If you are receiving alimony and are living with your boyfriend or girlfriend, you might want to think again. Cohabitation can be grounds for terminating alimony under Florida law.
In Florida, when an alimony recipient resides with another person to whom the recipient is not related and there is evidence of a supportive relationship, alimony can be terminated. To determine whether there is a supportive relationship, courts look at the following factors, amongst others:
- Do the alimony recipient and the co-habitant hold themselves out as a married couple, such as by using the same last name, the same mailing address, or by referring to each other as husband and wife?
- How long have the two been living together?
- To what extent have the two comingled their assets or income?
- To what extent do the alimony recipient and the co-habitant support the other?
- Have the alimony recipient and co-habitant made a joint purchase of real or personal property?
- Have the alimony recipient and co-habitant supported the children of one another?
Alimony can be terminated in this state even when the alimony recipient is in a platonic relationship with another person, so long as the two are living together and there is evidence of a supportive relationship. Moreover, alimony can be terminated if it is a same-sex living situation and regardless of the fact that the parties living together have not remarried.
If this situation applies to you and you think you may be able to get your alimony obligation reduced, or if you are the recipient of alimony and are in danger of having your alimony payments terminated, our Pinellas County family law firm can assist you to get the outcome you desire.