The law changed in 2023.
Know where you stand.

Whether you're an engineer, an accountant, a government employee, a mid-level manager, or ex-military, you have a salary — maybe a good one — and after years of marriage, alimony is on the table. The question is how much, and for how long.

Florida's 2023 reforms matter here. The 35% cap means there's a ceiling on what any court can order — but that ceiling is calculated on net income, not gross. How your income is structured, what deductions apply, and how the court calculates your spouse's earning capacity all affect the calculation. Bonuses, retirement contributions, and any stock-based compensation you receive (RSUs, options, performance shares) belong in the calculation too — they don't always fit neatly into the W-2 number, and they don't always get argued correctly.

Duration is the other half of the equation. The statutory cap on durational alimony for a moderate-term marriage is calculated as a percentage of marriage length, and "up to" is not the same as automatic. Allyson has argued these calculations across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties and gives a realistic picture of what range the statute permits and what factors shape where a particular case falls within it.

Whether you're a full-time employee with benefits or a 1099 subcontractor, you work in the trades — and your income is the thing alimony is calculated on. How that income is presented to the court matters more than most people realize.

If you're on payroll at a contracting company, a utility, or a union shop, the math is more predictable. Your W-2 is the starting point. Bonuses, overtime, and benefits — health insurance, pension contributions, 401(k) match — are part of the picture and need to be argued accurately. Pension contributions in particular can affect both alimony and the equitable distribution conversation, and those two questions don't get negotiated separately.

If you work as a 1099 subcontractor — solo, day-rate, project-based — the income picture is messier. A banner year on a 1099 should not lock you into an alimony number you can't sustain in a slow season. Florida courts are required to look at earning capacity, not what you made in your best year. Allyson makes sure the right picture is in front of the judge.

For a corporate executive, a regional director, a car dealership owner, an insurance agency principal, or a real estate agency owner, the alimony calculation starts with an income figure that takes real effort to get right. For a corporate VP or agency principal, the W-2 is only the beginning. Deferred compensation, restricted stock units, stock options, executive benefits, and ownership distributions all affect the net income figure the court uses — and the 35% cap is calculated on that figure.

Service business owners — dealerships, insurance agencies, real estate agencies — face a specific income attribution challenge. Owner distributions don't always reflect what the business actually generates as take-home income. How the court characterizes that income, and what the other side argues it should be, determines where the alimony obligation comes out.

Allyson has represented executives and business owners through complex alimony disputes across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties. She has the forensic accounting relationships to move carefully on income attribution. The income picture is more complex here, and she handles that complexity with the same care and diligence that she handles everything else.

Whether you're on a hospital's payroll or working with a contract through a staffing agency, you earn a healthcare salary as a staff RN, CRNA, PA, hospitalist, or employed physician. Your income is likely to be the dominant number in any alimony calculation — and Florida's 2023 reforms apply directly to how it's calculated.

The 35% cap means there's a ceiling on what any court can order, but that ceiling is calculated on net income. How shift differentials, on-call pay, sign-on bonuses, and retirement contributions (403(b), 401(a), pension) are treated — all of it affects the calculation. Healthcare compensation is rarely just a base salary, and the difference between gross and net for a healthcare professional can be substantial.

Healthcare retirement plans interact with equitable distribution in specific ways — pension QDROs, 403(b) division, and the order of operations between alimony and property all matter for the final picture. Allyson handles both sides of that conversation, because they're rarely negotiated in isolation.

If you own an HVAC, electrical, plumbing, or construction business with crews, equipment, and accounts receivable, your actual income and your reported income are rarely the same number. Business expenses, equipment write-offs, owner distributions, reinvestment — all of it affects what shows up on a tax return.

Alimony for a business owner is an income attribution argument as much as a legal one. Courts look at owner distributions, retained earnings, depreciation schedules, and lifestyle indicators — not just what the K-1 or Schedule C says. If the court imputes income to you that your business doesn't actually generate as take-home pay, your obligation goes up accordingly.

Allyson has the forensic accounting relationships to move rigorously on income attribution. She also understands how business cash flow arguments interact with equitable distribution — because in most cases involving a business, both issues are on the table at the same time.

If you own a medical or dental practice — solo, partnership, or specialty group, the alimony question runs through the practice itself. A high income, a spouse who may have worked less or not at all during the marriage, and years of lifestyle built around a practice income.

The 35% cap is real protection, but "35% of the net income difference" is still a number that needs to be argued carefully. How owner distributions are classified, whether income is taken as salary or retained earnings, partnership buy-ins and capital accounts, what expenses run through the practice — all of it affects the net income figure the court uses.

Allyson has represented physicians and dentists through complex alimony disputes across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties. She understands the financial structure of medical practices, knows the forensic accounting community, and has tried these cases when they don't settle.

If you are ending a long marriage, you are doing more than dividing a household. The retirement plan was built for two. The pension was earned over decades of joint working life. The Social Security claim was timed around a future you no longer share. Decades of shared planning have to be sorted out, and Florida's 2023 reform changed how that work gets done.

For a long-term marriage, the statutory framework allows durational alimony calculated as a percentage of marriage length, with the percentage rising for longer marriages. The 2023 reform also created retirement-based modification: when the paying spouse reaches normal retirement age, the alimony obligation can be revisited. That provision is real protection for the late-career payor and real risk for the recipient. Both sides need to understand what the trigger looks like before they agree to anything.

The other half of the conversation is everything that isn't alimony. Pension QDROs have to be drafted carefully — a careless QDRO can cost the recipient real money decades later. 401(k) and IRA division has tax consequences if done wrong. Social Security ex-spouse benefits are available after a 10-year marriage and don't reduce the higher earner's check, which most divorcing couples don't know. Health insurance after divorce is a real expense, especially in the years before Medicare. None of it gets handled by accident.

Allyson has handled long-marriage divorces across Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties for over thirty years. The financial structure of a gray divorce — alimony, retirement, Social Security, health coverage, and the order they get decided in — is what she's spent a career doing. For thirty years, she has done this for clients on both sides of long-marriage divorces.