General information on dissolution of marriage
“Parental responsibility” is the authority to make decisions regarding your child’s healthcare, religion, education, and other issues unique to your family. You may have heard parental responsibility referred to as “legal custody,” though this term is no longer used in Florida.
Courts will generally order one of three possibilities for parental responsibility:
Two judges have recently joined Hillsborough County’s Family Law/Domestic Relations Division. Below you will find brief profiles:
The Honorable Cheryl K. ThomasThe Honorable Cheryl K. Thomas joined the Family Law Division in January 2011. Judge Thomas was initially appointed to the bench in December of 2000 and then elected in September 2002. Judge Thomas has also served in the county criminal and county civil courts.
Judge Thomas has been involved in the following organizations:
The Honorable Thomas P. Barber joined the Family Law Division in January 2011. Judge Barber was initially appointed to the bench in 2004 and then elected in 2006. Judge Barber has also served in the circuit criminal and county criminal courts, as well as the Election Canvassing Board.
Judge Barber has authored numerous articles and taught complex litigation and trial advocacy as an adjunct professor at Stetson Law School. Further, Judge Thomas has been involved in the following organizations:
Sometimes–such as when there is a history of domestic violence–courts order restrictions on time-sharing. A video from GetLegal describes options that are available for restricted time-sharing.
GetLegal offers a helpful video on preparing for an evidentiary hearing in a child custody matter:
The following video from Fox 25 out of Boston warns family law litigants of the dangers of posting information on social networking sites such as Facebook:
The following article was written by Mike McCurley for the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers:
—
Divorce is never easy on kids, but there are many ways parents can lessen the impact of their break-up on their children:
The Fifth Judicial Circuit of Florida (which includes Citrus, Hernando, Lake, Marion, and Sumter Counties) offers the following general rules for mediation:*
Judge Irene Sullivan, author of “Raised by the Courts”, appointee of Florida Governor Rick Scott’s Law and Order Transition Team, and formerly a member of the Unified Family Court in the Sixth Judicial Circuit (Pinellas County), discusses dependency and delinquency in this video:
If a parent is activated, deployed, or temporarily assigned to military service, courts have the option of entering a temporary order that modifies a custody order. That temporary order may provide the non-military parent with more time-sharing. Due to recent changes to section 61.13002, Florida Statutes, the Court also has the option of designating a family member of the child to exercise time-sharing on behalf of the military parent. Any temporary modification of the time-sharing will be dissolved once the military parent returns from the service, deployment, or temporary assignment.
Additionally, the temporary order may address child support by taking the following actions:
As I wrote in my previous post, the Virgina State Bar Association’s Family Law Section produced a video entitled “Spare the Child” which discusses how to safeguard the emotional well-being of children during divorce and other family law proceedings. The section has also produced a Spanish-language version of the video, entitled “Proteger al Niño.” You may access this video after the jump:
