Alimony in Florida

Does Florida have an alimony formula?

No formula. There is a ceiling on the amount.

Florida has no formula that produces a number, but since 2023 it has two hard numeric constraints on the outcome. The first caps the amount of durational alimony, s. 61.08(8)(c), verbatim and in full: 'The amount of durational alimony is the amount determined to be the obligee's reasonable need, or an amount not to exceed 35 percent of the difference between the parties' net incomes, whichever amount is less. Net income shall be calculated in conformity with s. 61.30(2) and (3), excluding spousal support paid pursuant to a court order in the action between the parties.' The second constrains any form of alimony, s. 61.08(9), verbatim and in full: 'The award of alimony may not leave the payor with significantly less net income than the net income of the recipient unless there are written findings of exceptional circumstances.' Both are cited to the statute's own definition of net income at s. 61.30(2) and (3), the child support section, so Florida's alimony cap runs on the child support definition of income. Source: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html

It tells you the most a court may order. It does not tell you what a court will order.

Use the state’s own words

Florida calls it 'Alimony'. Fla. Stat. s. 61.08 is captioned 'Alimony' and s. 61.14 'Enforcement and modification of support, maintenance, or alimony agreements or orders'. The statute uses the triple 'support, maintenance, or alimony' throughout ss. 61.08(2) and 61.14, treating the three as one subject. The parties are the 'obligor' and the 'obligee'.. Using the state’s own term matters when you are searching for forms or reading an order — the words are not interchangeable across state lines, and some of them mean different things in different places. Permanent alimony was abolished by ch. 2023-315, applicable to petitions pending or filed on or after 1 July 2023.

What the law actually says

The power the court has

What the judge has to weigh

Fla. Stat. s. 61.08 (alimony; forms, factors, durational limits, amount cap); Fla. Stat. s. 61.14 (enforcement and modification; supportive relationship; retirement). Both in their present form by s. 1 and s. 3 of ch. 2023-315, Laws of Florida (CS for SB 1416). — the factorsFla. Stat. s. 61.08(3), eight factors, verbatim, with the sentence that introduces them: 'If the court finds that the party seeking support, maintenance, or alimony has a need for it and that the other party has the ability to pay support, maintenance, or alimony, then in determining the proper form or forms of support, maintenance, or alimony under subsections (5)-(8), or a deviation therefrom, the court shall consider all of the following relevant factors, including, but not limited to: (a) The duration of the marriage. (b) The standard of living established during the marriage and the anticipated needs and necessities of life for each party after the entry of the final judgment. (c) The age, physical, mental, and emotional condition of each party, including whether either party is physically or mentally disabled and the resulting impact on either the obligee's ability to provide for his or her own needs or the obligor's ability to pay alimony and whether such conditions are expected to be temporary or permanent. (d) The resources and income of each party, including the income generated from both nonmarital and marital assets. (e) The earning capacities, educational levels, vocational skills, and employability of the parties, including the ability of either party to obtain the necessary skills or education to become self-supporting or to contribute to his or her self-support prior to the termination of the support, maintenance, or alimony award. (f) The contribution of each party to the marriage, including, but not limited to, services rendered in homemaking, child care, education, and career building of the other party. (g) The responsibilities each party will have with regard to any minor children whom the parties have in common, with special consideration given to the need to care for a child with a mental or physical disability. (h) Any other factor necessary for equity and justice between the parties, which shall be specifically identified in the written findings of fact. This may include a finding of a supportive relationship as provided for in s. 61.14(1)(b) or a reasonable retirement as provided for in s. 61.14(1)(c)1.' Written findings are mandatory, s. 61.08(1)(b): 'The court shall make written findings of fact regarding the basis for awarding a form or any combination of forms of alimony, including the type of alimony and the length of time for which the alimony is awarded.' Source: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html

