Information about Florida child custody is found in Title 6, Chapter 61: Dissolution of Marriage, Support, and Custody in the Florida Statutes and Family Code. This is important information for Florida parents who are involved in a custody situation.
The law requires that parents submit a parenting plan to the court. A Florida parenting plan (you may also hear this referred to as a Florida custody agreement, but the court and the law uses the term parenting plan) must cover three parenting issues: parental responsibility, parental time sharing, and support. Parents should include all of this information in their plans.
Parental responsibility is referring to legal custody. This is the responsibility and right that parents have to make important decisions about their children. The parents must figure out who will be responsible for what decisions and include that in the plan.
Parental time sharing means the custody and visitation schedule. A Florida custody schedule should include a repeating cycle of custody, a holiday schedule, vacation time, and special events. Both parents must have adequate time with the children. The law states that the parents should have frequent and continuing contact with the children. Florida law has a presumption that shared parenting is in the best interest of the child. Parents can choose this arrangement, or the court can order it. This doesn’t necessarily mean that each parent has the children for the exact same amount, but rather that each parent has significant time with the children. This time should be shown in the Florida visitation schedule.
To figure out support, the parents should use the state child support calculator. The state will figure in the income of both parents and the time they each have the children.