Posted by Nydia Streets of Streets Law in Florida Child Custody

What happens when a judge’s written ruling does not match the judge’s oral ruling in a Florida family law case? Usually, a judge will orally announce a ruling at a hearing to the parties and then a written order documenting the ruling will be entered later. Inconsistencies between the oral and written orders were an issue in the case Silver v. Goodrich, 4D2024-0259 (Fla. 4th DCA June 5, 2024).

In this child custody case, the mother was found to be in indirect civil contempt of a timesharing order. As a result, the court granted the father’s motion to modify timesharing. The court orally pronounced that the mother would have overnight timesharing every Wednesday. The written order, however, granted the mother overnight timesharing every other week on Thursday night. The mother appealed.

The appellate court reversed on this point, holding “It is well established that ‘[w]hen a trial court’s written order is inconsistent with its earlier oral pronouncement, the oral pronouncement generally controls and the written order must be reversed.’ Johansson v. Johansson, 348 So. 3d 1153, 1155 (Fla. 4th DCA 2022); see also Soldatich v. Jones, 290 So. 3d 497, 500 (Fla. 4th DCA 2020); Cappola v. Cappola, 280 So. 3d 102, 104 (Fla. 4th DCA 2019); Glick v. Glick, 874 So. 2d 1238, 1241 (Fla. 4th DCA 2004). As such, we reverse and remand solely for the trial court to amend the written order to conform to its prior oral pronouncement stating that the Mother shall have weekly overnight visitations with the child every Wednesday.”

Schedule your meeting with a Miami family law attorney to understand how the law may apply to your case.