When Florida abolished permanent alimony in 2023, durational alimony inherited the throne — it is now the longest-running support Florida law offers, and the form at stake in most contested alimony cases. Its rules are newly precise: caps tied to marriage length, a hard amount ceiling, and a bright-line exclusion for short marriages. Whether you expect to pay it or need to receive it, here is durational alimony under current law, from The Law Office of John Vernon Moore, P.A. in Melbourne.
The Framework: Duration Caps by Marriage Length
Section 61.08 classifies marriages by length — short-term (under 10 years), moderate-term (10 to 20), and long-term (20 or more), measured from marriage date to filing date — and caps durational alimony accordingly: no more than 50% of the length of a short-term marriage, 60% of a moderate-term marriage, and 75% of a long-term marriage. An 8-year marriage tops out at 4 years of alimony; a 30-year marriage at 22.5 years. And the floor: no durational alimony at all for marriages under 3 years, absent exceptional circumstances supported by specific written findings. Courts retain discretion to extend duration in exceptional circumstances — age, disability, caregiving for a disabled common child — but the caps are the architecture, and extensions require clear and convincing proof.
The Amount: Need, Ability, and the 35% Ceiling
The dollar figure runs through the classic two-step — the requesting spouse’s need measured against the marital standard of living, and the other spouse’s ability to pay — then hits the reform’s hard cap: durational alimony may not exceed the recipient’s reasonable need or 35% of the difference between the parties’ net incomes, whichever is less. That formula makes the income evidence decisive: every dispute about what each spouse truly earns — self-employment income, variable pay, imputed earning capacity — now feeds directly into a capped calculation. The statutory factors (standard of living, contributions to the marriage, earning capacities, adultery and its economic impact among them) still shape where below the cap an award lands.
Who Actually Gets Durational Alimony
The paradigm cases: the spouse who left a career for two decades of household management in a long marriage; the moderate-term marriage with a wide, durable income gap; the spouse whose age or health forecloses the retraining that rehabilitative alimony assumes. Durational alimony answers need that outlasts a transition but no longer, under the reform, lasts forever — a bridge sized to the marriage rather than a pension. For shorter marriages and narrower gaps, bridge-the-gap and rehabilitative forms usually fit better, and courts must find no other form appropriate before reaching durational.
Modification, Termination, and the Long Tail
Durational awards are modifiable in amount on a substantial change in circumstances — job loss, disability, genuine retirement (the statute expressly accommodates a payor’s reasonable retirement) — but the length may be modified only in exceptional circumstances, and never beyond the caps. Termination follows remarriage of the recipient, death of either party, or a supported cohabitation finding. Payors approaching retirement and recipients budgeting around an award both need the same thing: a realistic map of the award’s actual lifespan, drawn at the settlement table rather than discovered later. Our modification guide covers the machinery.
Frequently Asked Questions
We were married 9 years and 11 months at filing. Does that round up?
No — classification runs to the filing date, and days matter at the boundaries. Timing a filing around a category line is real strategy in close cases, for both spouses.
Is the 35% cap before or after taxes?
The statute caps at 35% of the difference in net incomes — calculated after allowable deductions, which makes the net-income computation its own contested step.
Can we agree to alimony longer than the caps?
By agreement, yes — parties can contract beyond what a court could order, and settlement flexibility is one reason most alimony cases resolve at mediation.
Does adultery still matter to alimony?
The statute permits courts to consider the adultery of either spouse and its economic impact — a factor within the framework, not a trump card. See our infidelity guide.
The New Rules Reward Preparation
Our team brings over 89 years of combined experience — spanning the old law and the new — to alimony cases on both sides. Call (321) 529-7777 or contact us online for a free 30-minute consultation.