Your source for the Pro Se Self-Help Guidebook Series of books.
 

New Developments & Additions

How To Modify Your Alimony Payments

 All Items on this page were edited and contributed by the author in further support of his books. You are encouraged to read "all" of them as they will have application in your cases. Even if you live in another state, you can use them in your state case cite searches by finding "keywords" in the cites you can use when doing your searches. These cites give you valuable hints as to the terminology used by the legal profession.

Note: Visitors to this webpage are invited to send any information to the author that you feel would be appropriate to add to this page. in care of:

• Florida Bar Family Law Section - Commentator Newsletter Issues

• Florida Statutes Annotated which gives caselaw cites that are related to various aspects of alimony. Use this as a guide to what you can do in your state.

  • F.S. 61.08 - Alimony
  • F.S. 61.14 - Cohabitation

Related legal assistance links can be seen by clicking here.  

• 09/10/08 - Caught Net - exposes judges, judicial misconduct, prosecutorial misconduct, legal misconduct, ethics violations and civil rights violations and more. There are some tactics you can use in court if you have problems with judges.
• 09/01/08 - How to Remove a Judge From Your Case: Here is an excerpt from the Florida Rules of Judicial Administration.
  • Kay v. Kay, 3D08-1776 Aug08 - A case where the judge was disqualified by ruling on a disqualification.
• 08/18/08 - SIMPSON v. SIMPSON, 700 So.2d 170 (Fla.App. 4 Dist. 1997) - (holding that "Florida Rule of Civil Procedure 1.440(c)shall govern general provisions concerning setting an action for trial in family law matters").
• 08/17/08 - KAHN v. KAHN, 78 So.2d 367 (Fla. 1955) - Justification for the termination of "lifetime" alimony with the statement " the fact that the marriage has been brought to an end because of the fault of the husband does not necessarily entitle the wife to be forever supported by a former husband who has little, if any, more economic advantages than she has."
• 08/16/08 - GIBSON v. BENNETT, 561 So.2d 565 (Fla. 1990) - Shows how the court redefines the meaning of a debt in order to throw you in Debtor's Prison for not paying alimony.
• 08/02/08 - Read this article in the following newsletter: All Parties Should Have Input Into The Content Of Proposed Orders Before They Are Submitted To The Court
• 08/01/08 - Imputed Income: advice from a defendant - Let me share my experience when it comes to trying to impute income or determine whether the ex is employable or how quickly employable and to what monetary level.
       My ex at time of divorce was self-employed in a mostly 50% cash and 50% credit card business. We tried two things. First I got an accountant to show how much business she was really doing by going over her three bank accounts and check and cash transactions. This was considerably more than the books she would give me at the end of the year to file joint income tax return. It was also considerably more than her financial disclosure forms which she refiled multiple times through the divorce and each time her income stream diminishing.
       My mistake (actually my idiot attorney's mistake) was that the accountant she got me was not a "court certified" forensic accountant. My ex's attorney tore him apart in court on cross examination, never questioning the figures he came up with (which were correct) but rather showing that since he was not recognized in the courts as an expert, his testimony was "suspect". What he uncovered in the accounting of the three bank accounts any one of us could have uncovered but that was besides the point, it was all now "suspect". The judge threw out everything that was introduced in court in terms of my ex's financials.
       Secondly, and it gets to the point of this reply, we acquired a vocational expert to show several things. First, that the business my ex is in is lucrative, secondly, her degrees from the early 80's while never used, were still marketable in the local market, and an estimate of what income could be made, with examples and all.
       When we went to introduce this testimony in pre-trial hearings, my ex's attorney filed a motion that if we are allowed to have this vocational expert witness, that they would get another one, AT MY EXPENSE, to counter what he had to say. Since this was at my expense, they would probably get the best of the best, or in other words, a more recognized expert witness to trump mine. In essence, it would have been anywhere between 5 to 10,000 dollars out of my pocket for testimony that would have washed each other out. The judge, of course, ruled in favor of my ex so I dropped that avenue.
       In Broward where the divorce took place, judges are not moved around. It is up to the judge's discretion to change from family court to civil to criminal. Any future motions I file in my divorce decree goes in front of the same judge so I am laying low for now. I can always file a motion to recluse the judge from my case but it is a very very difficult motion to win and in my opinion, another loss of 5 to 10K of money that I would rather withhold from spending until I decide to go all out in one final "mother of all modification" efforts down the road.
• 08/01/08 - Introduction to Basic Legal Citation - excellent site to explain the legal "language" you will encounter.
• 07/25/08 - More on the loyalty oath - Here is a Writ of Quo Warranto used to challenge a judges authority to sit upon the bench. This case shows that the challenge to the judge should be early in the proceedings and should be done in the lower courts...not the appellate courts. In Florida, statistics have shown that the majority of judges have not signed this oath.
