SENATOR: NO ALIMONY REFORM THIS YEAR
By The News Service of Florida // March 4, 2014
Family Law Reform PROMOTES alimony changes
TALLAHASSEE, FLORIDA – Backers of an alimony overhaul vetoed last year by Gov. Rick Scott have scrapped their efforts to revive the measure.
Sen. Kelli Stargel, R-Lakeland, told The News Service of Florida on Tuesday she and her House counterpart Ritch Workman, R-Melbourne, have given up on their plan to reform the state’s alimony laws.
SEE RELATED STORY: Alan Frisher Advocates Florida Alimony Reform
Last year, the two sponsored a measure that did away with permanent alimony and would have created new legal standards based on the length of marriages. Scott, who is seeking re-election this year, vetoed the measure in part because of concerns that it would have applied retroactively.
The group Family Law Reform, which has been pushing the alimony changes, issued a press release in October saying it was working with Scott and the sponsors to come up with a new plan that would have removed the retroactivity provision.
But there won’t be any election-year measure.
“We tried to get a deal,” Stargel said. “We got some language we thought people liked and started vetting it. … I just didn’t want to have a food fight this year so we just said scrap it. We’ll push it another year.”
