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2011 Brings New Laws For Florida’s Divorced Residents
January 1, 2011
New laws expanding protection for children at risk of being abducted by a parent and recalculating how alimony is paid go into effect January 1.
The first bill (HB 787), sponsored by Rep. Daryl Rouson, D-St. Petersburg, adds new protective measures to those a judge can use to prevent feuding parents from taking children out of state or out of the country if there is reason to believe they won’t bring them back. Included in the new tools would be the ability to pull a child’s passport, require a bond when traveling, or prevent the parent from taking the child to countries where extradition would be difficult or impossible.
The other measure (HB 907) that goes into effect Saturday recalculates how alimony and support payments are made by changing the formulas used to determine custody, percentage of care and other factors that make up the amount owed by a non-custodial parent. The law, sponsored by Rep. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, also bolsters penalties for non-custodial parents who don’t cooperate.
Among enhanced sanctions, the law raises the minimum amount owed if the parent is non-responsive. The bill specifically defines different types of support payments and when they should be applied. The law also adds statutory definitions dealing with the duration of a marriage, with certain types of alimony available only to ex-spouses of long-term relationships.
Under the new law, which affects cases pending after July 1, 2010, the judge’s first decision is whether one party actually needs alimony and if the other party has ability to pay. Once that’s settled, the judge then determines how long the marriage lasted and what type of alimony is appropriate.
Comments
16 Responses to “2011 Brings New Laws For Florida’s Divorced Residents”
why is that a woman can waste her large inheritance, walk out of the marriage and home, then come back and received alimony. this is like winning the lottery in florida. only she receives it in monthly payments until either she dies or i do. talk about being fair and just. not in this state
we just have to make the world as good as we can or at least enjoy griping about the imperfections.
I should have listened when everybody tried to warn me about him although I must say that I never in a million years would have thought he would do something like this. I accept my responsibility in this situation, but that doesn’t mean that our children should suffer. They are innocent and should not have to endure hardship because he has a “new life”.
In a perfect world, things like this wouldn’t happen. These laws wouldn’t be needed because families would be together and in a BETTER world, the parents would WANT to see their kids taken care of and we still wouldn’t need these laws. Alas, we do not have either.
he DOES sound like a winner
My husband decided he wanted to go play house with another woman. He has abandoned his own children and is angry because the law requires him to support his OWN kids and not hers. He thinks that since he is supporting HER children, he shouldn’t have to support ours.
These laws are in place for situations just such as this. My kids should NOT be punished because daddy wants to play house with someone else. They should NOT suffer because he abandoned them.
There’s a very simple solution to this problem: don’t MAKE the kids if you don’t intend to stick around and raise them, support them, etc. Since so any don’t want to care for the children they brought into this world, we must have laws that protect the innocent kids, since their fathers (and sometimes mothers too) obviously won’t.
I receive child support for our children. He has moved on and is living with another woman who has kids and keeps having more, by other men. He fusses because he has to pay child support for our children. He thinks that because he lives with her and is supporting HER kids, he shouldn’t have to support OUR kids. He is furious because the law requires him to support the children we had together, during the course of our marriage.
Without these laws, people like me would just be out of luck. Too many people think that it’s ok to just walk out on a marriage and kids and act as if it never happened. Well, it’s NOT ok. These kids still have to be fed, clothed, taken to the doctor, etc. For the man to just walk off and leave all the responsibilities to the mother is insane! He’s off to a carefree life while the mom is stuck with EVERYTHING!! She takes on the roles of TWO people, instead of one and anybody who thinks she doesn’t deserve to be compensated for that (and that her kids should suffer because daddy wants to go play house with someone else) is about as stupid as the father who did that to his wife and children.
different states have different laws because they have different legislators with different priorities. This is a good thing.
How come Fl has all these laws…what about Al why do they have such crappy laws when it comes to child support…Can anyone enlighten me please
Okay, why isn’t there a law where the person receiving alimony doesn’t have to pay taxes as income? It is a court order! This sucks for sure. Why should the one receiving alimony is the one to be punished?
any evidence the new laws aren’t better than the old ones which you seem to dislike?
I am in agreement with CandysVinceGill – spouses who are paying child support should get a tax break. Most of the time it takes half the male spouse’s wages to pay child support and that doesn’t leave him enough to pay his own rent, utilities and a way to get to work to make these payments. Men are not the only ones that does not want a marriage to work. Oft times a woman is more to blame than the man; she’s either got her eye on another man, is too jealous to let the man out of the house to work and too lazy to get an education herself or work to support those children. Let’s look at the man’ point of view. If there is a squabble, the law takes the woman’s side and the man might as well hang it up because “his side” is not even looked at. Out legislature is made up of attorneys who are looking for more business so they dream up these laws to make that happen. Let’s wake up and quit electing them. Elect regular citizens not these professionals.
REGARDING:
“these laws were dreamed up by the Florida Bar, who are a private organization, and provide services to the Florida State Supreme Court, ”
Anybody can propose legislation for a legislator to bring before the legislative body to consider making into law. Nothing wrong with that. Nothing wrong with providing services to the Supreme Court; the power company does, the phone company does, assorted vendors do.
The real question is one of whether or not the proposals are good ones or not and that is why we elected senators and representatives. They are to deliberate and vote according to their decisions.
David for good laws
Candy..Work out the deduction/dependent agreement at the time of the child support agreement. There are several ways to do it.
WILL THE JUDGES REALLY GO BY THE NEW LAW GOING IN EFFECT OR WILL THEY CONTINUE DOING WHAT PLEASES THE FLORIDA BAR AND CONINTUE IN THEIR FORMER PRACTICES? WHEN WILL PERMANENT ALIMOMY BE ABOLISHED? WHEN CAN A MAN RETIRE WHO CAN NO LONGER WORK DUE TO AGE AND INABILITY TO PERFORM HIS FORMER JOB WHO IS NOT 73 YEAR OLD? WHEN WILL MODIFICATION REALLY BE MODIFICATION AND NOT JOB AN EXERCISE IN FUTILITY?
This is total non-sense by a corrupt Florida Bar and more corrupt Florida State Supreme Court who have ties that violate all appropriate government/vendor ethical relations. In other words, these laws were dreamed up by the Florida Bar, who are a private organization, and provide services to the Florida State Supreme Court, a branch of the state government, where the State Supreme Court failed to offer the opportunity that the Bar has enjoyed for decades in the form of open bids.
These morons couldn’t even prosecute pedophile school teachers or drug importers so they go after non-custodial parents and their children.
i am all for the ex spouses getting the child support they need, which is not taxed to them, but the spouse who pays does not get a tax break that they can really use just to live and not go further in debt, just an idea to help those that are being responsible.