Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

A Florida parenting plan can include many provisions, but there are some limits on what is allowable. One provision that is usually prohibited is a prospective change in time-sharing. For example, a parenting plan that says a time-sharing schedule will automatically change once a child turns a certain age may not be enforceable. This was an issue in the case Harrell v. Cook, 1D20-1379 (Fla. 1st DCA January 12, 2022).

The parties to this case lived in two different states - the mother lived in Florida and the father lived in Texas. A parenting plan entered by the trial court stated that “Until the minor child begins kindergarten” the mother would exercise a certain alternating weekend time-sharing schedule. The mother appealed, arguing it was error for the trial court to base time-sharing on a future event.

The appellate court agreed, citing prior case law holding the same: “See Preudhomme v. Preudhomme, 245 So. 3d 989 (Fla. 1st DCA 2018) (holding that lower court engaged in prohibited prospective-based analysis when it ruled it was in the best interest of the child for the parties to continue to rotate weekly timesharing until the child entered kindergarten); see also Hughes v. Binney, 285 So. 3d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019) (holding that lower court erred by engaging in prohibited prospective-based analysis when it attempted to anticipate what the future best interests of the child would be when modifying a time-sharing schedule); see also Robbins v. Kerns, 308 So. 3d 255 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020) (holding that lower court engaged in prohibited prospective-based analysis by ruling that time-sharing schedule would change to 50/50 automatically when the child entered kindergarten approximately two years in the future).” The case was remanded with instructions for the trial court to delete time-sharing and custody related to future events.

If you need assistance with your Florida child custody case, contact a Miami family law attorney to discuss the specifics of your situation.