Legally Speaking:
The New World of Parenting Plans
Debunking the myth of a bias towards Women
I
n the course of my practice I have often heard out of
the mouths of my male clients “Yeah, I know that the
law is slanted towards mothers.”
I find the statement quizzical. Ultimately, I would not
give the sentiment much credit if it were not for the
fact that I have heard it so often that I have to assume
there is some repository of Family Law knowledge out
there that is specifically taught to men that I somehow
missed out on in my study of the law.
Most of the time the notion is expressed as related to
the court determination of a time-sharing plan and
child support. Now while I find the perception of the
Mother/Woman bias to be vaguely supported by the
statistics (i.e. historically, mothers have received the
majority of majority custodial responsibility), it is not
factually accurate that the “law” is facially biased.
In fact, the law goes out of its way to be neutral, or
impartial on its face.
18 | F L A G L E R parent M A G A Z I N E
Florida law states:
“It is the public policy of this state that each minor
1. child
has frequent and continuing contact with both
parents after the parents separate or the marriage
of the parties is dissolved and to encourage parents
to share the rights and responsibilities, and joys, of
child-rearing. There is no presumption for or against
the father or mother of the child or for or against
any specific time-sharing schedule when creating or
modifying the parenting plan of the child.”
“The court shall order that the parental
2. responsibility
for a minor child be shared by both
parents unless the court finds that shared parental
responsibility would be detrimental to the child.”
Fla. Statutes §61.13(c)1,2.
As you can see, the law promotes equality and
specifically prohibits a presumption in favor of the
mother for time-sharing purposes.