Relocating your children before, during, and after a divorce is something that you really should talk to a Jacksonville Board Certified Divorce lawyer about before you move.  You can read the Florida Statute regarding relocation here.   As you can see, the statute is not easy to understand if you are not a divorce lawyer and most people going through a divorce do not even know that it exists.  The bottom line is that you can get in trouble with the divorce judge, damage your divorce case, or ruin your chances to move or keep the other parent from moving if you do not understand that law in advance of the problem.  As a board certified divorce expert lawyer, I can meet with you for a free consultation to discuss helping you try to relocate with your children as well as helping you to try and keep your children from moving away  I represent both men and women and your concerns are my concerns.

If you are the parent who is trying to move away to provide a better life for your children, we can discuss:

1)  How the move may affect your chances of having custody of your children or being the majority timesharing parent;

2)  How to apply for the relocation and how to consider new visitation or timesharing for the other parent, including transportation and its costs;

3)  How the other parent's lack of involvement or payment of support impacts the relocation; and

4)  What we can do on a temporary basis if we need to expedite your move.

If you are the parent who desparately seeks to keep the close and loving relationship that you have with your children, we can discuss:

1)  How we can act fast to prevent the other parent from moving away;

2)  How we can ask the Court to change custody or majority timesharing if the other parent does move;

3)  How to present your case to the divorce judge so that they understand your involvement as a parent and provider; and

4)  How the other parent's preventing you from having contact and access to your children or involving you in decisions affecting the children can impact your case.

If you are a military spouse or military member and this is a military divorce, you have come to the right place.  Special laws, concerns, and solutions apply to military families and we can dicuss:

1)  How deployments and changes of duty stations affect custody or timesharing for both the service member and the spouse; and

2)  Relocating with a new spouse who is a military member and how that affects custody or timesharing.

In short, if you are thinking about relocating and are getting a divorce, thinking about divorce, or already divorced; call me for a free consultation today.  Also; if this is before, during, or after a divorce and the other parent is trying to move away; call me and I can give you the benefit of my divorce advice from 17 years of helping folks getting a divorce just like you so that we can do what is best for your children.  I practice in St. Johns, Duval, Nassau, Clay, and Baker counties.  If you need me, I am here for you.  It costs nothing to talk to me, but could cost you a great deal without the right advice.

In addition to being one of the few board certified expert divorce attorneys in Jacksonville, Florida; I also have been a social investigator for the Jacksonville Courts since 1998.  If you are in the process of a divorce in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida, and there is an issue regarding the timesharing of your children, the Judge may require a parenting plan evaluation.  They have called this evaluation many things since I began practicing divorce law and doing social investigations in Jacksonville, Florida.  It used to be called a custody evaluation, home study evaluation, or social investigation.  It may involve psychological testing, home visits, observations of you with your children, interviews of your children and other witnesses, and a review of all of your documents or other exhibits.  It can take several months and needs to be given great care by you and your attorney.  It also is fairly expensive, often costing each party in excess of $2000.00 in addition to your legal fees. 

You should consult with a board certified Jacksonville divorce lawyer like myself before you begin this process.   Not all evaluators are right for your case.  Should you employ a psychologist, mental health counselor, an attorney, or a guardian ad litem?  And if so, which one?  Unless you are an experienced divorce lawyer like myself who has been through this process hundreds of times, you are not going to know which evaluator is right for your case.  The wrong evaluator can hurt your case and perhaps jeopardize the amount of time that you spend with your children.  Experienced board certified divorce lawyers know which evaluator to use for your case and I often have seen new, inexperienced attorneys hurt a client's case by choosing the wrong person for the evaluation.  I can help you select the right evaluator based upon the issues, gender, the Judge, the other attorney, and a great deal of other subtle factors that can make a big difference when it comes to you getting the time you deserve with your children.  I believe I have special knowledge regarding this issue since I perform and prepare the investigations as well as represent parents in my own divorce cases.  As always, military families have special considerations.  Call me today for your free consultation so that we can take the necessary steps to continue the close relationship that you have with your children before, during, and after your divorce.  I look foward to helping you.

