The historic imbalance (and hence the perception) is a
by-product of historical paradigms which are changing.
Once upon a time it was commonplace for the Father
to be away working, and the Mother spending the
overwhelming majority of time with the children. So
when it came time for a Judge to consider the best
interest factors (such as routine, and knowledge of
the children’s records) the Mother held a distinct
advantage.
Another reason for the historical imbalance is Florida’s
legitimacy laws (which I will discuss in another article).
These laws identify only the Mother as the legal
guardian of a child if the parents were not married
when the child was conceived or born. This natural
advantage gives the Mother legal control of the child’s
welfare until the biological Father acquires a court
order establishing his paternity. So again, when it came
time for the courts to consider the children’s normal
routines, the Mother had a natural head start. Then
there are other natural factors like the Mother nursing,
etc. that played a role in the historical imbalance. As
these societal norms have changed, so must the law.
language of our statutes gives at least a hint of equal
rights to time-sharing.
This does not mean that the other misconception that
I often hear is true either. Namely, that the law now
means the Father gets automatic 50/50 time-sharing.
The appellate courts have specifically ruled that the
language of the statute does not compel a Judge
to implement an equal time-sharing plan. So on the
one side, while the legislature has shaded towards
language that logically means 50-50 plans, the Judiciary
has reserved the power to the Courts to determine a
parenting plan that is in the best interests of the child,
and divide the time-sharing however the judge sees fit.
Because the best-interests-of-the-child statutory factors
are amongst the most numerous of the domestic
relations analysis factors, the best course of action to
achieve the type of parenting plan you desire is to hire
an experienced attorney, who is familiar with all 20
factors the court will have to consider.
This article is written by Marc Dwyer, a Senior Partner at
Chiumento Dwyer Hertel Grant, PL
The reality is that Florida is stepping forward with
the changing times, and as you can see, the current
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