Helpful Florida custody Law Information

Custody

Nothing is more important than the health, safety and well-being of your children. Florida does not award “custody” or says that one parent is the “primary residential parent”. You and your spouse will design a Parenting Plan for all matters about your children. If you and your spouse do not agree on something about your children, the Court will set up a Parenting Plan for you. The Parenting Plan will determine how you and your spouse will parent the children, where the children will reside for school purposes, and how each will have contact with the children. In most cases we have “shared parental responsibility”.

This means that Mom and Dad are still Mom and Dad, and participate in school activities, have access to records, and must agree on major decisions regarding bringing up your children, such as education, religion, and other important matters. The court will determine the time sharing arrangement. There is no such thing as a “standard visitation” order.

Contact between the parents and the children should be carefully designed to reflect the needs of the children, and the customary holiday and vacation plans of the family. In certain circumstances where the welfare and best interests of the child would be imperiled, one parent may be designated as the sole decision maker, may be given sole residential responsibility, and the contact of the other party, who is detrimental to the child may be limited or supervised.