Now that the regular Florida legislative session is over for 2012, we know that alimony reform died on the vine, along with the bill to correct some things with equitable distrbution. But what family law bills actually passed?
There were four bills related to family law (and one pertaining to adoptions) which passed. HB 917 was sent to the governor on March 30th. While not strictly limited to family law, HB 917 has to do with contracts. Since marital settlement agreements are contracts, this new law will apply.
The substance of HB 917 allows the parties to a contract to specify that they will be subject to court jurisdiction here in Florida, even if they do not reside here. Subject matter jurisdiction is still something that has to be set by law, but personal jurisdiction can be by contract starting on July 1, 2012.
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