Florida has no alimony formula. What it has, since 1 July 2023, is a set of hard statutory limits — on how long an award can last and how large it can be. This estimator works out those limits for your marriage, shows every step of the arithmetic, and tells you plainly which parts a judge still decides.
Any tool that hands you a single confident alimony figure is guessing. Within the statutory ceilings the award is discretionary: it turns on need, ability to pay, and the factors in section 61.08(3), Florida Statutes. So what follows is a statutory-limits calculator, not a fortune teller — which is both more honest and, in practice, far more useful when you are trying to work out the shape of a negotiation.
Work out your statutory limits
Everything runs in your browser. Nothing you type is sent anywhere, stored, or seen by us.
Your results, and the working behind them, will appear here.
Read this before you rely on any number above. Florida has no alimony formula and no alimony guidelines. This tool shows the statutory maximums in § 61.08 and an illustrative band beneath them. It does not predict what a judge will order. Actual awards are discretionary and depend on written findings the court makes about need, ability to pay and the § 61.08(3) factors — findings a web page cannot make. Awards commonly land well below the cap, and a court can lawfully award nothing at all. This is general information about Florida law, not legal advice, and using it does not create an attorney-client relationship.
Why Florida has no alimony formula
Child support in Florida is arithmetic: put both parents’ net incomes and the overnight count into the § 61.30 guidelines schedule and a presumptive number comes out, which is what our Florida child support calculator does. Alimony has never worked that way, and the 2023 reform did not change it.
Section 61.08(2)(a) requires the court to make a specific, factual determination that the party asking for alimony has an actual need and that the other has the ability to pay. The burden on both sits with the person asking. Only then does the court choose a form and an amount, weighing the eight factors in § 61.08(3) and making written findings. There is no schedule and no multiplier. Two couples with identical incomes and identical marriage lengths can leave the same courthouse with materially different orders, and both can be affirmed on appeal.
What the Legislature did in 2023 was fence in that discretion — capping how long durational alimony can run, capping the amount, and abolishing permanent alimony. That is why a limits calculator is the honest kind: the ceilings are law, the number underneath them is judgment.
What chapter 2023-315 actually changed
Chapter 2023-315, Laws of Florida — committee substitute for Senate Bill 1416 — was approved on 30 June 2023 and took effect on 1 July 2023. By § 61.08(11) it applies to every initial petition for dissolution, or for support unconnected with dissolution, pending or filed on or after that date — so a case filed earlier but still open is governed by the new law.
- Permanent alimony was abolished. The old subsection authorising it was struck out. It is no longer a form a Florida court can award.
- The marriage-length brackets moved from 7 and 17 years to 10 and 20.
- Durational alimony got a hard duration cap set as a percentage of the marriage — 50, 60 or 75 percent by bracket.
- Durational alimony got a hard amount cap — the lesser of proven need or 35 percent of the difference between the parties’ net incomes.
- Rehabilitative alimony was capped at 5 years, having previously had no statutory ceiling.
- Adultery was written into § 61.08(1)(a): the court may consider it, and any resulting economic impact, in setting the amount.
- Retirement and supportive relationships were rewritten into § 61.14 with express burdens of proof.
The four surviving types of Florida alimony
Section 61.08(1)(a) lists exactly four forms: temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational. Under § 61.08(1)(b) a court may award a combination, and must make written findings explaining the type and the length.
| Type | Purpose | Maximum duration | Modifiable? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporary§ 61.071 | Support while the case is pending, before final judgment. | Until the final judgment is entered. | Yes — the court can revisit it at any point before final judgment. |
| Bridge-the-gap§ 61.08(6) | Short-term, identifiable transitional needs in moving from married to single. | 2 years. No extension available. | No — not modifiable in amount or duration. Ends on either party’s death or the recipient’s remarriage. |
| Rehabilitative§ 61.08(7) | Funding a specific, defined plan to redevelop skills or acquire education, training or work experience. | 5 years. A written rehabilitative plan must form part of the order. | Yes — under § 61.14 on a substantial change, on non-compliance with the plan, or on its completion. |
| Durational§ 61.08(8) | Economic assistance for a set period after the marriage ends. | 50% of a short-term marriage, 60% of a moderate-term marriage, 75% of a long-term marriage. Unavailable if the marriage lasted under 3 years. | Amount: yes, on a substantial change under § 61.14. Length: only in exceptional circumstances. |
| Permanentrepealed | Abolished by chapter 2023-315. | Not available for petitions pending or filed on or after 1 July 2023. | Pre-existing permanent awards survive and remain modifiable under § 61.14. |
Two points people routinely miss. The 35 percent amount cap in § 61.08(8)(c) is written, by its terms, for durational alimony — it does not appear in the bridge-the-gap or rehabilitative subsections, nor in § 61.071 for temporary support. And whatever the form, § 61.08(9) says an award may not leave the payor with significantly less net income than the recipient absent written findings of exceptional circumstances. Read with the 35 percent cap, that rule almost never bites on durational alimony alone: 35 percent of the net-income gap always sits below the halfway point at which the two net incomes would equalise.
