A bill passed by the Florida Legislature and headed for the governor’s signature would make big changes to the state’s alimony laws and custody-sharing agreements

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Last week, he was heading a band of four prominent family law practitioners who are taking on Connecticut's 40-year-old alimony statute. And they're getting some unexpected backlash. The most controversial item is a mathematical formula for calculating spousal alimony.

One of my favorite people was Monmouth County Superior Court Judge Al Lehrer, who recently passed away. One of “Lehrer’s rules,” as we called them, was that the payment of alimony could not exceed the duration of the marriage. So, if you were married for 10 years, you could receive alimony for only 10 years. There was no basis for this rule except that Lehrer liked it and it seemed to work for him.

At a recent legal conference, three highly respected, experienced family-court judges were given the same fact pattern. One judge indicated that it would be a term alimony case. The second believed a combination of term and rehabilitative alimony was appropriate. The third believed it was a permanent alimony case. Few in the room were surprised at the divergence.

NORM PATTIS: Family court needs new start  Published: Wednesday, March 13, 2013

Marriage may end in divorce, but sometimes alimony lasts from the time the judge orders it all the way to the grave.As such, it is essential that the laws regulating alimony be fair and that they be kept current to reflect present-day realities. (read more)

For some ex-couples, the economy has made child support, alimony and other financial terms of divorce even harder to bear. And these fresh battles are adding urgency to an acrimonious debate over alimony reform (read more)

US News and World Report  - Taking the 'Permanent' Out of Permanent Alimony

By: Gordon E. Finley, Ph.D (Professor of Psychology Emeritus at Florida International University)
Published Date: 12/03/2012
“Permanent alimony today is not fair to men, and soon will be unfair to women when the current gender gaps favoring females in education, occupation, and income kick in and will make them the payers.” READ MORE…