Florida law gives no preference to mothers or fathers when deciding child custody matters. Instead, the judge's primary focus will be to find out what's best for the child. Therefore, you will need to show that it is in your child's best interest that you have full custody. In Florida, parents who divorce or separate must resolve their child custody disputes, either on their own with a mediator or in a trial with a judge.
In either case, the judge will evaluate any custody agreement to ensure that it is in the best interests of the child. In Florida, judges will decide who gets legal custody, who gets physical custody, and whether or not joint custody will take place. In a divorce, child custody, known as timeshare, includes your right as a parent to make legal, religious, educational, or medical decisions for your child. In Florida, this capacity is called parental responsibility.
In family law cases involving children, the court must grant sole parental responsibility to one parent or shared parental responsibility. Florida Courts Rarely Grant Exclusive Parental Responsibility. Florida law expresses a preference for parents to share as equitably as possible custody of a child in a divorce case. The court determines the parties' child custody issues guided by the principle of best interests and the Uniform Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Child Custody Act.
The Florida Supreme Court has consistently held that all statutes that have attempted to force visitation or custody of a grandparent based solely on the best interests of the child are unconstitutional. With cooperation in mind, a parent could lose custody or parenting time if they provide false evidence of domestic violence, sexual violence, child abuse, child abandonment, or child neglect against the other parent in a custody case. Florida judges take steps to protect the child at all costs in the beginning and will use the legal definition of the best interests of the child to determine sole custody. When that happens, a Florida judge will be the deciding factor in custody decisions and will do so with child protection at all costs in mind.
As in the previous example, if another parent is hindering the best interests of their child, a Florida judge will not have it and will grant sole custody to the parent who contributes most to the best interests of the child. If both parents enjoy the same timeshare, then child support is still calculated using the Child Support Guidelines Worksheet, which depends on the parties' income, the percentage of timeshare (only nights are used to establish the percentages), health insurance, and the costs of daycare and uncovered medical expenses. Joint or joint custody is the most common form of custody in Florida, as Florida judges want to ensure that both parents play an active role in a child's life. When a judge determines a timeshare child custody schedule in Florida, he will set the parents' visitation and custody schedule with the child.
Even if the courts decide to grant sole physical custody to one party, that doesn't mean that the other parent is excluded from legal custody or visitation by the children. Divorce and child custody rank very high on the Holmes and Rahe Life-Changing Stress Units scale, with divorce ranking second in terms of the most stressful life events. The court decides custody issues based on what it believes the child needs, not what the parents want. Child custody issues are matters that change everyone's life, in a way that alters them permanently.
For more information or if you have other questions about Florida child custody laws, call us at 727-233-2134 or send us a message. .
