TALLAHASSEE — Acting on probably the most emotionally charged problems with the 2022 legislative session, Gov. Ron DeSantis on Friday vetoed a measure that will have overhauled the state’s alimony legal guidelines.
DeSantis’ veto marked the third time that supporters of fixing the alimony system have efficiently shepherded payments by way of the Legislature solely to have them nixed. Former Gov. Rick Scott twice vetoed such laws, with a standoff over the problem resulting in a near-fracas outdoors Scott’s workplace in 2016.
The invoice this yr, partially, would have performed away with everlasting alimony and arrange most funds primarily based on the period of marriage. As up to now, the measure drew emotional debate in the course of the legislative session that resulted in March.
One of the most-controversial components of the invoice (SB 1796) would have modified the method for modification of alimony when individuals who have been paying search to retire. Critics argued the proposal threatened to impoverish older ex-spouses who’ve been homemakers and rely on the funds.
DeSantis’ veto letter Friday pointed to considerations in regards to the invoice permitting ex-spouses to have present alimony agreements amended.
“If CS/CS/SB 1796 were to become law and be given retroactive effect as the Legislature intends, it would unconstitutionally impair vested rights under certain preexisting marital settlement agreements,” the governor wrote.
Many ex-spouses who appeared earlier than legislative committees to talk towards the invoice stated they agreed to surrender property on the time of their divorces in trade for everlasting alimony awards.
But proponents of the overhaul argued the invoice would “modernize” Florida’s alimony legal guidelines by making the method extra equitable and predictable for divorcing households.
“We are incredibly disappointed by the veto of this much needed bill. Today, Gov. DeSantis chose divorce lawyers over Florida’s families and parents who love their children and who want to be a part of their lives,” Marc Johnson, a Tampa lawyer who’s president of the pro-overhaul group Florida Family Fairness, stated in a ready assertion.
Under the measure, individuals married for lower than three years wouldn’t have been eligible for alimony funds, and those that had been married 20 years or longer would have been eligible to obtain funds for as much as 75 % of the phrases of the wedding.
Another a part of the invoice would have required judges to start with a “presumption” that youngsters ought to break up their time equally between mother and father. Scott largely pinned his 2016 veto of an alimony invoice on an identical child-sharing provision.
The Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, which lobbied towards the invoice, thanked the governor “for understanding the bad precedent the retroactivity” of the measure would have established.
“If signed into law, this legislation would have upended thousands upon thousands of settlements, backlogging the courts and throwing many Floridians’ lives into turmoil,” the assertion, attributed to the part’s chairman, Philip Wartenberg, and rapid previous chairwoman, Heather Apicella, stated.
People and organizations on each side of the problem closely lobbied DeSantis’ workplace.
The “First Wives Advocacy” group tweeted Friday that it had delivered a petition to DeSantis with greater than 2,000 signatures asking for a veto.
As of Friday, the governor’s workplace had acquired 5,939 emails in help of the invoice and 1,250 in opposition, together with 349 telephone calls in favor and 289 towards the measure.
When requested for a tally of telephone calls and emails in regards to the invoice, DeSantis’ workplace additionally supplied excerpts from messages pleading with the governor for a veto.
A message from Felice Schulaner argued that the alimony modifications would primarily damage girls and households.
“The likely consequences are that women will largely be the most impacted, particularly women who divorced after long marriages where they might have put their careers on hold to support their now ex-husbands. How many women will be forced into poverty? How many women will lose their homes?” a part of Schulaner’s message stated. “I get that your rich male friends might want to divorce their wives for a new model, but the injustice of this is extraordinary.”
In one other message, Murielle Fournier wrote that she made an “amicable global settlement” together with her ex-husband “in good faith.” Under the settlement, her ex-husband is not allowed to change his funds.
“It’s a contract that I made under the current law. I work and have to rent a room because I can’t afford to rent my own place. I don’t own a home, no retirement plan. No nest egg. This bill will devastate me financially,” she wrote.