How long it lasts

Duration

Three marriage-length classes by rebuttable presumption, then a percentage ceiling on each. Fla. Stat. s. 61.08(5), verbatim and in full: 'For purposes of determining alimony, there is a rebuttable presumption that a short-term marriage is a marriage having a duration of less than 10 years, a moderate-term marriage is a marriage having a duration between 10 and 20 years, and a long-term marriage is a marriage having a duration of 20 years or longer. The length of a marriage is the period of time from the date of marriage until the date of filing of an action for dissolution of marriage.' Section 61.08(8)(a)-(b), verbatim in relevant part: 'Durational alimony may be awarded to provide a party with economic assistance for a set period of time. An award of durational alimony terminates upon the death of either party or upon the remarriage of the obligee. The amount of an award of durational alimony may be modified or terminated based upon a substantial change in circumstances in accordance with s. 61.14. Durational alimony may not be awarded following a marriage lasting less than 3 years. The length of an award of durational alimony may not be modified except under exceptional circumstances and may not exceed the length of the marriage except as set forth in this subsection. (b) An award of durational alimony may not exceed 50 percent of the length of a short-term marriage, 60 percent of the length of a moderate-term marriage, or 75 percent of the length of a long-term marriage.' The other two post-judgment forms carry their own ceilings: bridge-the-gap 'may not exceed 2 years' (s. 61.08(6)); rehabilitative 'may not exceed 5 years' (s. 61.08(7)(c)) and requires 'a specific and defined rehabilitative plan included as a part of any order awarding rehabilitative alimony' (s. 61.08(7)(b)). Durational alimony can be extended past the percentage ceiling only 'by a showing of clear and convincing evidence' and on four further enumerated factors listed at s. 61.08(8)(b)1.-4. Source: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html

Does behavior matter?

Marital misconduct

Adultery, and only through its money consequence. Fla. Stat. s. 61.08(1)(a), third sentence, verbatim and in full: 'The court may consider the adultery of either spouse and any resulting economic impact in determining the amount of alimony, if any, to be awarded.' Note three limits in one sentence: the verb is 'may', the noun is 'adultery' alone, and what is considered is the adultery 'and any resulting economic impact'. No other form of marital misconduct is named anywhere in s. 61.08, and none of the eight factors at s. 61.08(3) is a conduct factor. This sentence was added by s. 1 of ch. 2023-315; the act's own title describes it as 'authorizing the court to consider the adultery of either spouse and any resulting economic impact in determining the amount of alimony awarded.' Sources: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html and http://laws.flrules.org/2023/315

When it ends, and when it can change

What brings it to an end

Divergence flag: Florida has no general termination clause. Section 61.08 does not contain a sentence saying that alimony terminates on death or remarriage. Instead the rule is written into two of the four forms and omitted from the other two. Bridge-the-gap, s. 61.08(6), verbatim: 'An award of bridge-the-gap alimony terminates upon the death of either party or upon the remarriage of the obligee. An award of bridge-the-gap alimony is not modifiable in amount or duration.' Durational, s. 61.08(8)(a), verbatim: 'An award of durational alimony terminates upon the death of either party or upon the remarriage of the obligee.' Rehabilitative alimony (s. 61.08(7)) and temporary alimony contain no death-or-remarriage sentence at all. Section 61.14 was read in full on 2026-08-23 and contains no death or remarriage provision either. What s. 61.14 does supply is two other ways out. A supportive relationship, s. 61.14(1)(b)1., verbatim: 'The court must reduce or terminate an award of support, maintenance, or alimony upon specific written findings by the court that a supportive relationship has existed between the obligee and a person who is not related to the obligee by consanguinity or affinity.' The burden is the obligor's, on a preponderance, and shifts once proved; eleven lettered factors are enumerated at s. 61.14(1)(b)2.a.-k. Retirement, s. 61.14(1)(c)1., verbatim: 'The court may reduce or terminate an award of support, maintenance, or alimony upon specific, written findings of fact that the obligor has reached normal retirement age as defined by the Social Security Administration or the customary retirement age for his or her profession and that the obligor has taken demonstrative and measurable efforts or actions to retire or has actually retired.' Ten lettered factors follow at s. 61.14(1)(c)2.a.-j., and s. 61.14(1)(c)3. lets the obligor petition 'not more than 6 months before retirement'. Sources: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html and https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.14.html

