Florida § 61.08 Alimony: Types, Duration, and 35% Cap

Alimony in Florida is spousal support a divorce court can order one spouse to pay the other, and since July 1, 2023, it comes in four forms only: temporary, bridge-the-gap, rehabilitative, and durational. Permanent alimony no longer exists for new Florida cases. Section 61.08 of the Florida Statutes governs how judges choose among these types, and it caps both how long payments can last and how much they can be.¹

The Threshold: Need and Ability to Pay

Before a court considers what kind of alimony fits, it has to answer two questions. Does the spouse asking for support actually need it? And can the other spouse afford to pay? The spouse requesting alimony carries the burden of proving both.¹

If either answer is no, the request is denied. Alimony is never automatic. It must be requested in the divorce petition and supported with financial evidence. Whichever way the judge rules, the decision has to come with written findings explaining the reasoning.¹

The Four Types of Alimony

A court can award one type or combine several, and it can order payment as a lump sum or in installments.

Temporary Alimony

Temporary alimony bridges the gap between filing the divorce petition and the final judgment. It keeps the lower-earning spouse afloat while the case is pending. When the judge signs the final order, temporary alimony ends and any ongoing support takes one of the other three forms.

Bridge-the-Gap Alimony

Bridge-the-gap alimony covers specific, identifiable short-term expenses connected to moving from married to single life. First and last month’s rent on a new apartment, a car payment while a house sale closes, similar concrete costs. It cannot last more than two years, and once entered, the amount and duration cannot be modified.² It ends automatically if the recipient remarries or either spouse dies.

Rehabilitative Alimony

Rehabilitative alimony funds a specific plan for a spouse to become self-supporting: finishing a degree, earning a professional certification, rebuilding lapsed credentials. A vague intention to go back to school will not do. The order has to include a defined rehabilitative plan, and the maximum duration is five years.³

Durational Alimony

Durational alimony provides ongoing support for a set period when none of the other forms fit. It is the closest thing to the old permanent alimony, but with firm caps on time and money. Courts cannot award durational alimony for marriages that lasted less than three years.²

How Long Durational Alimony Can Last

Marriage length, measured from the wedding date to the filing date, is the single biggest factor in setting the ceiling for durational alimony. The statute creates three brackets:¹

Short-term marriage: less than 10 years. Durational alimony capped at 50% of the marriage length.
Moderate-term marriage: 10 to 20 years. Capped at 60% of the marriage length.
Long-term marriage: 20 years or more. Capped at 75% of the marriage length.

A 14-year marriage can support durational alimony of up to 8.4 years. A 25-year marriage can support up to 18.75 years.³

These caps are rebuttable presumptions rather than absolute rules. A judge can extend the term with clear and convincing evidence of exceptional circumstances, and the statute limits those to four situations: the recipient’s age and employability substantially restrict self-support; the recipient’s financial resources are inadequate; the recipient has a disabling mental or physical condition; or the recipient is the primary caregiver for a mentally or physically disabled child common to both parties.³ Any extension has to be explained in writing.

The 35% Income Cap

Time is one ceiling. Dollars are another. Durational alimony cannot exceed the lesser of the recipient’s actual reasonable need or 35% of the difference between the two spouses’ net incomes.³ Net income is calculated using the same formula found in Florida’s child support guidelines under Section 61.30.

An example. If the paying spouse’s net income is $8,000 a month and the receiving spouse’s is $3,000, the gap is $5,000. Thirty-five percent of $5,000 is $1,750. Even if the recipient can prove a reasonable need of $2,500, the award is capped at $1,750.

The statute adds a broader safeguard. Alimony cannot leave the paying spouse with significantly less net income than the recipient unless the court documents exceptional circumstances in writing.⁴ That prevents an award from flipping the two spouses’ financial positions.

What the Court Weighs

Once need and ability to pay are established, the judge looks at a broad set of factors to decide the type, amount, and length of the award within the caps above:¹

Duration of the marriage.
Standard of living during the marriage, which sets the baseline for what the recipient reasonably needs.
Age and physical, mental, and emotional condition of each spouse, including whether a disability is expected to be permanent.
Financial resources of each spouse, including income from both marital and non-marital assets.
Earning capacity, education, vocational skills, and employability. What a spouse is capable of earning matters as much as what they currently earn.
Time needed to acquire education or training to find appropriate employment.
Contributions to the marriage, including homemaking, child-rearing, and support for the other spouse’s career.
Responsibilities each spouse will have for any minor children in common.
Tax consequences of the alimony arrangement.
Any other factor necessary for a fair result, including a supportive relationship under Section 61.14 or a reasonable retirement.