• 07/07/24/08 - Linstroth v. Dorgan, 4D07-1493 (Fla.App. 4 Dist. 6-11-2008) Read Justice Farmer's dissent starting on page 6 in which he delineates the factors that define a supportive relationship in the case of a cohabitating spouse. The dissent does not provide a case precedent but can be used as a persuasive argument and gives an indication of what the trend will be in the future.
• 07/24/08 - Alimony Garnishments: A financial institution can take protected government benefits only under five conditions, according to the Social Security Administration
• 0718/08 - Cuartas v. Cuartas, 951 So.2d 980 (Fla.App. 3 Dist. 2007) - it delineates when to file a "supplemental Petition to Modify" as opposed to a "Motion to modify"
• 07/17/08 - Mathematics for Imputing Income - A Florida Bar Journal article.
• 07/17/08 - Florida’s Homestead Realty: Is it Exempt from Imposition of an Equitable Lien for Nonpayment of Alimony and Child Support? A Florida Bar Assn. article.
• 05/30/08 - In the event your judge won't allow spectators - Request that spectators be allowed to observe the proceedings at your hearing in accordance with Florida Family Law Rules of Proceure RULE 12.400 which states:
  CONFIDENTIALITY OF RECORDS AND PROCEEDINGS:
  In the Commentary Adopted in 1995, it says Judicial proceedings and records should be public except when substantial compelling circumstances, especially the protection of children or of business trade secrets, require otherwise. Family law matters frequently present such circumstances. It is intended that this rule be applied to protect the interests of minor children from offensive testimony and to protect children in a divorce proceeding. [Note: it is good to have a court reporter attend at the same time.]
• 05/21/08 - A Warning to Alimony Recipients in Florida: Alimony May Be Reduced or Terminated If an Ex-spouse Allows a New Partner to Move In.
• 05/14/08 - Ritter v. Kieszkowski, 3D07-2536 (Fla.App. 3 Dist. 1-16-2008) - Case involving rehabilitative alimony and that there was no evidence that the former wife’s earning ability suffered during this marriage.
• 04/19/08 - Free Case Law Databases
• 04/10/08 - We’re Back: The Appellate Court Said You Didn’t Find Anything Florida Bar article on appeals and lack of findings of fact by the trial court.
• 03/27/08 - Trick of the Trade in framing your case:  In his opening argument, a good attorney will pull out the applicable statute or case and go down the list of "tests" or factors deemed controlling by statute or case law. With the statute in his hand, he covers the factors deemed controlling by statute or case law one by one in his examinations and cross examinations of both parties. In his closing argument, he then points out the differences between the parties as to each of those factors. During the case he will argue that anything else brought up is irrelevant and inadmissible. This tactic often keeps an honest judge honest and frames the arguments to your advantage. This tactic alone may win your case!
• 03/27/08 - Factors Used In Determining Alimony-Spousal Support
• 03/27/08 - Investigative Techniques To Prove Your Ex Is Cohabitating
• 03/23/06 - Florida Statute 798.02 - Adultery & Co-habitation is a crime.
• 03/06/08 - The Art of War by Sun Tzu - The oldest treatise on war in the world. Some of the lessons taught can be used in your alimony battle.
• 03/01/08 -  Citizens for Legal Responsibility - Lot of interesting articles on this site and some with legal considerations for cases with which you might be involved.
• 02/13/08 - Benitez v. Benitez - Be careful of what you agree to in a settlement agreement. The courts view them as written in stone.
• 02/08/08 - Loyalty Oath - letter from an attorney showing significance of checking this. It applies to all judges at all levels.
• 01/30/08 - Ferraro v. Ferraro, 891 So.2d 1211 (Fla.App. 3 Dist. 2005) says "we find that the language used in the parties' post-nuptial agreement, incorporated into the final judgment of dissolution of marriage, indicates a clear intention that the agreed-upon alimony provisions control and that their terms would be modifiable only as provided by the agreement."
• 01/25/08 - Fraudulent Paystubs - Be aware of this software that could be used to falsify financial affidavits supporting documents. Unless cross-checked with tax returns, they could probably be successfully used by one of the parties to deceive the other party.
• 01/20/08 - Domestic Violence - A tactic frequently used in family law cases. Find out how to handle accusations of DV.
• 01/19/08 - Four Secrets of the Legal Industry - This is a must read article for you.
• 01/18/08 - Convert your word processing documents to PDF.
• 01/14/08 - Free Legal Dictionaries website has been added that contains multiple dictionaries for you to use.
• Antipeonage Website - We can define being forced to work to pay alimony as "peonage." Want to include this tactic in your court documents or arguments? The Antipeonage Act of 1867, 42 U.S.C. §1994, reads::
       "The holding of any person to service or labor under the system known as peonage is abolished and forever prohibited in any Territory or State of the United States; and all acts, laws, resolutions, orders, regulations, or usages of any Territory or State, which have heretofore established, maintained, or enforced, or by virtue of which any attempt shall hereafter be made to establish, maintain, or enforce, directly or indirectly, the voluntary or involuntary service or labor of any persons as peons, in liquidation of any debt or obligation, or otherwise, are declared null and void." (Note - even though it appears to define alimony, the courts will probably dismiss this argument as it has been used before without much success along with the "involuntary servitude" argument. Click here for summary.)
  
