Alimony Debate More Serious Than A Movie, States The Florida Bar Family Law Section

TALLAHASSEE, Fla., Jan. 23, 2014 /PRNewswire/ -- Yesterday, a couple of newspapers reported on a movie titled "Divorce Corp" that proponents of so-called alimony reform recently unveiled for public showing. In response, Elisha D. Roy, Chair of the Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, made the following statement:

"The recent moves by Florida Alimony Reform and others who are aggressively trying to change family law are troubling. They are now touting a movie which presents a one-sided view of alimony while ignoring positive changes that were recently made as drafted by the Family Law Section in 2010. The public deserves to understand the issue in full.

"The Family Law Section of The Florida Bar continues to work with all stakeholders to improve Florida statutes where possible. Our priority is to make sure important protections are preserved, so that children and spouses will not fall victim to inflexible, formulaic legal structures, and to ensure the laws are not one sided.

"Last legislative session, these same groups tried to change the law but were not successful because of legitimate concerns over their agenda, which includes discarding permanent alimony, reducing timesharing with minor children into a one-size-fits-all formula, and generally restricting judicial discretion. These sorts of legislative directives from Tallahassee are not appropriate for the complexities of family law and the circumstances of individual cases, which vary greatly.

"There is no doubt that in any system, some anomalies will be present, and we desire to work to address those in a reasonable manner. However, the radical 'reforms' as currently constructed will eliminate safeguards for the care of children and for spouses who made considerable sacrifices to care for their families while losing ground in a competitive workforce."

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About The Florida Bar Family Law Section
The Family Law Section provides section members and the public with information on attorneys practicing in the areas of divorce, child issues including timesharing, adoption, modification of judgments and enforcement of alimony and child support. Family law deals with legal problems arising from family relationship of husband and wife and parent and child, including litigation of civil controversies arising from those relationships. In addition to actual pretrial and trial process, marital and family law includes evaluating, handling and resolving such controversies prior to the institution of suit and post-judgment proceedings.

ON THE WEB: www.familylawfla.org

Contact: Brett Doster
Phone: 850-222-8156
E-mail: [email protected]

SOURCE The Florida Bar Family Law Section