Florida Alimony Laws

By Michael T. Mackhanlall, Mack Law P.A. · Reviewed August 2026

Florida rewrote its alimony statute in 2023, and much of what is still published about it describes law that no longer exists. Permanent alimony is gone for new cases, and three of the four surviving forms carry ceilings written into the statute. Here is what sections 61.08 and 61.14, Florida Statutes, say today.

What the 2023 law changed, and when it took effect

The rewrite is chapter 2023-315, Laws of Florida — committee substitute for Senate Bill 1416. The Governor approved it on 30 June 2023 and, by its own terms, the act took effect on 1 July 2023. It removed permanent alimony, moved the marriage-length categories from seven and seventeen years to ten and twenty, capped rehabilitative alimony at five years, capped both the length and amount of durational alimony, made reduction for a supportive relationship mandatory, and codified a judge-made concept of reasonable retirement.

Which cases it governs is answered in the statute. Section 61.08(11) directs the court to apply the current section “to all initial petitions for dissolution of marriage or support unconnected with dissolution of marriage pending or filed on or after July 1, 2023.” Read pending carefully: cases already on file that day were caught as well.

Permanent alimony is abolished — and what that means for existing awards

Permanent periodic alimony no longer appears among the forms a Florida court may award. Section 61.08(1)(a) now lists four: temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational. The subsection authorising permanent alimony was struck out entirely.

If you are already paying or receiving permanent alimony under an earlier judgment, that award stands: the change is prospective, and the act contains no provision converting existing permanent awards into durational ones. What changed is the exit. A permanent award remains open to modification under section 61.14 on a substantial change, a supportive relationship, or the payor’s retirement — all three sharpened in 2023 — so the reform reaches older awards through the modification statute rather than the repeal.

The four types of alimony Florida still allows

Type	Purpose	Maximum duration	Modifiable?
Temporary	Support, and money to fund the case, while the divorce is pending	Ends at final judgment	Yes — on good cause, without a substantial change
Bridge-the-gap	Legitimate, identifiable short-term needs in the move from married to single	2 years	No — not in amount or duration
Rehabilitative	Redeveloping skills or credentials, or acquiring education, training or work experience, under a written plan	5 years	Yes — on a substantial change, non-compliance, or completion of the plan
Durational	Economic assistance for a set period after a marriage of three years or longer	50%, 60% or 75% of the marriage, by category	Amount yes; length only in exceptional circumstances

Temporary alimony comes from section 61.071, which lets a party claim alimony and suit money while the case is pending. It is not a section 61.08 form and is not subject to these caps.

Bridge-the-gap alimony funds the identifiable costs of separating two households, and once set the figure cannot be touched. See bridge-the-gap alimony and how to prove a transition budget.

Rehabilitative alimony carries a requirement most people miss: section 61.08(7)(b) demands a “specific and defined rehabilitative plan” in the order, and awards fail on appeal for want of one.

Durational alimony is the workhorse and carries both ceilings below. See durational alimony and the arithmetic behind its two ceilings.

Nothing is awarded until the court makes two findings

Before any type or number is discussed, section 61.08(2)(a) requires a specific, factual determination on two questions: does the party asking have an actual need, and does the other have the ability to pay? The burden on both sits with the person seeking support, and if either answer is no the analysis stops.

Only then does the court reach the section 61.08(3) factors, which it must address in writing: the duration of the marriage; the marital standard of living and each party’s anticipated needs afterwards; age and physical, mental and emotional condition; the resources and income of each party; earning capacity, education and employability; contributions to the marriage, including homemaking, child care and building the other’s career; responsibilities for the children; and any other factor necessary for equity. One structural limit sits alongside them: under section 61.08(9) an award may not leave the payor with significantly less net income than the recipient, absent written findings of exceptional circumstances.

How Florida measures the length of a marriage

Almost every ceiling keys off this one number. Section 61.08(5) creates a rebuttable presumption that a short-term marriage lasts less than 10 years, a moderate-term marriage lasts between 10 and 20 years, and a long-term marriage lasts 20 years or longer. Length runs from the date of marriage to the date of filing — not separation, and not judgment. Those lines moved in 2023; the previous boundaries were seven and seventeen years, which is why older articles put marriages in the wrong category.

The duration cap on durational alimony

Section 61.08(8)(b) sets three ceilings. An award of durational alimony may not exceed 50 percent of the length of a short-term marriage, 60 percent of a moderate-term marriage, or 75 percent of a long-term marriage. So an eight-year marriage caps at four years of alimony, a fifteen-year marriage at nine, a twenty-four-year marriage at eighteen. No durational alimony follows a marriage of less than three years.

A court can go beyond the cap, but the route is narrow: exceptional circumstances proved by clear and convincing evidence, after applying the section 61.08(3) factors and four more — how far the recipient’s age and employability limit self-support, how far their financial resources do, whether they are disabled, and whether they care for a disabled child the parties have in common.

The amount cap: reasonable need, or 35 percent of the net-income difference

Section 61.08(8)(c) states it in a sentence: the amount of durational alimony is the recipient’s reasonable need, or an amount not to exceed 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes, whichever amount is less.

Two points of precision, because both are commonly reported wrongly. The 35 percent figure is a ceiling, not an entitlement and not a formula; where proven need is lower, need is the award. And the cap lives inside the durational subsection — it is not a general formula for bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative or temporary support. Net income must be calculated under section 61.30(2) and (3), the child-support income rules, excluding spousal support paid by court order in this action.

