Serving Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando and Hillsborough Counties
★★★★★ 4.6 from 111 Google reviews|(727) 372-4722
Serving Pasco, Pinellas, Hernando and Hillsborough Counties
★★★★★ 4.6 from 111 Google reviews|(727) 372-4722
Child custody & time-sharing
Florida does not use the word custody. The court decides parental responsibility, which is who makes the major decisions, and time-sharing, which is the schedule of when the child is with each parent. Both are written into a parenting plan.
Every case involving a minor child in Florida ends with a parenting plan, whether the parents agree on one or the court writes it after a hearing.
The plan covers where the child lives and when, who makes decisions about school, health care and religion, how the parents communicate, and how holidays and summers are split. We draft plans that hold up in real life, and we go to court when the other side will not agree to one that does.
By the best interests of the child, using the factors listed in Florida Statute 61.13. Those include each parent’s ability to keep a consistent routine, to encourage the child’s relationship with the other parent, the moral fitness and mental and physical health of the parents, the child’s home, school and community record, and any evidence of domestic violence or neglect.
Since July 2023, Florida law starts from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the child’s best interests. A parent who wants something other than an equal schedule has to show the court why, using those same factors.
Parental responsibility is decision-making: education, medical care, religion and similar matters. Florida strongly prefers shared parental responsibility, where both parents decide together, unless sharing would be detrimental to the child. Sometimes one parent is given ultimate authority over a specific area, such as medical decisions, while everything else stays shared.
Time-sharing is the calendar. It is written as a specific schedule, including weekday and weekend rotations, holidays, school breaks and summer, so that both parents know exactly what to expect and the plan can be enforced if it is not followed.
Yes, but not simply because one parent wants a different schedule. To modify time-sharing, Florida requires a substantial and material change in circumstances since the last order, and the change must be in the child’s best interests. The law no longer requires that the change be unanticipated; that element was removed in 2023.
Common examples are a parent’s relocation, a significant change in work schedule, or a pattern of the other parent not following the existing plan. Modification is covered in more detail on our modification page.
A parenting plan is a court order. If a parent repeatedly withholds time-sharing, does not return the child on schedule or ignores the decision-making provisions, the other parent can ask the court to enforce it. Remedies include make-up time-sharing, a modification of the plan, attorney’s fees and, in serious cases, contempt.
Document what is happening as it happens. Dates, times and messages matter more to a judge than a general description of the problem.
The parenting plan and time-sharing rules are the same. The difference is that for unmarried parents the case is a paternity action rather than a divorce, and if paternity has not been legally established that has to be addressed first. Once it is, the court enters a parenting plan and child support in the same way it would in a dissolution.
Free first consultation
Talk to an attorney about your situation.
By phone or in the office. Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 5:00.
Handled by Jonathan Maguire
Common questions
General information about Florida law, not legal advice for your specific case.
There is no age in Florida at which a child decides. The child’s reasonable preference is one of the factors the court may consider, and it carries more weight as the child gets older, but a judge is not bound by it and children are rarely asked to testify.
No. Florida law gives neither parent a preference based on sex, and since 2023 the starting point is a presumption of equal time-sharing. The court looks at the best-interest factors for each parent.
A person the court appoints to investigate and represent the child’s best interests in a contested case. The guardian meets the child and parents, may visit each home, and reports to the court with recommendations. Both Erin Catey and Lynna Comunale have served as guardians ad litem in Pasco County.
Only in limited circumstances. Florida law generally protects a fit parent’s right to decide who spends time with their child, and grandparent visitation is available mainly where a parent is deceased, missing or in a persistent vegetative state, or in specific situations set out by statute.
Yes. Florida requires both parents in a divorce or paternity case with minor children to complete an approved Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course, usually four hours and available online, before the final judgment.
A move of 50 miles or more for at least 60 days is a relocation under Florida law and requires either a written agreement or court approval. See our child relocation page.
The first consultation is free, by phone or in the office. Call during business hours or send a message and we will get back to you.
Catey & Maguire Law, P.L.L.C.
6230 Lafayette St, New Port Richey, FL 34652
Monday to Friday, 9:00 am to 5:00 pm. Saturday and Sunday, closed.
