## Facts

- A 29-year marriage was dissolved by final judgment in 1975.
- The judgment incorporated a property-settlement agreement requiring the husband to pay weekly alimony, terminating upon the wife’s remarriage.
- At dissolution, the husband was a civil engineer and president of his own surveying company; later he became a salaried employee after the business was sold.
- The wife was a full-time homemaker and not employed outside the home, but later accumulated substantial liquid assets through inheritance and the sale of jointly owned property.
- In 1988, nearing age 65, the husband petitioned to terminate alimony upon retirement; the wife opposed and counter-petitioned to increase alimony.
- While appellate rehearing was pending, the wife remarried, which contractually would end alimony, but the court addressed the question due to its recurring importance.

## Issues

1. Whether a payor spouse’s post-judgment retirement may be considered a change in circumstances, along with other relevant factors and applicable law, on a petition to modify alimony or support.

## Decision

- The court answered the certified question “yes”: retirement may be considered in determining whether a substantial change in circumstances warrants alimony modification.
- The court rejected a categorical rule that voluntary retirement is never relevant to modification.
- The court held that retirement can justify modification only if the retirement is reasonable and the court evaluates all relevant circumstances, including need and ability to pay.
- The court proceeded despite technical mootness caused by the wife’s remarriage because the certified question was of great public importance.

## Legal Principles

- Modification of alimony requires a substantial, material, and permanent change in circumstances; a post-judgment retirement may satisfy this standard.
- Retirement is not automatically a basis to reduce or terminate alimony; it is a factor to be weighed case by case.
- Reasonableness of retirement may be assessed by the payor’s age, health, customary retirement practices in the field, and whether the decision was made in good faith rather than to avoid support obligations.
- Courts must compare the recipient’s continuing need with the payor’s ability to pay, considering both parties’ income, assets, and overall financial condition.

## Conclusion

A payor’s retirement after a dissolution judgment can be a legally relevant change in circumstances for alimony modification in Florida, but relief depends on a fact-specific determination that the retirement is reasonable and that the parties’ current need and ability to pay warrant modification.


Pimm v. Pimm, 601 So. 2d 534 (Fla. 1992)