Many years of experience have proven invaluable in helping our clients deal with the many issues of co-parenting a child with the other parent. These issues come up in Divorce cases but if you are not married to the other parent you will be resolving these issues in a Paternity Action.
Paternity actions deal with issues or time sharing which are addressed in a Parenting Plan. The Paternity action will also address issues of child support, parental responsibility (decision making for schooling, medical issues, etc.) and tax related issues.
Unfortunately, there are parents that will deny time sharing with the children as a way to try to hurt the other parent. Florida law requires both parents to promote a good relationship between the children and the other parent. The court will consider what is in the best interest of the children in deciding time sharing issues; however, both parents should always consider what is in the best interest of the children and insure that the children have regular contact and access with both parents.
The Florida Bar’s free Consumer Pamphlet Parenting and Divorce sets out information regarding Parenting Plans. Though this information is set out in a Divorce pamphlet, it is very similar to the development of Parenting Plans in Paternity Actions.
PARENTING PLANS
In 2008, there were numerous changes made to Florida law governing parenting issues in divorce cases. The most significant change requires the creation of a parenting plan for all children subject to a dissolution of marriage action. Parenting plans are designed to more closely reflect the modern day challenges and circumstances facing parents and minor children before, during and after a dissolution of marriage. Parenting plans address the details of how the parents will share and be responsible for the day-to-day tasks in raising children. The parenting plans also address time-sharing schedules for the time the children will spend with each parent. Parenting plans also encompass issues such as the designation of who will be responsible for school-related matters and methods and technologies for communicating with the children among other issues.
In approving a parenting plan, a court must make a determination of what is in the best interest of the child. Among the twenty factors to be considered by the court:
1. Demonstrated capacity and disposition of each parent to facilitate a close and continuing parent-child relationship.
2. The length of time the child has lived in a stable and satisfactory environment.
3. The geographic issues raised by the parenting plan.
4. The moral fitness and mental and physical health of the parents.
5. The child’s home, school, and community record.
6. The child’s preference, if the child is mature enough to express a preference.
7. Evidence of domestic violence or child abuse or evidence that a party has made false accusations of domestic violence.
There are additional factors and considerations to be made by the court in approving a parenting plan. The above are just a few examples of those considerations. Obviously, the more closely and cooperatively the two parents can work through the issues and consider the primary goal of doing what is in the best interest of the children, the easier the dissolution of marriage process will be for the parties.
For a copy of the full pamphlet simply click here.