Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

A basic rule in Florida family law cases is that a party must be on notice of relief that may be granted at a hearing. In the case Ramirez v. Ramirez, 4D19-3260 (Fla. 4th DCA March 18, 2020), the court considered the issue of a mother’s appeal of an award of temporary sole parental responsibility to the father.

The parties moved to Florida from Ohio. Approximately nine months after the move, the father notified the mother he wished to seek a divorce. In response, the mother moved back to Ohio with the parties’ children. The father immediately filed a petition for divorce and a motion for return of the children to Florida. The petition for divorce requested shared parental responsibility while the motion requested that the children be placed in the father’s sole care on a temporary basis. After a hearing on the motion, the court granted the father’s motion for pick-up order, finding the mother improperly removed the children from Florida. The father was awarded temporary sole parental responsibility and sole physical custody of the children.

The mother appealed. The appellate court ruled many of the mother’s argument were not preserved for appeal because she did not raise them in a motion for reconsideration before the trial court. Nonetheless, one issue that was preserved for appeal was the issue of awarding the father sole parental responsibility. The court reversed the sole parental responsibility determination, holding “The only issue preserved for appeal is whether the trial court violated the wife's due process rights by awarding the husband sole parental responsibility even though he never requested that relief in his pleadings. The husband asked for shared parental responsibility in his dissolution petition and asked only for "sole care" of the children in his emergency motion. The court ruled that the husband's request for ‘sole care’ of the children was a sufficient request for sole parental responsibility. We have de novo review of this pure question of law. We conclude that the court erred in awarding the husband sole parental responsibility because his request for ‘sole care’ of the children was insufficient to place the wife on notice that her parental rights were at stake.”

Florida law imposes on married parents different rights and responsibilities than those of parents who were never married. Schedule a consultation with a Miami child custody lawyer to understand all aspects of your case.