How the length of the marriage is measured
Section 61.08(5) is precise: the length of a marriage is the period from the date of marriage until the date of filing of an action for dissolution. Not the date you separated. Not the final hearing. A long separation before filing still counts as married time.
That figure does two jobs. It sets the bracket — short-term under 10 years, moderate-term from 10 up to 20, long-term at 20 or more — and it is the base the percentage is applied to. A 19-year-11-month marriage is moderate-term: 60 percent of 239 months, or 11 years 11 months. One more month before filing makes it long-term: 75 percent of 240 months, or 15 years. That single month is worth more than three years of alimony, which is why filing dates are a strategic decision rather than an administrative one. See durational alimony for how this plays out. Note too that the brackets are rebuttable presumptions, so a party can argue on the evidence for different treatment.
What “net income” means for the 35 percent cap
This is where most online estimators quietly go wrong. Section 61.08(8)(c) uses neither gross income nor take-home pay as your payslip reports it. It says net income is calculated in conformity with § 61.30(2) and (3) — the child support definitions.
Gross income under § 61.30(2) is broad: wages, bonuses, commissions, overtime and tips; business and rental income net of ordinary and necessary expenses; disability and workers’ compensation; unemployment compensation; pensions, annuities and social security; and interest, dividends and trust income. The deductions allowed by § 61.30(3) are a closed list: income tax actually incurred at the correct filing status, FICA or self-employment tax, mandatory union dues, mandatory retirement payments, health-insurance premiums, court-ordered support for other children actually paid, and court-ordered spousal support from a previous marriage. Your mortgage, car payment, credit cards and voluntary retirement savings are not deductions.
One refinement specific to alimony: § 61.08(8)(c) excludes spousal support paid under a court order in the action between these parties, so a payor cannot use a temporary alimony payment in the same case to shrink the net-income gap and shrink the permitted award. And where a spouse is voluntarily unemployed or underemployed, § 61.30(2)(b) requires income to be imputed from recent work history, occupational qualifications and prevailing local earnings — see imputation of income.
The § 61.08(3) factors, in plain language
Once need and ability to pay are established, these are the eight things the court weighs and must make written findings about:
- How long you were married.
- The standard of living during the marriage, and what each of you will realistically need afterwards.
- Age and physical, mental and emotional condition, including any disability and whether it is temporary or permanent.
- The resources and income of each of you, including income thrown off by both marital and non-marital assets.
- Earning capacity, education, vocational skills and employability — including how long becoming self-supporting would take.
- What each of you contributed to the marriage, expressly including homemaking, childcare, education and building the other spouse’s career.
- Responsibilities for the children, with special weight given to caring for a child with a disability.
- Any other factor necessary for equity and justice, identified specifically in writing — which may include a supportive relationship under § 61.14(1)(b) or a reasonable retirement under § 61.14(1)(c).
Separately, § 61.08(1)(a) permits the court to consider adultery by either spouse and any resulting economic impact when setting the amount. In practice Florida judges are far more interested in the economic impact — marital funds spent on an affair — than in the conduct.
Modification, retirement and supportive relationships
Section 61.14 governs what happens afterwards. A change in circumstances or in either party’s financial ability lets either of you ask the court to increase, decrease or confirm the award. Bridge-the-gap alimony is the exception: it is not modifiable at all.
Under § 61.14(1)(b) the court must reduce or terminate alimony on written findings that a supportive relationship has existed between the recipient and someone not related to them. The obligor proves it by a preponderance of the evidence and can reach back 365 days before the petition; once proved, the burden shifts to the recipient. The statute lists eleven factors — holding out as a couple, length of cohabitation, pooled finances, mutual support — and says expressly that a conjugal relationship is not required.
Section 61.14(1)(c) lets the court reduce or terminate alimony on findings that the payor has reached normal Social Security retirement age or the customary retirement age for their profession and has taken demonstrable steps to retire. The payor may file up to six months before retiring. If you are defending a petition rather than bringing one, see defending against a modification petition.
The tax point almost every alimony calculator ignores
Before 2019, alimony was deductible by the payor and taxable to the recipient, shifting income from a higher bracket to a lower one. That tax saving effectively subsidised the award, which is why older Florida orders often look generous.
