Others see it as a broken system that burdens alimony payers unreasonably long after the divorce settlement has been finalized – or their own ability to pay has changed through retirement or change in financial circumstances.

It’s an emotional issue – one with no “right” answer.

What hamstrings the system, though, is the inconsistencies borne of a lack of guidelines that that courts must follow.

One judge may rule in favor of the husband; another judge – given the same set of facts or circumstances – may favor the wife. Without guidelines, the courts have no predictable path to follow, and attorneys and their clients can have no reasonable expectation of the outcome.

It’s unfair to all.

What most experienced family law attorneys agree upon is that some form of revision is necessary to alleviate or avoid inconsistent rulings. The Florida Legislature should consider creation of a set of guidelines that better serve all. Such rules would establish consistency of rulings from one courtroom to the next – from courtrooms in Broward, Miami-Dade or Palm Beach counties, to those in Florida’s panhandle.

Yet, to accommodate each case’s unique circumstances, these guidelines would avoid rigid standards. This would allow judicial discretion to take into account the unique facts of each case.

Some call Florida’s alimony rules a “system that works,” saying to change it would be a travesty. Others say the antiquated, unfair system in need of change.

While alimony reform failed in the legislature this past session, proponents and advocates likely will raise the topic again next year. Hopefully, the sides will agree upon a middle ground that establishes judicial consistency and brings fairness to all.

Combining consumer interest, general confusion regarding family law, and a desire to learn more, a divorce expo can play an important role in helping people become better informed about what they’re facing. After all, more information can mean better decisions.

Like any life cycle event, divorce doesn’t just impact one part of your life. At an expo, you’ll discover professionals beyond attorneys who can help process various, non-legal aspects of divorce, like financial planners, Realtors and child psychologists.

In many ways, divorce is a commodity. You pay a fee, and get a service. An expo can be a casual, low-pressure, no-cost way to meet and learn from professionals. Few – if any – charge any fee at the expo, unless they’re selling a book or other materials. Attendees can glean some great insights without spending up to $300 an hour for an office visit.

Just remember: An “expert” you met at an expo may not have the experience, credentials or personality best suited to your situation or needs. When the time comes, be sure to seek out the right professional to provide the services you need.

When facing separation or divorce, some people make mistakes. They harm their cases by not knowing how to proceed. They procrastinate, get caught up in emotions, or simply don’t have the information needed to support what otherwise may be a strong case.

Costs rise. Frustration grows. Whether through an expo, input from friends or a free consultation from a variety of professionals, invest the time needed to learn more. Your future may depend on it.

Or the wife suspects adultery, or has tired of the husband’s abusive alcoholism or drug addiction.

In each instance, the mate wants to secure his or her finances by capping the other’s access to ongoing earnings.

In both scenarios, as a way to protect one’s financial interests, a spouse can file for divorce. Ostensibly, the filing is positioned as a way to enter counseling in an effort to save the marriage. But legally, filing the papers effectively protected the filer’s financial interests from the date of filing forward. This could include if or when he lands that deal or wants to limit financial fall-out from an affair or abuse.

Saving a marriage is important. But for one spouse – or both, protecting individual best interests amounts to a wise defensive measure.

One way to do so is to file for divorce. Florida law recognizes the filing of divorce papers as the date when joint assets going forward are identified. Filing for divorce effectively establishes a cut-off date for financial responsibility. So, if that wage earner’s deal comes to fruition, proceeds are separate from the marital estate.

The couple can separate or enter counseling, in hopes of reconciling or coming to terms.

If reconciliation is reached and the couple decides to stay together, a post-nuptial agreement may be wise. Generally designed to protect the financial interests of the one with the greater assets, post-nuptial agreements can set forth rules for behavior, for example, no cheating.

Filing divorce papers can be a powerful way to change your spouse’s behavior, and an effective fiscal protection in a suffering marriage. If they help convince both parties to ensure counseling, that’s all the better.

The man – who was in divorce proceedings with his wife – suspected she’d meddled with the messages. He was right. Using “spyware” she’d installed on his computer, the spouse captured and altered his emails.

In the digital age, electronic communications is susceptible to digital capture and alteration by others. Whether someone hacks your system, installs snooping software to follow your activities, or loads key loggers or spyware that track your keystrokes to record password credentials, our digital lives are vulnerable.

Add to that the public visibility of social media services like Facebook, Twitter, Google + and others, and people increasingly are sharing otherwise intimate or at least private details of their lives.

What’s worse, much of that content is posted using a smart phone. If lost, stolen or hacked, online access, accounts and information are potentially accessible – and certainly at risk.

The result? Spouses are snooping on their significant others’ conversations, communications, whereabouts and plans – and divorce court cannot keep pace. Wrote one newspaper, “It’s an evolving aspect of divorce cases in which technology quickly outpaces the law’s ability to keep up. The end result is a gray area with little settled law and a lot of lingering questions.”

Yet, some personal security habits should guide our travels along the information superhighway – especially if a spouse gets the notion of snooping in his or her mate’s digital life…

- Change all your passwords. If you are considering separation of filing for divorce, immediately change your passwords. Don’t write and keep them where others can find them. Commit them to memory.

- Log off when done. If the wife walks away from the computer and fails to log off her Facebook, Twitter or email accounts – and her husband snoops around on the open account – her expectation of privacy is lost. Anything he sees or learns is open to digital discovery. If she logs off, and he logs in because he knows her user ID and password, that’s illegal evidence and is inadmissible in any divorce proceedings.

