Alimony

Depending on your situation, you may be eligible for certain types of alimony in Florida. The court determines if and how a party receives alimony based on a variety of factors unique to each situation.

The 5 types of alimony are:

• Temporary or pendente lite – Temporary alimony or alimony pendente lite, is often awarded while the divorce is pending. This type of award becomes necessary due to the length of time it could take before the final decree is issued and a permanent alimony award is made.

• Bridge-the-gap – Bridge-the-gap alimony may be awarded to assist a party by providing support to allow the party to make a transition from being married to being single. Bridge-the-gap alimony is designed to assist a party with legitimate identifiable short-term needs, and the length of an award may not exceed 2 years.
• Durational – Durational alimony may be awarded when permanent periodic alimony is inappropriate. The purpose of durational alimony is to provide a party with economic assistance for a set period of time following a marriage of short or moderate duration or following a marriage of long duration if there is no ongoing need for support on a permanent basis.
• Rehabilitative – Generally, rehabilitative alimony is used to support the spouse during a period of retraining or re-education for re-entry into the workforce, thereby enabling the spouse to become self-supporting in the not-too-distant future.
• Permanent – Permanent alimony may be awarded to provide for the needs and necessities of life as they were established during the marriage of the parties for a party who lacks the financial ability to meet his or her needs and necessities of life following a dissolution of marriage. Despite the seemingly permanent nature of this type of award, it usually does not last forever (i.e., until the recipient’s death).