Determining Child Custody in Florida

There’s a common misnomer when it comes to child custody in Florida. Most people think that the mother gets the priority or special exceptions, but that is not the case at all.

Today, AJ Grossman with Leap Frog Divorce discusses some particulars with custody and parenting laws in the state of Florida.

Florida uses the word ‘parenting’ instead of custody because they believe that, with an allowance for certain circumstances, that children (and parents) will share the rights, responsibilities, and joys of raising their children. That bond and relationship is not severed just because the adults decide to get a divorce.

Judges in the State of Florida focus on the best interests of the child and the certain circumstances of each family.

There are 20 different factors that go into determining custody laws, but today we’ll focus on two.

One is the ‘catch all’ factor. The catch all factor is simply any other factor that’s relevant to determining a specific custody plan and visitation schedule. This can be anything as long as it’s relevant.

Another factor is ‘the demonstrated capacity and disposition of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent/child relationship, to honor the visitation schedule, and to be reasonable when changes are required.

It’s easier to explain what this is not as opposed to what this is. A situation that might give the judge a reason to award custody to the other parent, is if a mother thinks the dad is a bad father and makes it very difficult for him to see his children, communicate with them, or cancels on him at the last minute. She may even contact the child’s school and take the father off of the list in an effort to prevent access to the child or make it difficult to pick them up from school.

At the end of the day, the court’s duty is to figure out what is in the best interest of the child. Some factors may weigh in on the father’s side, and other factors on the mother’s side.

At that point, it’s all up to the judge.

If you need guidance in your custody (or parenting) case, give me a call. I’d be happy to schedule a short phone call to discuss who we are and how we operate.

Custody: https://www.leapfrogdivorce.com/famil...
Contact: https://www.leapfrogdivorce.com/contact/
Divorce: https://www.leapfrogdivorce.com/famil...

#childcustody #divorce #familylaw