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1. Child Custody and Time-Sharing in Florida
If yourecently went through a divorce, the idea of child custody may be daunting. It is a complicated
bit of law and deals with some difficult subjectsfor every family. Youshould, of course, retainthe help
of a lawyer, but if you want to get a little information for yourself, here is what you should know.
Time-sharing
The first thing to know about child custody in Florida is that there is no such thing. It is called time-
sharing, meaning neither younor the other parent will have custody of your children. Youwill, instead,
share your child’s time as the court decides is best. The way their time is divided will depend on the
court’s decision on your parenting plan.
Parenting Plan
The parenting plan for your childcan be mutually agreed upon or it can be decided upon by the court.
Because custody isnot a concept that’s applied in Florida, youare granted more flexibility inhow your
child’s time is allocated. If youare agreeing upon your plan without the help of a judge, it is important

2. to get the helpof a lawyer. Anamicable divorce isagreat start, but creatinga parentingplan that covers
all the details is a task best handled by an expert.
If youleave it up to a judge to decide they will look at your case holistically and make a decision they
believe is in the best interest of your child. The things they may consider includes, but is not limited
to:
 your involvement in your child’s life; including education, sports, medical care, etc.
 your commitment to cultivating an amicable relationship with the other parent
 the appropriateness of your home for children; sleeping arrangements, child-proofing, age-
appropriate toys
 provenability to deliver on temporary parentingplans or previousparenting plans, if any history
of childcare
Visitation
Because Florida law does not include the concept of custody, there is also no such thing as visitation.
The parenting plan may outline something similar to visitation, but in the past, special kinds of
visitation such as supervised visitation have only been included in extreme cases.
Child Support
Child support is calculated by anumber of factors includingincome, health insurance, childcare costs.
Thisis done with the Florida Child Support Calculator. Thoughit cannot guarantee an accurate result,
this calculator shouldgive yousome idea of what kind of payments youwill be making. The amount of
child support you pay will of course depend on what percentage of the time-sharing is yours.
Temporary Orders
While your divorce is being finalized and the parenting plan is being decided upon, there will be
temporary orders put in place. It is especially important to follow these guidelines carefully if you

3. believe your child custody case will go to court. If you prove your ability to follow these temporary
rules, the courts will likely look favorably.
Modification
Once a parenting plan has been established, it becomes significantly more difficult to change the way
your child’s care is handled. This is why it’s important to get a lawyer’s help; they will work to ensure
your parenting plan is right for your situation. If youdo need to make a modification, youwill need to
prove that there isa reasonthe change is necessary. Youwillbe askedto prove that the child’ssituation
is significantly different than when the parenting plan was established.