At a Glance

In every Florida divorce involving minor children, the law asks parents to keep their children’s wellbeing front and center, and when a child has special needs, getting on the same page about that child’s future becomes even more important.

• Florida Statute section 61.21 requires divorcing parents with minor children to complete a Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course before a final judgment can be entered.
• If your child has an identified disability, developmental delay, or emotional concern, Florida law directs you to take a version of that course tailored specifically to those needs.
• Completing a special needs parenting course is one way for parents to start aligning on their child’s future, but it is rarely the whole picture.
• The Collaborative Divorce process also gives parents a private setting to work through the fuller picture together: education decisions, healthcare coordination, and in some cases planning for support that may extend into adulthood.

Every divorce involving children asks parents to do something hard: set aside their own conflict long enough to think clearly about what their child needs. That is true in every case. But when a child has special needs, the stakes for getting this right multiply. School placement, therapy schedules, medical decisions, and sometimes questions about support that reach well past the age of eighteen are not things you can figure out later. They need both parents pulling in the same direction, starting now. Florida law recognizes this. It requires something more than the standard divorce paperwork when a child’s needs call for it, and it opens the door to a process built for exactly this kind of planning.

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