Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
When a child is seeing a therapist and a Florida child custody case is pending, a question arises as to whether or not the therapist can be compelled to testify regarding the child’s statements to the therapist. In the case Garcia v. Guiles, 1D17-5125 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018), an order allowing the a child’s treating psychotherapist was appealed, and the appellate court discussed the standard for reviewing whether or not the order was appropriate.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
When a final judgment is incomplete, it is not error for a court to supplement it to include omitted provisions. This was the holding in the recent case Swearingen v. Swearingen, 1D17-5011 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018) in which the mother appealed the trial court’s decision to supplement the final judgment with a complete parenting plan.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
In Ness v. Martinez, 1D17-2742 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018), a myriad of issues were appealed arising from a denied petition for relocation. Among those issues was the mother's objection to the trial court adopting the father's counsel's proposed final judgment. It is common practice for a judge to request that attorneys submit proposed final judgments after presentation of the evidence.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
Out-of-state orders concerning child custody are usually fully honored in Florida's family law courts. Florida courts are required to give full faith and credit to orders entered in other states unless those orders go against the public policy of Florida or are otherwise illegal. In the case Smith v. Daniel, 1D17-4240 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018), the appellate court reviewed a trial court's decision to not honor a Kentucky order preventing the father from having any contact with his child.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
Supervised visitation is awarded in Florida child custody cases if it is in the best interest of the children to shield them from certain harm which might come from unsupervised timesharing. The most common example is situations involving domestic violence. If a child has witnessed a parent committing domestic violence, or the child has herself been the victim of abuse at the hands of a parent, supervised visits may be appropriate. However, supervised visits usually cannot be permanent as explored in the case Solomon v. Solomon, 3D17-1553 (Fla 3d DCA 2018).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
An often employed rule in Florida child custody cases is that a court cannot engage in guessing when it comes to the future best interest of a child. That is, a court generally cannot rule on a major change that will take place in a child's life before that change happens. This rule has been applied in different ways with different results in some Florida appellate cases. One recent case examines how this rule is applied to orders concerning where a child will live once the child starts kindergarten.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
Divorcing parents may face a dilemma when one parent is due to be deported after a marriage is dissolved. The court is faced with the question of whether or not to permit relocation of the child with the deported parent. In one recently decided case, we review an appellate court's consideration of a trial court's decision to grant a prospective relocation that turned on whether or not the mother's application for US citizenship was granted.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
What is a Florida family court to do when parents do not agree on private versus public school education for their children? As with most decisions involving minor children, the court must use the "best interest" standard to make a ruling. The best interest of the children is paramount to what is fair to either parent. We see how an appellate court handled this issue in the case Lane v. Lane, 3D17-2538 (Fla. 3d DCA 2018).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
When a party appeals a Florida family law ruling, in most cases, findings of fact made by a trial judge will not be disturbed unless there is a clear error. This is because the appellate court has a policy of not wanting to substitute its judgment for that of a trial court judge who saw witnesses testify and was able to weigh the credibility of those witnesses. A recent appellate case illustrates an extreme case in which the appellate court did feel it had to overturn the trial court's ruling because it was not supported by competent, substantial evidence.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
A Florida child custody case is supposed to result in a parenting plan that is either agreed-to by the parties or ordered by the court when the parties are unable to agree. The parenting plan must be found to be in the best interest of the child, and since none of us can predict the future, the court looks at the present circumstances in determining this best interest. In the case Preudhomme v. Preudhomme, 1D17-1615 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018), the trial court's determination of a future event was reversed for this reason.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
This year, the Florida Legislature overhauled laws that applied to active duty servicemembers whose timesharing with their children would be affected by deployments. Previously, Florida law allowed an active duty military member to designate a family member to exercise timesharing in the member's place while deployed. Starting July 1, 2018, Florida law expanded the rules on who is allowed to have timesharing in place of the deployed parent.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Divorce
In what could be viewed as a turning point in Florida law on fathers' child custody rights, the Florida Supreme Court recently issued a decision which grants standing to unmarried fathers to establish paternity despite the objection of the mother of the child and her husband. The case Simmonds v. Perkins, SC17–1963 (Fla. 2018) may give hope to fathers who show a vested interest in being a part of their children's lives.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody
Of note in recent Florida family law appellate decisions is grandparent visitation rights. While Florida recognizes a legal parent's constitutional right to privacy and therefore does not give standing to grandparents to petition for visitation rights, a Florida court must uphold and enforce a grandparent visitation order entered in another state. An interesting issue related to this came up in the case Downs v. Nottingham, 219 So.3d 244 (Fla. 5th DCA 2017).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
Long-distance Florida parenting plans come into play when one parent resides out-of-state or more than 50 miles from the children's primary residence. In the case Aranda v. Padilla, 216 So.3d 652 (Fla. 4th DCA 2017), the appellate court considered a trial court's ruling on a father's request for holiday time-sharing, assistance with travel costs to effectuate time-sharing and shared parental responsibility in a long-distance parenting plan.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
It can take a year or more to get to trial in your Miami child custody case. This is why parties can and should seek temporary relief orders which, for example, provide an interim enforceable mandate regarding a parenting plan.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
When the mental health of a parent is at issue in a Florida child custody case, is a parent required to produce his or her records regarding past treatment for mental health issues? The psychotherapist-patient privilege protects a party from having to disclose records and communications with a psychotherapist, but that privilege can be waived under certain circumstances. This is explored in the case Zarzaur v. Zarzaur, 213 So.3d 1115 (Fla. 1st DCA 2017).
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
Part of a parenting plan in a Florida child custody case concerns parental responsibility - that is the right of each parent to make major decisions regarding their children such as choice of doctor, school, etc. A Florida family court can award shared or sole parental responsibility or a hybrid of the two known as shared parental responsibility with ultimate decision-making authority. As one appellate case shows, ultimate decision-making must be awarded with careful parameters.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
Sometimes, we come across Florida parenting plans which grant a parent "liberal" visitation with the children, with the other parent having primary time-sharing. But what does "liberal" mean? Each parent may have a different definition of what this means, causing conflict and inconsistent time-sharing when a parenting plan lacks a specific schedule.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
Grandparent visitation rights in Florida are generally restricted due to the constitutional right to privacy that parents have in raising their children. However, a 2017 case decided by the Florida Supreme Court opens the door to visitation for grandparents who obtain a child custody order in another state.
Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Child Custody
When a parent has not been present in a child's life for an extended period of time, this presents a challenge in awarding overnight time-sharing with that parent. Usually, a Florida child custody court will order a gradual increase in time-sharing to allow the child and parent to become acquainted or re-acquainted. However, child custody orders must not impede a parent's ability to establish regular and substantial contact with a child, as illustrated in the case Munoz v. Munoz, 210 So.3d 227 (Fla. 2d DCA 2017).
