Category Archives: Child Custody
Will the Court Increase Your Child Support Award If Your Ex Does Not Exercise His Parenting Time?
Parenting plans specify in detail which parent will be with the children on which days, which parent has the final say on which parenting decisions, and which parent has what responsibilities regarding transporting the children to or from the other parent’s care. It might sound like micromanaging, but the court has no way of… Read More »
Parallel Parenting: When Co-Parenting Is Not an Option
Some people find that their relationship with their ex-spouse actually improves after they divorce. The little things that added up to ruin your relationship when you were married can no longer hurt you when you do not have to share a household or define your identity in terms of each other. If your coworker… Read More »
Addiction and Co-Parenting: Wishful Thinking Has No Place in Parenting Plans
Anyone who has ever struggled with substance use disorder or had a family member who has knows that recovery is a lifelong process. Addiction does not take away your right to have a relationship with your children, but the court-ordered parenting plan has to reflect the reality of how healthy you currently are and… Read More »
The Court Can Order You to Take Parenting Classes Without Also Ordering the Same for Your Ex-Spouse
If the parents of a minor child are formalizing a parenting plan, either because they are getting divorced or because they have never been married but want to establish a regular co-parenting schedule, both parents must attend a one-day class on co-parenting. It is a little bit like how anyone who wants to get… Read More »
The Court Can Order You to Text Your Ex-Spouse Instead of Calling
When a couple with minor children gets divorced, they must finalize a parenting plan that covers many aspects of their co-parenting relationship. When you are married to your children’s other parent, you can decide at the last minute which parent is responsible for making doctors’ appointments for the children and which one should drop… Read More »
Logistical and Financial Aspects of Enrolling Children in Private School After Divorce
If you have never been divorced, you might be surprised about the length and hair-splitting level of detail in Florida parenting plans. They cover every possible point of disagreement between divorced parents regarding where children spend their time and which parent has the authority to make which decisions regarding the parenting plan. Parenting plans… Read More »
Mental Health, Medical Privacy, and Child Custody
When you read the news headlines, you see much more compassionate and realistic attitudes toward mental illness than would have been there even 20 years ago. Now that nearly a quarter of Americans have been treated for a mental illness, almost everyone knows from experience that the old stereotypes about mental illness are not… Read More »
Courts Must Not Base Their Child Custody Decisions on Speculation About the Future
The decisions of the family courts are not just about the exchange of money to remedy prior harms or compensate one party for financial losses; by nature, court decisions about divorce and co-parenting govern how the parties will deal with each other, financially and otherwise, for at least the next several years after the… Read More »
When Preteens Refuse to Visit One Parent: Reasonable Preference or Just Reacting to the Stress of Divorce?
One of the factors that Florida family courts consider when deciding on parenting time is the reasonable preference of the child. This factor is only relevant when the child is of middle school age or older. For a child’s reasonable preference to count toward the decision, he or she must meet with the judge… Read More »
Why Do Courts Agree or Refuse to Modify Parenting Plans?
After divorce, your relationship with your ex-spouse might not change as much as you expect. If you and your ex-spouse treated each other respectfully despite your disagreements and had a relatively peaceful divorce, then co-parenting after divorce probably will not be an unprecedented source of conflict. Likewise, if your spouse is manipulative, easily loses… Read More »
