Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

The Florida relocation statute contains requirements which must be followed to avoid dismissal or denial of a request for relocation. One such requirement is that if a request to move is based on a job offer that has been reduced to writing, the offer must be attached to the petition. This was an issue in the case Lane v. Fuller, 5D2023-1943 (Fla. 5th DCA June 7, 2024).

The parties originally entered a parenting plan which granted them equal timesharing. The mother subsequently filed a petition for relocation, citing as the sole reason for her move a job offer. She stated in her petition that the written job offer was attached, but it was not. She also stated in the petition that the father would have a long-distance timesharing plan, but did not specify her proposal until about a year after her petition was filed. After a trial, the mother’s petition was granted and the court also awarded her the tax dependency exemption each year. The father appealed.

The appellate court reversed, holding the mother’s petition was legally insufficient because (1) it did not attach the job offer as required, and (2) she did not specify her proposal for post-relocation contact between the father and the child in her petition as required by the statute. The court further held “Beyond the multiple pleading deficiencies in the relocation portion of Mother’s petition, the supplemental judgment also contains a finding that is incompatible with modifying the parenting plan. Specifically, the court found that ‘Mother works remotely from home.’ This finding contradicts the central premise of Mother’s petition—that Mother had to move because of her work. Mother touted her Jacksonville job offer as the “unanticipated” change that entitled her to modification. Bottom line, the trial court modified the parenting plan— shifting 90.5 overnights annually from Father to Mother—based on a petition alleging that Mother had to relocate for work, but in doing so, found that Mother worked remotely. This was error.” Turning to the tax dependency exemption, the court found it was error to award this to the mother where she did not request this relief in her petition.

Schedule your meeting with a Miami family law attorney to determine the next best steps in your case.