Required Parenting Plan for Divorce in Florida
According to Florida divorce laws, every couple going through a divorce in Florida with children must complete a parenting plan. For many decades, Florida has stood strong about their policy on children and divorce. florida’s laws work to insure that every child has contact with both of their parents as much as possible after a legal separation or divorce in Florida. The law states that every parent should share the awesome responsibility, rights, and enjoyment that come from raising children.
There are three main categories that parenting laws are divided into according to Florida divorce law: time sharing, child support, and parental responsibility. It is crucial that both parents work together to raise the child, unless it is harmful to the welfare of the child to be with one of the parents. The main reason this is done is to insure that the child has parental involvement with both parents after a divorce in Florida.
Sharing parental responsibility involves both parents talking about and deciding any major
decisions that involve the child’s life. These are some things that will have lasting consequences for your child:
1. Child Care
2. School
3. Psychotherapy
4. Doctors
5. Surgery
6. Long term Medical Care
7. Sports and other extracurricular activities
8. Trips and passports
If the children are older, it would have to do with other types of decision, like driving, car buying, quitting school, employment, and college. It is wise to talk to the child about these things as well, however, the parents should be the ones to make the final decision. Some of the other things that your parenting plan for a divorce in Florida needs to cover are:
1. Education- It must be decided who will go to school conferences, and how the parents
will get notice of the event. Who will pay private school tuition, and for how many years?
How will the division of school fees be divided? You need to also discuss if one or both
of you will pay for the costs of college.
2. Relocation- It needs to be determined under what set of circumstances a custodial
parent is able to move with the child.
3. Transportation- You must decide how the child will get back and forth to each house.
Who will be driving, and where will the exchange of the child/children take place?
Divorce in Florida has changed dramatically in recent years. Instead of one parent being awarded primary custody of a child, and visitation with a noncustodial parent, state laws say that after a divorce in Florida, parents must come up with an effective parenting plan that entails the times the child will spend with each parent, where the child will be living, and the way in which important decisions about the child’s raising and care should be made. This new system is meant to recognize the importance of both parents in a child’s life, instead of showing favoritism to one parent.
While it might be impossible to divide the time the child spends with both parents equally, it is designed to allow the child to have as much time as possible with both parents, giving the child the best of both worlds. A complete and thorough parenting plan can help you avoid many future problems after your divorce in Florida.