An example. One spouse nets $12,000 a month, the other $4,000. The difference is $8,000; 35 percent is $2,800, the ceiling. If the recipient proves a reasonable need of $2,200, the award is $2,200; if they claim $4,000, the ceiling holds it at $2,800. Every input is contestable. Model your own with our Florida alimony calculator.

Adultery, and what section 61.08 actually permits

The statute is narrower than the folklore. Section 61.08(1)(a) provides that the court “may consider the adultery of either spouse and any resulting economic impact in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded.” It is permissive, it goes to the amount, and the 2023 amendment deliberately tied adultery to its economic consequences — the earlier text spoke of adultery “and the circumstances thereof.” The version that moves a number is the financial one: marital money spent on the affair.

Changing or ending alimony after the judgment

Section 61.14 is the modification statute. Under subsection (1)(a), where the circumstances or financial ability of either party change, either may apply to increase or decrease support, and the court may make the change retroactive to the date the modification action was filed. On top of that sit the type-specific limits already noted, and both durational and bridge-the-gap awards end on the death of either party or the recipient’s remarriage.

The provision that generates the most litigation is the supportive relationship rule in section 61.14(1)(b). Since 2023 a court must reduce or terminate support on specific written findings that a supportive relationship has existed between the recipient and someone not related to them by blood or marriage. The payor must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that such a relationship exists, or existed in the 365 days before the petition was filed; if that is proved, the burden shifts to the recipient to show why support should not be cut or ended.

The court weighs the section 61.08(3) factors plus eleven more, which describe the evidence: holding out as a married couple, how long they have lived together, pooled assets, financial support flowing either way, and property acquired together. A conjugal relationship is not necessary; this is an economic test. See modifying, enforcing and defending Florida support orders.

Retirement: what a payor must show

Before 2023 this was a judge-made doctrine; it is now section 61.14(1)(c). A court may reduce or terminate support on specific written findings that the payor has reached normal retirement age as defined by the Social Security Administration, or the customary retirement age for their profession, and has taken demonstrative and measurable steps to retire or has actually retired.

The burdens run in sequence. The payor must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that retiring reduces their ability to pay; if the court accepts that, the burden shifts to the recipient. The court must then make written findings on ten factors, including the payor’s age and health, the customary retirement age in that profession, their motivation and likelihood of returning to work, and the recipient’s needs and resources. One timing rule is worth planning around: in reasonable anticipation of retirement, but not more than six months before it, the payor may file for modification, effective on their reasonable and voluntary retirement.

When income is not being earned

Both threshold findings run on income, so a spouse who is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed does not simply lower the number. Florida courts can impute income — treat a party as earning what they are capable of earning, judged on work history, qualifications and prevailing earnings in the community. See imputation of income in Florida divorce.

Tax treatment: the rule that changed in 2019

For most Florida divorces today, alimony is paid with after-tax dollars and received tax-free. Under the federal changes made by the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, the payor cannot deduct alimony or separate-maintenance payments made under a divorce or separation agreement executed after 2018, and the recipient does not include them in gross income.

What matters is when the agreement was executed, not when a payment is made. Agreements executed before 2019 keep the old treatment — deductible by the payor, taxable to the recipient — with one trap: if such an agreement is later modified and the modification expressly states that the repeal applies, the new rule takes over. Rewriting an older order without noticing that sentence can move real money.

How to avoid alimony in Florida

A fair question that deserves a straight answer. Some strategies work, some are simply the ordinary evidence of the case, and one category will make things worse.

A valid marital agreement

This is the only reliable way to answer the question in advance. Section 61.079, Florida’s Uniform Premarital Agreement Act, expressly allows parties to contract about “the establishment, modification, waiver, or elimination of spousal support.” The agreement must be in writing and signed by both parties.

What defeats one is equally specific: proof that a party did not sign voluntarily, that the agreement was the product of fraud, duress, coercion or overreaching, or that it was unconscionable when executed and the party was not given fair and reasonable disclosure of the other side’s finances. That is the recipe in reverse — real disclosure, independent counsel, and enough time before the wedding that nobody can call it a signature under pressure. Two limits: if a waiver would leave one spouse eligible for public assistance the court may order support anyway, and a waiver may not reach temporary support while the case is pending. See prenuptial and postnuptial agreements in Florida.

Defeating need or ability to pay

Not a loophole — the statute. The person asking carries the burden on both threshold findings. If they can meet their reasonable needs from their own income plus the assets they receive in equitable distribution, there is no entitlement however long the marriage lasted.

Structuring the settlement

Judges are bound by the caps; negotiating adults are not. Parties trade equity or a retirement transfer for a shorter or smaller award, agree a non-modifiable term, convert a payment stream into a lump sum, or substitute bridge-the-gap where the need is transitional. Because post-2018 alimony is not deductible, moving value into a property transfer often leaves both parties better off.

What does not work

Quitting a job or taking a convenient demotion invites imputation, and your own earnings history becomes the evidence against you. Concealing income, routing money through a business or a relative, or understating what a company you control really earns is fraud on the court. It is routinely discovered, and the consequences — an adverse credibility finding, fees awarded against you — cost far more than the alimony itself.

For how alimony fits with property division, see divorce in Florida; for shorter answers, our alimony and support question library; and for how this firm runs an alimony case, our alimony practice page.

Florida alimony laws: frequently asked questions

This page is general information about Florida law as of its last review and is not legal advice about any particular case. Citations are to sections 61.071, 61.08, 61.079, 61.14 and 61.30, Florida Statutes, and to chapter 2023-315, Laws of Florida. Outcomes depend on facts a web page cannot know.