By Attorney Howard Iken: First, a quick disclaimer: as a law firm we follow the law andwork within the current system to faithfully represent our clients. So the policy of this law firm is to neither support nor fight against new legislation. The proposed new alimony law modification is winding its way through the legislature. For those of you that are reading about this for the first time, the new law liberalizes alimony for people that may be obligated to pay it to a spouse. In other words there will be stricter qualifications to receive alimony, less chance of being granted permanent alimony, and more definite conditions for termination of alimony. So far the bill has not been abandoned and has not “died” in any legislative session. It recently survived a vote of 14 to 4 in the House Judiciary Committee. Just recently the new alimony law survived a vote of 8 to 1 in the Senate Judiciary Committee. For those new to law making, or as some people call it – sausage making, a new law must wind its way through multiple committees, interested party’s, industry groups, and other special interest groups. Most new laws get killed off in that process. Last year, the proposed alimony law “died” in committee. This year it seems to have more steam. The new law must wind its way through all the committee votes before it is voted upon in each legislative body. If passed, the governor must sign off on the new law. Stay tuned to our website for more updates.