Support is the part of a Florida divorce people lose the most sleep over, and it is the part most changed by the 2023 reform. These are the questions we field most often about alimony and child support — answered to Florida law as it stands now. They are general information, not legal advice for your situation.
For durational alimony — the form most contested cases end in — the ceiling is the lesser of the recipient’s reasonable need or 35% of the difference between the parties’ net incomes. Whichever is smaller controls, and in a great many cases it is need, not the percentage. Net income is computed under section 61.30(2) and (3), so the fight is usually about what counts as income rather than about the formula. There is also a backstop: an award may not leave the payor with significantly less net income than the recipient without written findings of exceptional circumstances. See durational alimony for worked examples.
It depends on the form. Durational alimony is unavailable after a marriage of less than three years — a bright line, not a factor. Bridge-the-gap and rehabilitative alimony have no minimum marriage length. Length is measured from the date of marriage to the date the petition is filed, which is why the filing date is a negotiating term in cases sitting near three years, or near the 10-year and 20-year category lines.
Yes. Temporary alimony and temporary child support exist precisely for the gap between filing and final judgment, and they are decided on need and ability to pay at a temporary-relief hearing. Temporary alimony is also the one form that cannot be waived in advance, even by a prenuptial agreement. Getting the temporary order right matters beyond the money: it sets a status quo that is hard to unwind later.
A support order is a court order, and Florida’s enforcement toolbox is genuinely serious: motions for contempt, income deduction orders that take support directly from wages, money judgments for arrears with interest, suspension of driver’s and professional licenses, interception of tax refunds, and in persistent cases incarceration for civil contempt. Document every missed payment and move early — arrears that are allowed to pile up get harder to collect, not easier.
The amount of durational alimony can be modified or terminated on a substantial change in circumstances under section 61.14, and an involuntary job loss is the classic example. Two cautions. The change has to be involuntary and material — a voluntary income drop invites imputation of income at your earning capacity. And the length of a durational award cannot be modified except under exceptional circumstances, so a reduction changes the payment, not the calendar. File promptly: relief generally runs from the date of filing, not the date your income fell.
Not automatically — only remarriage of the recipient, or the death of either party, terminates alimony by operation of law. But a supportive relationship under section 61.14(1)(b) is grounds to reduce or terminate support, and since 2023 it is also something a court may weigh when the award is first made. These cases turn on evidence of an economically intertwined household: shared address, joint accounts, shared expenses, holding out as a couple. Suspicion is not proof, and the investigation matters more than the theory.
A reasonable retirement is a recognised route to modification under section 61.14(1)(c), and it is also a factor a court may consider when setting the award. “Reasonable” is doing the work: courts look at your age, health, the customary retirement age in your field, whether the timing looks genuine or tactical, and what your post-retirement resources actually are. Retiring at 62 from physical work reads very differently from retiring at 55 the year after a support order.
Florida uses an income-shares model in section 61.30. Both parents’ net incomes are combined, the guideline schedule produces a total support figure for that combined income and number of children, and each parent is responsible for their share. Health insurance and work-related childcare are added in. Where each parent has at least 20% of the overnights — 73 nights a year — a gross-up calculation applies that can change the number substantially. It is a formula, but the inputs are contestable, which is where these cases are actually fought. More on child support.
On a substantial change in circumstances. The guidelines supply a usable test: a difference of at least 15% or $50 between the existing obligation and what the guidelines would now produce, whichever is greater. A change in the time-sharing actually exercised also counts — if a parent stops exercising the overnights that produced a gross-up, that is treated as a substantial change. Support also recalculates as children age out.
Generally yes. Section 61.30 defines income broadly — salary, bonuses, commissions, overtime, self-employment income net of ordinary business expenses, rental income, disability and retirement benefits, and recurring gifts. Two areas generate most of the litigation: whether overtime is genuinely recurring or a one-off, and what a self-employed parent is really taking out of the business once perquisites and personal expenses run through the books are added back. If a parent is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, income can be imputed at earning capacity.
You can agree, but the court does not have to accept it. Child support belongs to the child, not the parents, and a judge must find any deviation from the guideline amount justified, with written findings explaining the reason and the amount. Agreements that waive support outright are routinely rejected. A deviation grounded in a real allocation of expenses — who carries insurance, who pays tuition — has a far better chance than a bare waiver.
For the underlying law rather than the questions, see alimony, durational alimony, bridge-the-gap alimony, child support, and modification and enforcement. Back to the full Q&A library.
These questions and answers describe Florida law in general terms as of their last review and are not legal advice for any particular situation. Support outcomes depend on facts a page cannot know. Statutory citations are to sections 61.08, 61.14 and 61.30, Florida Statutes.