Over one million children in the United States are affected by divorce each year. With this statistic in mind, the Florida Legislature recently undertook a major revision and revamp of the divorce, custody and related family matter laws set forth in Chapter 61, Florida Statutes, replacing negative language in the law with lighter, brighter and more positive gender-neutral terminology. Out of these landmark changes has also arisen a new concept in custody arrangement, that of “joint custody”. The concept of post-divorce parenting in Florida has turned now toward a more realistic and shared responsibility between parents to provide care for their children.

Practically speaking, Florida has become one of the states in which parents filing cases in family court must prepare and adopt a detailed parenting plan in order to complete their case. These plans address all aspects of child-rearing, in particular the amount of time spent by a child with each parent. Thus, the unequal visitation schedules often previously awarded to non-primary residential parents will now be replaced with more equitable time-sharing between the parties. Lawmakers hope that the recent and forthcoming changes to Florida’s family law statutes will not only improve relations between family members, resulting in less litigation, but will also help advance the family circumstances of the children of this state.

To discuss how you may be impacted by recent changes in the law, contact us at Roberts & Robold, P.A., (407) 426-6999, to discuss your legal rights.