• 12/12/07 - Can Alimony Be Terminated Upon Cohabitation? 
• 12/12/07 - Revised New Mexico Alimony Guidelines. Shows you how they are applying guidelines instead of allowing judges excessive discretion in the matter. 
• 11/04/07 - Florida Law Update: Revisions to Alimony Statute 
• 10/09/07 - Motion template to use in defense against sanctions for a frivolous motion  
• 10/07/07 - When ex-husbands get alimony: A woman who is the primary breadwinner in her marriage could wind up paying support after a divorce. And sometimes she should, lawyers contend.
• 12/10/07 - How to File Criminal Charges Against Your Ex-Spouse - Note: purchasers of our How To Modify Your Alimony Payments book/ebook can get a copy of this technique/tactic by emailing us a request at the "Contact Us" address in the above menu. 
• 11/05/07 - The Basics of Alimony -
• 10/19/07 - Why Georgia's Child Support Guidelines Are Unconstitutional - A Georgia Bar Assn. article. It might help you in your case against your ex.  
• 10/09/07 - Motion template for sanctions for frivolous motion  
• 10/07/07 - When ex-husbands get alimony  
• 10/07/07 - Divorce laws (statutes) of all 50 states.  
• 10/06/07 - Attorney vs. Lawyer: ever wonder what the distinction is? This article explains it.  
• 10/06/07 - Olsen v. Olsen, 5D06-1819 (Fla.App. 5 Dist. 9-14-2007) Alimony and retirement. Notice how the appellant had been less than truthful on his financial affidavit regarding real estate holdings. You have to be careful of placing the ex-spouse in "peril of poverty." 
• 10/06/07 - Esaw v. Esaw, 2D06-1163 (Fla. App. 2 Dist 2007) - Look at this case indicating the importance of having had a court reporter at the trial court proceedings. Also, the imputation of income to the spouse aspect. 
• 09/27/07 - For those of you who are unable to afford some software programs such as MS Word, MS Office, etc., there are other options. The most widely used alternative to Office is an open-source program called OpenOffice, which is sponsored by Sun Microsystems. OpenOffice tries to match all the major features of Microsoft's program.
  
  There are a variety of Web-based programs that can replace all or parts of the Office programs, including ThinkFree Office Online, word processor Writely, spreadsheet maker NumSum, and e-mail program Thunderbird. All of this software is significantly less expensive that Microsoft Office -- it's absolutely free.
  
  OpenOffice can read files created in Microsoft Office, and it can create new files that Office can open. So, ideally, you could take home spreadsheets created at work using Excel, and work on them on your home computer without having to buy Office.   
• 09/27/07 - Florida Divorce Lawyers Who Have Reversed Alimony Settlements   
• 09/25/07 - Understanding the difference between alimony and support. 
• 09/23/07 - Considerations in the use of vocational experts 
• 09/23/07 - The Case Against Expert Witnesses  Want to win a lawsuit? Just call an all-purpose expert. For a fee, you can find one to ''prove'' almost anything. Judges are starting to rebel.