How Is Custody Established in a Florida Divorce or Florida Paternity Case?

Written by: Lenorae Atter, Attorney at Law

Florida divorce and paternity cases often revolve around the parent-child relationship and all factors related thereto, including parental responsibility. When someone comes into our Jacksonville office regarding a divorce or paternity case, often the question is whether she or he can have sole custody. As a divorce and family attorney, I have to educate clients on multiple things, including custody and what it actually means. Custody and having sole parental responsibility are two very different things because one deals with the big decisions regarding your child and the other deals with where the child will actually, physically reside.

Child custody and visitation was changed by the Florida legislature in recent years. The change was done for a number of reasons, the main reason being the contentious actions of parents for, "custody." So, the legislature made a decision to change the concept to what is now known as, "time-sharing." No, this is not your condo at Disney, but actually the terminology used because after your case, you are actually sharing time with your child and your child is sharing time with his/her other parent. Time-sharing is basically the same idea, but instead of having the archaic, "custody," you may request majority time-sharing, meaning that you spend the majority of the time with the child. In some jurisdictions, Jacksonville not being one of them, the courts have presumed this to mean that parents should start out with equal time-sharing. However, often that concept is being overruled by the appellate courts.
When looking at which parent will have majority time-sharing, the court looks to certain factors like:

a. Which parent is more likely to help facilitate a health relationship between the child and other parent;

b. Which parent is more likely to provide a stable environment for the child;

c. What is the historical relationship of the parent and child; etc.

Once the majority time-sharing parent is decided, the court or the parents, if they negotiated an agreement, enter a time-sharing plan. The time-sharing plan defines the times the parents will each have the child, including holidays, the actual visitation schedule and the like.

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