Greetings! ,  

   

Florida Alimony Reform continues to press on, even during the off-session. Our committees are working and strategizing with the focus on educating and informing Florida legislators as to the urgent need for alimony reform. I am one of the select few who have been asked to attend, and given the honor to speak at, the first New Jersey Alimony Reform conference in June. Steve Hitner, the driving force of the Massachusetts Alimony Reform movement, and our own Debbie Israel, the committee leader for the Second Wives Club, and who now sits on the board of directors for the National Organization for Women For Alimony Reform (NOWFAR) will also be attending the conference. I have been in touch with my media contacts in the NY/NJ area who might be interested in following up on this important event.

 

New Jersey is experiencing Alimony Reform issues similar to Florida, and is putting together a task force to examine just how to most effectively move forward towards reform. Once they decide on a course of action, they will then be able to draft legislation. New Jersey is watching Florida very closely to see how we construct our legislation so that they can learn from, and mimic our efforts.

 

I'm pleased with the continued information that keeps Alimony Reform at the forefront of the news. A letter from one of our members, Kevin Loucks, was recently published in the Ledger, once again commenting on Mark Sessums' article. Please feel free to express your support in the Ledger for Kevin's letter. It's important that we continue to comment on these articles/letters because if we do, the publications will continue to write about and cover this important story. We want alimony reform to be a topic of conversation and media/newspaper/internet coverage can help it remain that way.

 

Over the next few weeks I, as well as other leadership members of FAR, will be meeting with different Representatives and Senators asking for their support and possible sponsorship of our bill. We will explore the possibility of co-sponsorship of our bill to increase our chances of it passing. We don't expect to announce a Senate sponsor until after the November elections, but we will certainly keep you apprised of our progress toward that goal.  As always, I would welcome good faith negotiations with the leadership of the Family Section of the Florida Bar, but I certainly don't count on that happening given their recent history of negotiating with us.

 

On a side note, I would like to remind everyone that divorce consists of three parts; the legal part, the financial part, and the emotional part.   While I believe with all my heart that mediation and/or Collaborative Practice are the only true win/win scenarios in a divorce, sometimes it is necessary for litigation to occur. In those 'rare' cases, it is critical that the law be written so that divorcing spouses are not manipulated by opportunistic attorneys and then re-victimized by an abusive legal system. New legislation must be created that will limit the income generation that occurs when unscrupulous attorneys throw their clients into that structured legal maze they describe as the divorce process. As a civil society we must provide those same attorneys the ability to earn a living by doing good, caring work for their clients, in a process that resolves their clients disputes in a cost-effective and timely manner.

  

Thank you again for all you've done.

 

Remember, if we let up, we lose.