TALLAHASSEE, Fla., March 29, 2012 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- America's largest alimony reform group says the state's current alimony laws are anti-family & anti-marriage. Florida is one of only a handful of states that allows permanent lifetime alimony that does not end at retirement, but only ceases upon death or remarriage of the recipient. This can have devastating consequences.
Florida Alimony Reform (FAR) represents more than 2,000 families across the State that are being crippled by Florida's alimony laws.
In Jacksonville, the Grohman family faced mounting medical bills as their child battled autism and congestive heart failure. They count on disability money to help pay for treatment and were outraged to learn that this money will actually be given to Grohman's ex-wife in the form of alimony.
The Grohmans are not alone. Many couples who wish to tie the knot are forgoing marriage because, under current Florida law, income from the "new" spouse can go toward alimony payments of the ex-spouse.
During the 2012 Legislative Session, FAR proposed an overhaul of what it calls Florida's antiquated and outdated alimony laws. "By way of personal testimony, constituent visits to Legislators, articles, and media interaction and investigation, we educated State Representatives and Senators to the need for alimony reform" says, Divorce Financial Analyst and Co-Director of Florida Alimony Reform, Alan Frisher.
He says chances for reform this year looked in encouraging, but took a turn for the worst. According to Frisher, "The Florida House of Representatives, by a convincing vote of 83-30, passed HB 549 for alimony reform. Unfortunately, reasons only known to himself, the Senate sponsor for alimony reform did not adopt the House Bill (the lead Bill), and also did not present a Senate version of the bill that allowed for any significant change from current law; therefore alimony reform did not occur in the last legislative session."
In response to a recent article authored by David Manz, Chairman of the Family Section of the Florida Bar, entitled, Preserving Alimony Laws is Good for Families and Taxpayers, Frisher had this to say, "While I may agree that, in certain States, under certain conditions, preserving alimony laws may be good for families and taxpayers, I would vehemently disagree that preserving Florida's current alimony law would be good for Florida's families and taxpayers. Current alimony law, in Florida, is harmful to many families and taxpayers, with ultimate financial benefit not going to the alimony payer, but instead to the family law Attorneys who represent their clients in court. Numerous articles have been published and horror stories have been written regarding the atrocities surrounding orders of permanent alimony. Lives have been lost, and families have been adversely affected for generations by such abusive orders."
Frisher says, "Reform is absolutely necessary from a social, as well as economic standpoint as can be verified by the substantial number of cases now in Florida that are tell tail signs of financial abusive orders and destroyed family lives. The revisions that are being asked for reflect changing social and demographic patterns, as well as the toll inflicted by a long-term economic slump. The only people that stand to win with an adversarial approach to divorce are certainly not the spouses or the children, but instead, the litigating attorneys who charge high retainers and hourly fees with the promise of being zealous advocates for their clients. What we now have with our current law is a litigious model that allows for arbitrary and unbridled discretion by a judge, and condones continued litigation without end."
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