History: In the
course of his family law court alimony proceedings, Bill Cabana
challenged the constitutionality of the Florida alimony statutes
as violating the Right to Privacy and Separation of Powers.
The 4th District Court of Appeals has either dismissed the
appeal on procedural grounds or again denied the challenge
without writing a reasoned opinion.
Apparently, in appealing
the constitutionality concurrently with other motions intermixed
with alimony issues that were
denied, it gave them the opportunity to do so. However, in
filing a "clean" lawsuit requesting a declaratory judgment,
there is nothing else inter-related to interfere or give the courts reason to
dismiss on procedural reasons. All that is being asked of the
courts is to declare that, based on the arguments contained in
the pleadings, whether the Florida alimony statutes are
constitutional or unconstitutional.
In that there are many
judges and courts that do not want to see this happen, it may be
desirable to file similar lawsuits in Florida in hopes of
getting the attention of a judge who will see the logic of the
arguments presented.
On the other side of the
fence is the entire legal system comprised of attorneys and
judges who make their living off the adversarial nature of the
family law system. To have the statutes declared
unconstitutional would be a major blow to their income. There
are not many lower tribunal judges that would like to see their
enormous power to control peoples' lives or have their name
attached to this occurrence and as a result, they implement many
roadblocks to its progress.
If several declaratory
judgment lawsuits are filed across the state, it will eventually
get the attention of the media and the judges. The oppressive
nature of the alimony statutes violating the citizen's right to
privacy, forcing them into a life of involuntary servitude and
peonage, the financial death they impose, the demeaning nature
of the award to recipients, the fostering of all of the
negatives of a welfare mentality, and the destruction of the
people and families involved cannot be allowed to continue. The
present laws allow arbitrary alimony judgments imposed by judges
having unlimited
discretion to legislate from the bench with unlimited law making
power normally and exclusively delegated to the legislature.
Only by fighting back can
we make our voices heard. Now is the time to stand up and be
counted!! You can do this on a Pro Se basis just as Cabana did.
If you are tired of the financial burden placed on you and want
to do something about it, see the following note:
Note: This is not
a solicitation for legal work or legal advice; it is for
informational purposes only. For more information on the
judicial and legislative efforts to reform the alimony laws and
statutes contact Dick Lindsey, Chairman at:
Steps in filing
a Declaratory
Judgment Lawsuit
