Florida's newest custody laws do away with custody and primary residence. Everyone involved in a divorce now needs to know about Parenting Plans and what the Judges are looking for at trial.
1
Understand the New Custody Law
The bottom line is that the law makers have done away with “custody” and a "primary residential parent”. Instead the Judges will be required to include in the Final Judgment a "Parenting Plan" that develops a "time share" arrangement. This plan will either be agreed upon by the parties, or the Judge will draft one for the parties after a trial. There are some judges who seem to start with an assumption that because of this new law a 50-50% time sharing is the place to start. Ask your prospective lawyer about the Judge you have in your case and what their experiences are in this area.
2
Understand what is in a Parenting Plan
A Parenting Plan is going to be a long document that covers:
* Who will deal with particular responsibilities for daily living for the children;
* How those child issues will be dealt with, including medical, scholastic, and activities;
* A contact schedule that sets out the regular time sharing for the parents on a monthly basis, and also for holidays and summers;
* How the parties communicate with the children.
3
Understand what the Judge will be looking for
Some factors the Judge is going to consider when ordering a plan will be:
* Best Interests of the Child;
* All factors that would effect the welfare and best interest of child;
* Demonstrated capacity of each parent to encourage a close relationship between the child and the other parent, the ability to honor a time share schedule, and the ability to be reasonable when changes are required;
* Anticipated division of parental responsibilities after divorce, including to the extent that parenting duties will be delegated to third parties;
* Ability of each party to act on the needs of the child instead of their own needs;
* Length of time the child has lived in a stable, satisfactory environment;
* Geographic viability of the Parenting Plan considering school and travel times;
* The mental and physical health of parents;
* The home, school and community record of the child;
* Reasonable preference of the child
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