Author: Paul E Rice, Jr. - Board Certified Divorce Attorney

A Florida Circuit Court order required one party in a divorce to pay the other s attorney s fees and further ruled that the fee award was not dischargeable in bankruptcy In a recent ruling the Third District Court of Appeals reversed that lower court decision stating that the law does not allow a state court to decide the federal issue of discharge prior to the filing of any bankruptcy proceeding The court explained that the problem with the state court s judgment is that it reached an issue of federal law that is not yet ripe for consideration A state court is free to place language in a judgment to memorialize factual determinations or legal rulings on questions of state law that may later assist a bankruptcy court in deciding as a matter of federal law the dischargeability of obligations created by the judgment

Republican legislators have been trying to reform Florida s alimony law for nearly a decade If parties are married 17 years or more in Florida it s considered a long term marriage with a presumption for permanent alimony Permanent can be an awfully long time A person who was divorced after a 17 year marriage could conceivably pay his or her spouse alimony for next 40 years That s not an unheard of scenario