Make Legal Florida Family Law Forms For Free

You can represent yourself if you so choose. This is called pro se representation. But just because you're allowed to represent yourself doesn't mean you should. For example, if you're going through a contentious divorce or battling child custody, these are not legal issues you want to tackle alone.

As a result of the new change, the court will initially presume that a 50/50 division of parenting time is in a child's best interests. In other words, unless rebutted by other evidence, the court must award equal time-sharing to both parents.

How Does Florida Determine Custody? When the parents are unable to reach an agreement outside of court, the judge decides their parenting plan terms based on the child's best interest. Beginning July 1, 2023, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal timesharing is in the child's best interest.

50/50 parenting plans are arrangements in which both parents are allowed to share equal parenting time with their child or children. This type of parenting plan is popular among divorced parents because it does not provide one parent with greater custody and the other parent with limited access to the child.

While there is no guarantee of a specific custody arrangement, the state of Florida generally favors shared parental responsibility and encourages frequent and continuing contact with both parents, unless it's determined that such an arrangement would not be in the best interests of the child.

Typically, the non-custodial parent ? the parent who spends less time with the kids ? pays child support. However, the child support award may be based on the parents' total monthly income and expenses when both parents share joint custody, and their custody time is evenly split.