A New Alimony Law Makes Florida Even Less Safe for Women [View all]

A New Alimony Law Makes Florida Even Less Safe for Women
7/26/2023 by Suzanne Kahn
Florida is essentially urging husbands who pay alimony to closely monitor their ex-wives’ behavior—which is not only invasive, but also physically threatening.



A new Florida law, which took effect July 1, restricts the ability of women (and sometimes men) to collect alimony for the rest of their lives for marriages that ended after July 1. (Catherine McQueen / Getty Images)

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) signed a law last month ending permanent alimony in Florida. The new law has gotten some coverage for how it will hurt women’s retirement security, but shockingly little about a provision that once again makes Florida a dangerous state for women. Buried in the new law is a provision mandating that courts end or reduce alimony if the recipient is found to be or have been in a “supportive relationship” with someone outside their family in the last year. Reasonable concerns have been raised about the vagueness of the term “supportive relationship,” but more alarming is the way this provision invites ex-spouses to surveil their former partners and control their choices. This is a law meant to limit women’s autonomy.

Alimony, sometimes known as spousal support or maintenance, is awarded in a divorce when one spouse can show that they have materially depended on the other and will continue to need financial support for some period of time. Because of the gendered way in which couples typically divide labor, with women taking on more unpaid caregiving responsibilities, substantially more women than men receive alimony, with only about 3 percent of alimony awards going to men nationally. Although relatively few marriages end with alimony awards (only about 10 percent), it plays an important role in protecting women who take on the bulk of the unpaid caregiving functions in a marriage.



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Furthermore, the very fact that Florida law now makes it official policy that anyone receiving alimony can be financially destabilized by a new relationship severely limits women’s autonomy. If any vaguely defined supportive relationship, no matter how long, threatens your income, you might avoid new relationships altogether. What if your ex finds out you are seeing someone and he bought you groceries? Or they took you on a vacation? Is that a supportive relationship? Is your income about to take a major hit? Will you have to drop out of the training program you enrolled in at the end of your marriage?

Other state courts have sought to make clear that new relationships should not end alimony unless they show some sign of permanence. In defining the terms of a supportive relationship so vaguely and not requiring the relationship to be ongoing, Florida law does the exact opposite. It sends the message that in order to be eligible for any financial support after marriage—whether that is support in service of eventual independence or compensation for years spent supporting the other spouses’ career—women must choose to stay single. And, it gives their exes permission to monitor their behavior. It’s not surprising that a governor who has been gleefully taking away women’s autonomy would sign this law. Women continue to have fewer and fewer choices in Florida.

https://msmagazine.com/2023/07/26/alimony-florida-women/