Will I Lose My Alimony If I Remarry in Florida?
In most cases, the answer is ‘yes’, alimony payments will stop automatically once you remarry. Florida Statute § 61.08(8) holds that once the recipient of alimony remarries, alimony payments are automatically terminated. However, there is one exception under the law. In the case of Herbst v. Herbst, the wife successfully argued that she should receive alimony payments permanently regardless of whether or not she remarried. This is largely due to the fact that the husband signed away his right to terminate alimony in the Marital Settlement Agreement. In this article, the Clearwater, FL, family law attorneys at Cairns Law, P.A., will take a closer look at the Herbst case.
Background of the case
In this case, the former wife and the former husband had a marital settlement agreement (MSA) incorporated into their 2009 divorce judgment. According to the MSA, alimony could not be modified for the remainder of the former wife’s life.
When the former wife remarried in 2010, the former husband stopped all alimony payments and sought to terminate them entirely. The former wife, on the other hand, believed that alimony payments should continue until the day she died.
In this case, the trial court ruled that the former wife’s alimony payments should have terminated when she remarried, citing Florida Statute § 61.08(8). The statute states that alimony payments should terminate upon remarriage. The trial court ruled that the MSA did not explicitly address remarriage as a factor in terminating payments.
The issue then became whether the MSA’s non-modifiable alimony provision for the former wife’s life took precedence over Florida Statute § 61.08(8), which generally terminates alimony payments upon remarriage.
The ruling
Upon appeal, the Second District Court of Appeal reversed the trial court’s decision, thus reinstating the former husband’s alimony obligation. The appellate court found that the MSA was clear in its provisions, requiring alimony payments for the duration of the former wife’s life. The court decided that the language of the MSA implicitly covered remarriage by specifying that alimony would continue until the former wife’s death.
Further, the court concluded that the terms of the MSA superseded the Florida statute that requires alimony to terminate upon remarriage. In other words, the trial court erred when it gave precedence to the Florida statute over the MSA. The case was thus sent back to the trial court to enforce the MSA on the former wife’s behalf.
The Herbst case highlights how specific language in your marital settlement agreement can come back to haunt you. Much like a prenuptial or postnuptial agreement, the MSA takes precedence over Florida law. So, you must be careful when settling your divorce. Otherwise, you may end up paying alimony for the rest of your former spouse’s life.
Talk to a Clearwater, FL, Family Lawyer Today
The Clearwater family lawyers at Cairns Law, P.A., represent the interests of spouses during their divorce. Call our office today to schedule an appointment, and we can begin discussing your next steps right away.
Source:
casemine.com/judgement/us/5914e88fadd7b04934920d4a
