Child Custody & Visitation

The most emotional family law cases occur when children are involved. Custody and visitation disputes occur in divorce cases and other family law cases such as post-judgment cases and paternity cases. The court considers what is in the best interests of the child when making all decisions regarding children. At Mindi Lasley, P.A. we aggressively represent you and your children’s best interests. Please contact our office to schedule a consultation.

On October 1, 2008, a new law went into effect that requires all cases with minor children to develop a parenting plan. The parenting plan has eliminated the prior terminology of “primary residential responsibility” and “visitation.” Instead of using the term “visitation”, Florida courts now use the term “time-sharing” and instead of using the term “primary residential responsibility” or “primary parent” the courts applies the term “majority timesharing” to the parent that the child resides with most of the time.

The new statute still allows for “sole custody” which is difficult to obtain and allows one parent alone to make all decisions for the minor child(ren), and “shared parental responsibility”, which is standard in Florida and requires both parents to work together in raising their child(ren) with each parent getting equal decision making authority.

The parenting plan must be very detailed, establishing a timesharing schedule and addressing issues such as transportation of the minor child(ren), which parent will be able to decide issues relating to religion, education, healthcare and extracurricular activities of the child(ren), and a communication schedule the minor child(ren) will have with the parents. At Mindi Lasley, P.A., we are experienced in drafting and litigating parenting plans to the very smallest details to obtain the time-sharing schedule that is fair for both you and your child(ren). Each family is different and therefore each parenting plan is different and must be tailored to address you and your family’s needs. Ms. Lasley drafts parenting plans that are specifically tailored to meet the needs of you and your family and plan for future occurrences (such as when a young child will start school or when an older child will be able to drive) to attempt to prevent clients from being forced to come back to court to modify the parenting plan years later when it is no longer applicable.

It’s important to ensure that the child(ren) have frequent timesharing and communication with both parents. The parties involved in a family law case should also do everything possible to prevent the child(ren) from learning the details of their case.

In determining a parenting plan, there are numerous statutory factors that the judge considers. Two of the most important factors are:

  1. What parenting plan would be in the best interests of the child(ren), and
  2. The disposition of each parent to facilitate and encourage a close and continuing parent-child relationship, to honor the time-sharing schedule and to be reasonable when changes are required.

Ms. Lasley is able to apply the many factors considered by the court in developing the parenting plan to your specific case and persuasively present the parenting plan to the court that is in the best interests of your child(ren).