Income will be imputed to an unemployed or an underemployed spouse in an alimony case in Florida when the spouse has the ability to earn more money than he or she is currently earning and is deliberately refusing to be employed at his or her higher earning capacity.
There is a rebuttable presumption that Florida trial courts will award permanent periodic alimony when there is a long term marriage. A long-term marriage is a marriage that exceeds seventeen years.
In making an alimony determination, a trial court is required look at all sources of income that are available to both parties. For purposes of determining alimony, income is considered to be any type of payment, regardless of the source.
The purpose of permanent alimony is to provide for the needs and necessities of the recipient as they were established during the course of the marriage. It is not intended to divide the parties’ future income in order to create financial equality. Permanent alimony is inappropriate when there is not a permanent inability on the part of the recipient to become self-sustaining.
An alimony case was recently decided by the Florida Court of Appeal in a case captioned Baron v. Baron. In Barron v. Barron, the Wife appealed a Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage that denied her request for permanent periodic alimony. The parties were...
A durational alimony case was recently decided by the Florida Court of Appeal in a case captioned Johnson v. Johnson. In this case, the husband and wife were married in 2006. They have two children. The husband worked in retail, and the wife was an auditor. The wife's...
An alimony case involving imputation of income was recently decided by the Florida Court of Appeal in a case captioned Jorgensen v. Tagarelli. In this case the wife appealed a final judgment in which the lower court incorrectly imputed income. In the case at bar, the...
A durational alimony case was recently decided by the Florida Court of Appeal in a case captioned Rhoden v. Rhoden. In this case the husband filed a Petition for Dissolution of a thirty-five year marriage. The husband denied that wife required alimony, and denied that...
As part of an alimony obligation, a payor may be required to purchase life insurance to secure the award. In a recently decided case captioned Sager v. Sager the former husband appealed the final judgment. He argued that the trial court erred in requiring him to...