Supervised Parenting Time Orders Do Not Include an Automatic Reversion to the Previous Parenting Plan
Improving your relationship with your children, perhaps even officially increasing your parenting time, is an admirable goal for the new year. If the court has ordered you to exercise supervised parenting time only, you may feel like you face an uphill battle. Supervised parenting time orders mean that another adult, as indicated in the order, must be with you throughout your parenting time. In some cases, the parent lives with his or her own parents, the children’s grandparents, and the parenting plan indicates that at least one of the grandparents must be present during the parent’s parenting time. In more extraordinary cases, the parent has only a few hours of parenting time per week, and these visits take place at a court-operated facility. The court only orders supervised parenting time if it determines that it is unsafe for the parent to be alone with the children. Substance abuse is a common reason for supervised parenting time orders. Supervised parenting plans are, by definition, temporary; every six months, the court reviews the parenting plan and decides whether to keep it as is or to modify it to a parenting plan where both parents can spend time unsupervised with the children. If you want to spend more time with your children in 2026 than you did in 2025, contact a Boca Raton child custody lawyer.
Substance Abuse and 50/50 Timesharing Are Incompatible
A divorced couple in Indian River County signed a parenting plan that allowed for 50/50 timesharing with their young children. The father’s abuse of opioids and inhalants worsened, and after a series of disturbing incidents, the mother petitioned the court to modify the parenting plan. These incidents included encounters with the police, such as one where the father drove under the influence of drugs while the children were in the car, and accidental injuries the father suffered while intoxicated.
The court modified the parenting plan such that the father would have supervised parenting time every Saturday and Sunday from 9:00 a.m. until 6:00 p.m. for six months, at which point the parenting plan would revert to the old one, where the parents alternated entire weeks of parenting time. The mother appealed the court order. She argued that it was legally impermissible for the court to order that the family revert to 50/50 unsupervised parenting time at the end of six months. Instead, the court should have indicated that it would review the order after six months and determine whether the father was complying with its instructions, namely not getting any further traffic citations and avoiding illicit drugs. The court accepted the mother’s appeal and modified the parenting plan order accordingly.
Contact Schwartz | White About Rebuilding a Relationship With Your Children When Your Life Is in Chaos
A South Florida family law attorney can help you if the court has ordered supervised parenting time because of substance abuse or other factors. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=433870811231629957&q=divorce+influence&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2016&as_yhi=2026
