolving what may be a complex  issue.

In fact, however, mediation offers powerful opportunities to design workable spousal support arrangements for divorcing couples. Why? Mediation allows participants to arrive at common assumptions, consider consistent data, and then focus their problem solving on the real issue of each party's available after-divorce cash flow. Since there is no set of actual guidlines that the court goes by and no one can predict what a judge will order this is a more real approch to the problem.

Mediation's Ability to Provide Consistent Data

In contrast, an accomplished family or divorce mediator, or a single neutral expert used in mediation, employs a cooperative approach with consistent approaches and common assumptions - to reach an understanding of the parties' likely after-divorce financial circumstances.

For example, in our office at  Helping Hands Mediation  and with both parties participating, with the help of  standardized software like  (FinPlan's ) or other programs or  materials are used to estimate the impact of support payments on  each of the parties . Our clients then consider the resulting cash flow, often in several different payment scenarios with their underlying assumptions (again, assumptions the parties have collaboratively agreed to consider).
Mediation's Focus On the Real Issue of Available Cash Flow

With agreed common assumptions, and with the benefit of consistently created data, divorce mediation focuses the participants squarely on what is a fair allocation of net available cash flow, i.e.: how much available cash should each party have, to meet his or her real world budget needs - after divorce, after maintenance and child support, and after taxes.

With an understanding of their after-divorce available cash flow, divorcing parties in mediation are freed of their "fear of the unknown." Spousal maintenance ("alimony") planning discussions then shift from "abstract bartering" to an informed discussion of what cash flow appears fair for each of them, given their often different household circumstances.

Conclusion

Fundamentally, the work of  Mediators  in divorce maintenance or alimony cases is to assist their clients to develop a reasonable economic plan for their separate family's futures. Managed well, the mediation process makes it substantially easier - not more difficult - for parties to discuss and resolve spousal maintenance and alimony issues in a durable, equitable fashion.

Ultimately, mediation's power in resolving spousal maintenance and alimony cases issues lies in its ability to keep the discussion real: with the focus on the bottom line of each party's available after-divorce cash flow.

 To see  Florida Statutes follow the Alimony Link

Still have questions? Please contact us anytime! We look forward to hearing from you.

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