Divorcing couples in Florida often find themselves in a panic when they realize that they are now responsible for financing their expenses on their own without the help of their spouse. In many cases, courts require that alimony is paid in situations where a spouse spent considerable time at home raising children, is disabled or has not received an education. Depending on the situation and the negotiations that take place, this requirement for one person to pay each month for a portion of the other person’s expenses may be temporary or it may be permanent.
In cases where it is permanently required, it can play a significant disadvantage to the person who is required to make the payments. According to U.S. News, permanent alimony can be a burden for those who are required to pay, especially because money continues to inflate in value, but the amount they are required to pay stays unchanged. In one such example, a man who initially was paying his wife 30 percent of his income, ten years later was paying nearly 57 percent of his income to his former wife.
People who are on the receiving end of such excessive payments may have little to no desire to return to work because they do not need to bring in any more money than what they are receiving from this ex. Initially, alimony was created to protect vulnerable persons, usually women, who had no formal education and had not worked outside of the home during their marriage. However, with the changes that have taken place in the last 50 years, many believe that the laws regarding alimony are in dire need of modification.
LiveAbout suggests that when people are creating their post-divorce budget, that they factor in the alimony payments and child support payments that they are required to pay. For those on the receiving end, they should never count on receiving that money so they can be confident that their budget will allow support even if there are months when their ex fails to meet their requirements.