Husband Seeks To Eliminate Permanent Alimony Paid To Wife

In 2023, the Florida legislature did away with permanent alimony for spouses. No longer can you petition the court for permanent alimony. There are other forms of alimony available under the law, but they only last for a set period of time depending on the length of the marriage. In Florida, there is no longer permanent periodic alimony.

However, the legislature stopped short of eliminating permanent alimony for those who were already receiving it. For that reason, cases regarding permanent periodic alimony are still making their way before the courts. In one case, Mango v. Mango, husband and wife were married for 22 years. The wife was awarded permanent periodic alimony. The husband petitioned the court to reduce or eliminate those alimony payments to his wife.

Background of the case 

Husband and wife were married for 22 years. As part of their marital settlement agreement, the former husband was required to pay the former wife $750 on a bi-weekly basis. The husband argued that his obligation to pay alimony should be reduced or eliminated because his former wife was making nearly double what she was during the 18 years since the dissolution of their marriage. The former husband argued that she had a diminished need for alimony.

The former wife, however, testified that her standard of living at the time of the trial was substantially worse than it was during her marriage. At the time of trial, she claimed she was driving a 21-year-old car with approximately 200,000 miles on it and residing at times with her adult daughter. Further, she had taken no trips in the past three years and was making minimum payments on her credit cards to ensure she could pay her other bills. She asserted that her standard of living during her marriage was substantially higher than it was now.

The trial court subsequently denied the husband’s petition finding that his former wife still had a need for the alimony payments and that the husband’s ability to pay had not diminished. During the trial, the trial court made findings regarding the parties’ respective incomes at the time they dissolved their marriage. The trial court also made findings concerning the parties’ respective employment and the assets and liabilities they held.

The husband appealed the decision based on abuse of discretion. Under the law, discretion is abused when the judge acts in a capricious manner. Important to the determination of whether abuse of discretion occurred is whether or not a reasonable man, holding reasonable opinions, could differ from the court’s findings. If a reasonable man could hold an alternate opinion, then no judicial abuse of discretion occurred. In this case, the court found in favor of the wife.

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Source:

casetext.com/case/mango-v-mango?q=dissolution%20of%20marriage%202023&p=1&tab=keyword&jxs=fl&sort=relevance&type=case