Changing it later

Fla. Stat. s. 61.14(1)(a), verbatim in relevant part: 'When the parties enter into an agreement for payments for, or instead of, support, maintenance, or alimony, whether in connection with a proceeding for dissolution or separate maintenance or with any voluntary property settlement, or when a party is required by court order to make any payments, and the circumstances or the financial ability of either party changes … either party may apply to the circuit court … for an order decreasing or increasing the amount of support, maintenance, or alimony, and the court has jurisdiction to make orders as equity requires, with due regard to the changed circumstances or the financial ability of the parties or the child, decreasing, increasing, or confirming the amount of separate support, maintenance, or alimony provided for in the agreement or order.' Retroactivity, same paragraph, verbatim: 'the court may modify an order of support, maintenance, or alimony by increasing or decreasing the support, maintenance, or alimony retroactively to the date of the filing of the action or supplemental action for modification as equity requires'. Section 61.14(4), verbatim: 'If a party applies for a reduction of alimony or child support and the circumstances justify the reduction, the court may make the reduction of alimony or child support regardless of whether or not the party applying for it has fully paid the accrued obligations to the other party at the time of the application or at the time of the order of modification.' What is modifiable depends on the form. Bridge-the-gap: 'not modifiable in amount or duration' (s. 61.08(6)). Rehabilitative: 'may be modified or terminated in accordance with s. 61.14 based upon a substantial change in circumstances, upon noncompliance with the rehabilitative plan, or upon completion of the rehabilitative plan if the plan is completed before the length of the award of rehabilitative alimony expires' (s. 61.08(7)(d)). Durational: amount modifiable on a substantial change; 'The length of an award of durational alimony may not be modified except under exceptional circumstances' (s. 61.08(8)(a)). Sources: https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.08.html and https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0000-0099/0061/Sections/0061.14.html

Worth knowing about Florida

The 2023 Act and its reach. Ch. 2023-315, Laws of Florida, is Committee Substitute for Senate Bill No. 1416. Its own text, Section 5, verbatim and in full: 'This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.' The chapter law records, verbatim: 'Approved by the Governor June 30, 2023. Filed in Office Secretary of State June 30, 2023.' (http://laws.flrules.org/2023/315) The act's title says what it did to permanent alimony, verbatim: 'removing a provision authorizing the court to award permanent alimony'. The reach is set by the applicability subsection the act added, Fla. Stat. s. 61.08(11), verbatim and in full: 'The court shall apply this section to all initial petitions for dissolution of marriage or support unconnected with dissolution of marriage pending or filed on or after July 1, 2023.' Read that carefully. It reaches initial petitions that were still pending on 1 July 2023, so it caught cases already in the system. It does not reach an existing alimony award: a final judgment entered before that date was made under the former statute, and s. 61.08(11) speaks only to initial petitions, not to supplemental petitions for modification of an existing award. So a Florida permanent alimony award made in, say, 2015 still exists and is still permanent alimony; what the 2023 Act abolished was the power to make a new one. Any page that says Florida 'ended permanent alimony' without that distinction is describing only half of what happened. Two further points. Since 2023 the four statutory forms are temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative and durational, and 'permanent' is no longer among them; the same act went through the code removing the word, including in the family law handbook section, s. 741.0306(3)(f), which now reads in full 'Alimony, including temporary, durational, rehabilitative, and lump sum.' (read on 2026-08-23 at https://www.leg.state.fl.us/statutes/index.cfm?App_mode=Display_Statute&URL=0700-0799/0741/Sections/0741.0306.html). And Florida's cohabitation analogue is not called cohabitation: it is the 'supportive relationship' of s. 61.14(1)(b), which the statute says expressly does not require a conjugal relationship and does not recognize common law or de facto marriage.

The tax rule changed, and most guides still describe the old one

For a divorce or separation instrument executed after 31 December 2018, alimony is not deductible by the person paying it and not taxable to the person receiving it. The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act repealed the provisions that made it otherwise. For an instrument executed on or before that date the old treatment continues — deductible to the payer, taxable to the recipient — unless it is later modified and the modification expressly adopts the new rule.

This is not a detail. Under the old rule a higher-rate payer could transfer income to a lower-rate recipient and the two of them shared the saving. That saving no longer exists, which changes what a given number is worth to each side. New Hampshire wrote the point into its own statute: its 23 per cent figure assumes non-deductibility, and reverts to 30 per cent if the federal treatment is ever restored.

Florida has no state income tax, so the question of whether the state follows the federal rule does not arise. The federal treatment above is the entire picture. In four states that do levy an income tax — Arkansas, California, New Jersey and New York — it is not. The fifty-state table.

Authority: Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, Pub. L. 115-97, section 11051, repealing Internal Revenue Code sections 71 and 215; see also IRS Publication 504.

Authority: Fla. Stat. s. 61.08 (alimony; forms, factors, durational limits, amount cap); Fla. Stat. s. 61.14 (enforcement and modification; supportive relationship; retirement). Both in their present form by s. 1 and s. 3 of ch. 2023-315, Laws of Florida (CS for SB 1416). — read it on Florida’s own site. Checked 23 Aug 2026.

The other number that decides your budget

How Florida calculates child support, and the overnight count that moves it more than income does.

Child support →

And the question underneath it

What Florida presumes about custody, and what the judge has to weigh.

Custody →

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Alimony in Florida.