TIME SHARING AND “CHILD CUSTODY

The Florida Legislature has made recent changes to the laws and verbiage relating to Timesharing, Visitation and “Custody” in the spirt of parental equality and to lessen the litigation over the issues of Custody and Visitation. The Legislature and the Florida Courts sought to minimize the negative impact of litigation and “custody battles” on children and families. One of the major changes is that Florida Courts require written timesharing schedules and Parenting Plans in all cases involving minor children. Also, the terms “Visitation” and Custody” are no longer formally used and have been replaced with “Timesharing”. Custody findings have been eliminated so that it is no longer presumed that one parent is preferred or has more control over the children. Also, the outdated standard visitation schedule of alternating weekends and a few additional weekdays is no longer the norm. The term “timesharing” now describes the time that each parent spends with the minor children without any further designation or priority of one parent over the other. Many Judges presume that an equal timesharing schedule is appropriate but the Judge still must apply the “best interest of the child(ren)” standard to determine the timesharing schedule and other terms of a Parenting Plan. Single parents should spend as much quality time with their children. But an equal time sharing schedule is not always appropriate for every family.