Section 11051 of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act ended that. Per IRS Topic no. 452, for a divorce or separation agreement executed after 31 December 2018, alimony is not deductible by the payor and not included in the recipient’s gross income. The same applies to a pre-2019 agreement later modified, where the modification expressly says the repeal applies.
So $3,000 a month now costs the payor the full $3,000 in after-tax dollars, where in 2017 a payor in the 32 percent bracket bore a real cost nearer $2,040. Florida has no state income tax, so there is no state-level offset. Any figure this or any other calculator produces is the same number of dollars to both sides — budget on the gross amount, not a deducted one.
What this calculator cannot tell you
It cannot tell you whether a court will find need, or ability to pay, at all — and if either fails the answer is zero regardless of the arithmetic. It cannot weigh the § 61.08(3) factors. It knows nothing of your non-marital assets, the equitable distribution running alongside the alimony question, a supportive relationship, imputed income, a prenuptial agreement, or the credibility of a financial affidavit. Nor can it value the trade most cases settle on, where alimony is exchanged against the house or the retirement accounts. For that, talk to an Orlando alimony lawyer; see also our guide to Florida alimony laws and to bridge-the-gap alimony.
Get a real read on your numbers
A statutory ceiling is a starting point, not an answer. Michael T. Mackhanlall has practised Florida family law for over 15 years and can tell you, on your actual facts, where in the range a case like yours is likely to land.
Florida alimony calculator: FAQs
No, and any tool that claims to is misleading you. Florida has no alimony formula and no alimony guidelines. Chapter 2023-315 imposed maximums on duration and on amount, but within those limits the award is discretionary and turns on the court's written findings about need, ability to pay and the eight factors in section 61.08(3). This page calculates the statutory ceilings that apply to your marriage and shows an illustrative band beneath them. It does not predict what a judge will order.
In two stages. First the court decides whether the party asking has an actual need and whether the other has the ability to pay. The burden on both questions is on the person asking, and if either fails the award is nothing. Only then does the court pick a form and an amount, weighing the section 61.08(3) factors and making written findings. For durational alimony the amount may not exceed the lesser of proven need or 35 percent of the difference between the parties' net incomes, with net income calculated under section 61.30(2) and (3).
There is no minimum for bridge-the-gap or rehabilitative alimony; both are available after a marriage of any length. Durational alimony is different, because section 61.08(8)(a) prohibits it following a marriage lasting less than 3 years. Marriage length runs from the date of marriage to the date the petition for dissolution is filed, not the date you separated.
Bridge-the-gap alimony is capped at 2 years and rehabilitative alimony at 5 years. Durational alimony may not exceed 50 percent of the length of a short-term marriage (under 10 years), 60 percent of a moderate-term marriage (10 up to 20 years), or 75 percent of a long-term marriage (20 years or more). A court can extend the durational term beyond those caps only on clear and convincing evidence of exceptional circumstances.
No. Chapter 2023-315 struck out the subsection that authorised permanent alimony, effective 1 July 2023, and section 61.08(11) applies the rewritten statute to every initial petition pending or filed on or after that date. Permanent alimony awarded under an order entered before the change remains in force and remains modifiable under section 61.14.
For durational alimony, the lesser of the recipient's reasonable need or 35 percent of the difference between the parties' net monthly incomes, under section 61.08(8)(c). Separately, section 61.08(9) provides that no award may leave the payor with significantly less net income than the recipient without written findings of exceptional circumstances. Note that the 35 percent cap is written for durational alimony specifically and does not appear in the bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative or temporary alimony provisions.
For any divorce or separation agreement executed after 31 December 2018, no. Under the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act the payor cannot deduct the payments and the recipient does not include them in gross income. Agreements executed before 2019 keep the old treatment unless a later modification expressly states that the repeal applies. Florida has no state income tax, so there is no state-level offset either way.
Usually. Under section 61.14 either party can seek an increase, decrease or termination on a substantial change in circumstances. The court must reduce or terminate an award on written findings that the recipient is in a supportive relationship, and may do so where the payor has reached normal retirement age and has taken demonstrable steps to retire. Bridge-the-gap alimony is the exception, as it cannot be modified in amount or duration. The length of a durational award can be changed only in exceptional circumstances.
Last reviewed August 2026 against the current text of sections 61.071, 61.08, 61.14 and 61.30, Florida Statutes, and chapter 2023-315, Laws of Florida. This page is general information about Florida law and is not legal advice; alimony outcomes depend on findings a web page cannot make. Reading it does not create an attorney-client relationship.