Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

When a parent seeks to modify a Florida parenting plan, the court must consider the factors listed in Florida Statute 61.13 to determine if modification is in the best interest of a child. The court has less discretion in modifying a parenting plan than it does in creating one. Modification of timesharing was an issue in the case Allyn v. Allyn, 2D21-2368 (Fla. 2d DCA November 30, 2022).

The father filed a petition to modify timesharing based on alleged inappropriate sexual contact between his child and the child’s half-sisters living in the mother’s home. After a hearing, the court granted the father’s request, decreasing the mother’s overall time-sharing and eliminating her overnight time-sharing. The mother appealed.

Noting that the mother did not provide a transcript of the hearing, the appellate court held “When presented with a judgment modifying a parenting plan, we review a circuit court's findings of fact and rulings based upon those findings for abuse of discretion. [internal citations omitted] In the absence of a transcript, however, we are left with reviewing this supplemental final judgment for error on its face. [internal citations omitted]. We have no cause to disturb the circuit court's determination that a substantial and material change in circumstances had arisen and that it would be in the best interest of the parties' minor child to modify the parenting plan.”

The court did find one reversible error in the final judgment, however, concerning instructions related to a therapist. The court’s order in part stated “The Court finds that the parties should work with [the therapist] to expand the time sharing so that the child can transition to an equal time-sharing plan starting when school lets out for the summer assuming it is in the best interest of the child. The parties will defer to [the therapist] regarding the expansion of time sharing. [The therapist] may file requests for judicial case management conferences if additional court oversight is needed.” The appellate court held it was error for the trial court to delegate its decision-making authority to the therapist.

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