Lakeland Family Lawyer

One would think that you should be able to pick up and move with your child(ren) whenever and wherever you would like. However, if you have shared parental responsibility pursuant to a parenting plan in Florida, unfortunately you cannot just move; or you might be in contempt of court.  It seems that I have had to counsel quite a few people on "relocation" lately, so I thought a blog post was necessary. Relocation is the change of your residence at the time of the order establishing or modifying time sharing for 60 consecutive days.  The change of location of residence must be 50 miles.  Therefore, If you move within a 50 mile radius, then you have not relocated.  If you and your co-parent agree to the relocation, then the statute allows the two of you to sign an agreement saying that you both consent.  The agreement must also define the new time sharing schedule and describe the transportation arrangements.  This agreement can be filed with the...

It's that time of year.  The time when I get complaints about my child's parent is not being cooperative about Christmas and I want to take them to court .  It is difficult, because both parents want to spend as much time with their child as possible.  You may want to leave to go out of town earlier than your parenting plan will allow, and maybe the other parent is being unreasonable by not allowing you to do so.  Or maybe your parenting plan has been in place for a few years and now that your child is older, you believe the holiday schedule is just not working anymore.  Now I could be the type of lawyer that sees a money making opportunity and immediately starts typing up a motion for enforcemen t or a petition for modification , but I'm not.  I say let's put the brakes on and talk about this for a minute to see if that is necessary. First and foremost, it is always about the best interests of the child.  The law looks to the best interests of the c...