- Protect or inspect your computer. In many homes, it’s difficult to ensure computers shared by family members aren’t meddled with. If you suspect hacking or installation of software, have the computer checked by a technology expert.

- Digital snooping is never permissible or admissible as evidence in court. But, if your attorney asks the court to compel the spouse to produce specific information – emails or texts, for example – in support of its case, that may be permissible. Instead, figure out a better way to get the same information.

The saying, “Ignorance of the law is no excuse” has never been more true than in the digital age. It’s especially pertinent as family courts try to keep up with changing technology. The best way to protect your case is to protect your digital persona online.

Here in Florida,  alimony reform has been a hot topic in the 2012 legislative session.  From the beginning, Finkel has closely followed the potential impact of this legislation and has advocated for protection of both parties.  He wrote about the debate to end permanent alimony in October and again in the Sun Sentinel in December.  Although approved in the Florida House, the legislation has not yet been approved by the Florida Senate.

Although Finkel agrees that changes to Florida’s laws are needed, he has cautioned against legislation that does not protect the rights of both parties.  According to Finkel, the most recent version of the Florida bill still needs work and as it is written now, may leave ex-spouses vulnerable.  ”There certainly is a national trend against long-term alimony,” Finkel said, “but the answer is not to create these roadblocks and hurdles because there is an unhappy player.”

During that time – and unbeknownst to us all – her husband logged into their online bank accounts. He changed the passwords, removed her from the joint accounts – and effectively left his children penniless except for the money in their mother’s wallet.

Her first mistake was in not making the first move.

Any spouse who believes the marriage is failing needs to take steps to protect his or her financial interests. We’re not talking about logging in and blocking out the other spouse; changing passwords to shared accounts should not be your first step.

Changing account passwords or blocking your spouse from accounts is not looked upon favorably by the court, especially in situations with children or other dependents.

If one spouse is blocked out, we may immediately file for an injunction to prevent the spouse from removing joint assets from the accounts, as well as for temporary financial support.  However, obtaining a hearing requires time and is NOT an immediate resolution.

When you feel separation and divorce are unavoidable, IMMEDIATELY visit a family law attorney. The firm can guide you through the next steps of divorce – as well as protecting your assets online. Next steps include…

Refrain from changing passwords on joint accounts. As in the case above, the court may frown upon preemptively changing passwords – whether for a bank or a shared email – and effectively locking the other spouse out of an account.

Set up your own email account, or change your password on a your private account. The court generally casts no frown upon changing passwords or opening independent email or other online accounts – regardless of when they were created – as long as they don’t harm the other party.

Open your own bank account. You then can transfer up to half of the joint assets from a joint bank account into your own account.  Investment accounts should be discussed with your attorney before you touch any of the assets.

Share those passwords with no one. The New York Times recently ran a story on teen-agers and couples sharing user IDs and passwords for social media and other personal accounts. Trust can be shown in any number of ways that don’t include sharing such vital personal details.

Finally, delete all social media accounts. Opposing counsel consider those a treasure trove of valuable details that can be used in mediation, arbitration or divorce court.

If you have reason to believe your spouse may lock you out, you have every legal right to transfer half the joint money or assets. That’s better than presumptively and preemptively changing passwords. In any situation, make sure your assets and access are protected.

Read the story online here.

Court battles over alimony are spilling over into the Florida Legislature. Lawmakers are considerng a bill that would end permanent alimony in the state. It comes just months after a new law took effect limiting permanent alimony largely to breakups of longer marriages.

Should permanent alimony be eliminated as part of divorce settlements? Not so fast, says Fort Lauderdale family lawyer Angela Neave: “A woman married for 35 years who stayed home and never had a career does not have a retirement [plan].”

The House bill (HB 549) was introduced in advance of the 2012 legislative session. It takes aim at long-term alimony payments that have no defined end date, except for remarriage of the recipient or death of the ex-spouse. Florida law currently allows permanent alimony in cases where a marriage lasted more than 17 years and when one spouse has given up a career to raise children.

Under the proposed bill, long-term alimony would end at retirement and be capped at 20% of the working ex-spouse’s income. The bill would increase the marriage period to 20 years, add income caps and restrict the possibility of long-term alimony. The new bill also removes much of the flexibility the current law gives judges, altering the language from “may” to “shall,” for example.

The bill would impact alimony only, and not other components of equitable distribution of wealth such as a pension. Child support payments would not be affected by the bill. You can read the bill here: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/0549/BillText/Filed/PDF

The new bill would warrant divorce modifications, allowing couples to re-open and renegotiate their divorce. The Civil Justice Subcommittee takes the bill under review this month. Track the bill’s progress at: http://www.flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2012/0549/

It’s all over now — and it’s all over Facebook, the “twitterverse” and the tabloids. Demi Moore has confirmed her intention to divorce Ashton Kutcher.

Marriage can difficult in the best of times — even without the spectacle of social media and its own 24-hour news cycle. Then, “the couple’s relationship became the subject of tabloid speculation in recent months as rumors swirled about Kutcher’s alleged infidelity.”

In announcing her intent to divorce by a statement released to the Associated Press, Moore hinted at the difficulty a celebrity marriage — and divorce — endures. “This is a trying time for me and my family, and so I would ask for the same compassion and privacy that you would give to anyone going through a similar situation,” according to the statement.