Florida’s 2023 Alimony Reform — What Actually Changed
Florida significantly rewrote its alimony law in 2023, and a lot of outdated information about “permanent alimony” is still floating around. Here is a plain-language summary of what is different.
Permanent Alimony Is Gone
For cases decided under the current law, permanent (lifetime) alimony is no longer an available form of support. That is the headline change, and it is the one most people have heard about — often without the rest of the picture.
What Replaced It
Florida’s current framework recognizes three forms of alimony:
- Bridge-the-gap alimony — short-term support to help a spouse transition from married to single life.
- Rehabilitative alimony — support tied to a specific plan for a spouse to become self-supporting, such as education or job training.
- Durational alimony — support for a set period, generally tied to the length of the marriage, with limits on both amount and duration.
It’s Not Retroactive
If your divorce was finalized before the law changed, your existing alimony order isn’t automatically rewritten by the new statute. The current framework applies going forward, and to modification requests filed after the law took effect — which is itself a legal question specific to your situation.
Why This Matters for Later-Life Divorce
Retirement is now an explicit factor courts and parties consider when structuring or later modifying support — a support term that anticipates a spouse’s retirement date, a DROP exit, or Medicare eligibility is more aligned with current practice than an open-ended, indefinite arrangement.
In Mediation
Understanding which framework applies to your situation is a threshold question for your attorney. Mediation is where the parties work out the actual terms — the amount, the duration, the triggers — once that legal framework is clear.
This article is general information, not legal advice. What form of alimony, if any, applies to your situation is a legal question for your attorney — Sun State Mediator does not determine alimony eligibility or amount.
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