No single factor decides the case. A 22-year marriage of two comparable earners will produce a different result than a 22-year marriage where one spouse left the workforce to raise children.

Adultery

Florida courts can consider adultery by either spouse, and the statute ties this to “any resulting economic impact.” The question is less about the affair itself and more about whether marital funds were spent on it. A spouse who used joint savings for trips, gifts, or a separate residence connected to an affair can expect the court to account for that waste when setting the award.¹ Adultery without financial consequences carries less weight.

Changing or Ending an Award

Once the final judgment is entered, several things can change or terminate alimony.

Substantial Change in Circumstances

Either spouse can petition to increase, decrease, or end alimony by showing a substantial change in financial circumstances since the original order.⁵ Job loss, serious illness, or a large jump in either spouse’s income can qualify. Modifications can be made retroactive to the date the petition was filed.

Remarriage or Death

Durational and bridge-the-gap alimony end automatically when the recipient remarries. Death of either spouse ends the obligation as well.²

Supportive Relationships

This provision has teeth. If the paying spouse can prove the recipient is in a “supportive relationship” with someone they are not related to, the court must reduce or terminate the award.⁵ The word is “must,” not “may.” Unlike most modification grounds, where the judge has discretion, a proven supportive relationship forces the court to act. The provision targets recipients who are effectively living as though remarried without formalizing it.

Retirement

A paying spouse can petition to reduce or end alimony on reaching normal retirement age as defined by the Social Security Administration or the customary retirement age for their profession. The petition can be filed up to six months before actually retiring, so the modification lines up with the retirement date.⁶

The paying spouse must show that retirement reduces the ability to pay. If the court is convinced, the burden shifts to the recipient to argue that the obligation should continue. The judge then weighs the paying spouse’s age and health, the nature of their work, their motivation for retiring, the recipient’s needs, and both spouses’ assets and retirement benefits.⁵

Enforcement If Payments Stop

An alimony order is enforceable through several tools.

The most common is an income deduction order, which works like wage garnishment. The employer withholds alimony directly from the paying spouse’s paycheck. If arrears build up, the employer withholds an additional 20% of the current obligation until the arrearage is cleared.⁷ Employers cannot fire or discipline an employee because of the order.

When a paying spouse willfully refuses to comply, the recipient can seek a contempt finding. The original order creates a presumption that the paying spouse can comply, and at the contempt hearing the paying spouse has to prove otherwise.⁸ A contempt finding can result in jail time until the spouse complies or shows genuine inability to pay. The court can also order an unemployed or underemployed obligor to look for work, participate in job training, and file periodic reports.

Attorney fees are available in enforcement proceedings, and a paying spouse found to have refused to follow the order without justification cannot recover fees from the other party.

Life Insurance to Secure the Award

Because alimony generally ends at the paying spouse’s death, the recipient risks losing support if the payor dies before the term is up. The court can order the paying spouse to maintain a life insurance policy or post a bond to secure the award, but only after making specific findings that special circumstances warrant it.² If both spouses can afford it, the court can split the premium. Term life insurance is common because the coverage window can match the remaining alimony term. Letting the required policy lapse can support contempt proceedings.

How the IRS Treats the Payments

For any divorce agreement executed after 2018, alimony is neither deductible by the payor nor taxable to the recipient.⁹ Because Florida eliminated permanent alimony for cases filed on or after July 1, 2023, virtually every new Florida case falls under these rules. The paying spouse pays with after-tax dollars, and the recipient collects tax-free.

Older agreements executed before 2019 may still follow the previous treatment, under which the payor could deduct and the recipient reported the payments as income. If a pre-2019 order is modified and the modification expressly adopts the post-2018 rules, the deduction disappears going forward.⁹ That shift can meaningfully change the effective value of the payments for both sides, so it deserves attention when older orders are being reworked.

1
Florida Senate. Florida Code 61.08 – Alimony
2
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.08 – Alimony
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.08 – Alimony
4
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.08 – Alimony
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Justia Law. Florida Code 61.14 – Enforcement and Modification of Support, Maintenance, or Alimony Agreements or Orders
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Florida Senate. Florida Statutes Chapter 61 – Dissolution of Marriage, Support, Time-Sharing
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.1301 – Income Deduction Orders
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Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.14 – Enforcement and Modification of Support, Maintenance, or Alimony Agreements or Orders
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Internal Revenue Service. Topic No. 452, Alimony and Separate Maintenance