Hello and welcome to 60 Seconds with Sergio. I’m your host, Sergio Cabanas, Attorney-at-Law here in Florida. Thank you for joining me today.
Today’s question is: “Sergio, I’ve heard there is many different types of alimony and I don’t quite know how all of this works and what applies in my case. Can you please give us some guidance as to how alimony works in the state of Florida?”
Well, that’s a common question and in a nutshell, in the most basic terms there’s 4 types of alimony. I’ll go through them now.
The first one is called temporary spousal support or temporary alimony.
This is a type of alimony that a judge may award while the parties are separated, but the divorce has not yet been finalized. The judge may award this temporary alimony to help a dependent spouse or the spouse that has the least amount of money maintain certain living expenses until a final decision can be made in their case and the divorce is finalized.
The second type of alimony is usually referred to as rehabilitative alimony.\
Now, there is some controversy as to the term but it’s still being used today to describe the type of alimony that’s being paid to the spouse that needs to undergo a certain change, and needs that financial support in order to complete that change, in order to become employable and/or self-sufficient.
For example, let’s suppose we have a case where there’s a less pecunious spouse that is in need of completing certain educational studies. Or obtaining job experience. Or simply getting job training. He or she may be entitled to financial support from the other spouse until they are able to complete that training.
Now, one other thing we should keep in mind is that the court will sometimes award this type of alimony to spouses that are staying home caring for children. In which case the court may award this financial support to that stay-at-home spouse until the small children reach the age where they can go to school and daycare won’t be necessary from that point on.
This brings us to the third type of alimony, which is sometimes referred to as reimbursement alimony.
As the name implies, it often is awarded to reimburse one spouse for expenses that that spouse incurred for the benefit of the other’s career. We see this in cases, for example, where one spouse is maintaining the standard of living or helping pay tuition for the other spouse, while he or she completes their studies and then, once that spouse completes their professional education, then there’s a divorce that takes place shortly thereafter.Well, in that case, the judge may award that spouse who incurred all the expenses to be reimbursed by the other spouse.
This brings us to the forth and final type of alimony which is permanent alimony or permanent periodic alimony.
As the name implies, this is a type of alimony where the court basically imposes a legal obligation on the spouse that has the financial ability to pay, to pay the other spouse that financial support on a permanent basis until 1 of 3 circumstances occur.
One of them is when the spouse that’s paying the spouse support dies. Secondly, the person that’s receiving the alimony dies. Or, and the third circumstance is the person receiving the alimony actually remarries.
And, under those circumstances, the permanent alimony ceases and is terminated.
Another important point to keep in mind is that all this alimony could be paid in a lump-sum, which is called lump-sum alimony. Or it can be made in periodic payments. Depending on the circumstances. So, all of this could be negotiated or a court could award it in any given divorce case.
There is one final message I want to leave you with, with regard to alimony. And that is, that in most cases, it is possible to increase or decrease and in certain cases eliminate alimony, depending on whether there’s been a substantial change of circumstances.
I hope this short video has provided you some guidance over a very important and complicated area of the law. Remember, this is not a substitute for an actual consultation with an attorney, who’s knowledgeable and experienced with divorce laws.
Thank you again for joining me, and, as always, stay informed, so you can stay strong.