There are seven family law divisions in Jacksonville, Duval County, Florida and each one has its own judge with particular preferences as to how timesharing is approved in that division.  As a board certified Jacksonville divorce lawyer and having practiced in this county for the last sixteen years, I have come to learn each divorce judge's particular preferences.  You may be under the impression that you and the other parent are free to enter into any parenting plan or timesharing arrangement that you both feel is best for your children.  Parenting or timesharing plans, however, are always subject to the review and approval of the courts in a divorce matter.  Many judges take the position that one parent has custody (now "majority timesharing") and the other parent has visitation (now "timesharing") based upon a "guideline" schedule.  In Duval County, the local guideline timesharing can be seen here.  If the parents live more than 280 miles apart, the long distance guideline timesharing can be seen here.  The right Jacksonville divorce lawyer can advise you which judges adhere fairly strictly to the guidelines with few exceptions, which judges will approve variations of these guidelines (and what those variations are), and which judges are fine with most arrangements if the parties agree (just not equal timesharing arrangements).  Equal timesharing requires the right judge, the right facts, and the right lawyer to get the Court to accept the arrangement and even then, approval is rare and carries certain conditions.  All of your agreements regarding parental responsibility and timesharing are contained in a parenting plan.  You can view a generic parenting plan here.  You should consult with a board certified Jacksonville divorce lawyer as to what parenting plan would be best for your children.  Be aware, the parenting plan affects the amount of child support that a parent will receive or pay so any agreement should be entered into with a full awareness of how it will affect your ability to support your children while they are with you.  Military families should consider such factors as a change of orders and the resulting transportation expenses associated with such a move.  If there are issues such as domestic violence, a safety-focused parenting plan can be seen here.  Of course, these generic plans are just a basic format and my office does not believe in a "cookie-cutter" approach to your case.  Your children are the most important part of any divorce proceeding.  Call me today to help you craft a parenting plan that works for you and your children.

As one of a few board certified Jacksonville divorce lawyers, I have handled hundreds of child custody matters.  I also have mediated several hundreds of child custody cases.  As a social investigator for our circuit, I have prepared over one hundred written recommendations for our family law courts as well as testified as an expert.  We no longer refer to child issues in a divorce case in terms of who has "custody".  Florida has adopted the term "timesharing".  Many people confuse the old term "custody" with "shared parental responsibility".  "Shared parental responsiblility" means that you both continue as parents to make decisions for your children and enjoy all of the rights and responsiblities of parenthood.  "Sole parental responsiblity" means one person makes all the decisions.  This is rare and reserved for extreme cases of abuse to the children or spouse.  "Shared parental responsiblity" does not mean what we used to call "joint custody" or now, "equal timesharing".  It refers only to decision-making, not the time that the children spend in each parent's home. 

Now that we have "timesharing", the children now spend equal time with both parents after a divorce, right?  Wrong.  We have changed the names but the concepts remain the same.  There is NO presumption for "equal timesharing" for both parents, and in fact, it remains disfavored by the Courts especially for school-age children.  All timesharing arrangements must be approved by the Court (even if you agree) and approval of "week to week" or "50/50" is rare.  Well, as least no one has "custody", right?  Wrong again.  While changing the names, the now "majority timesharing" parent really is the person who has "custody" or what we used to call the "primary residential parent" and "timesharing" is just a nicer way of saying "visitation".  While these are merely "labels", the "majority timesharing" parent does, in effect, have "custody" of the children and with such a designation comes some benefits such as having the children in their care more and choosing their school district.  Your Jacksonville divorce lawyer should know your judge, the parenting plan evaluators, and the opposing counsel so that they can maximize your time with your children.

Are you going to be the "majority timesharing" parent?  Sixteen years of experience have taught me that the following five questions can answer that question in most cases.

1.  Are you the mother?  According to a 2009 U.S. Census Bureau Study, only 17.4% of men are custodial parents.  This has been unchanged since 1994.  Read the report here. 

2.  Were you a stay-at-home parent for most of the marriage?

3.  Did the children stay with you when you and your spouse separated?

4.  Do you have temporary "majority timesharing" of your children during the divorce case?

5.  Does the parenting plan evaluation recommend you?

If you can answer "yes" to most of these questions, absent some unusual circumstances, there is a good chance that the Court will award you the "majority timesharing" of your children.  You can further read the factors that the Court considers here.  Even if you answered "no" to most of those questions, you should talk to one of the few board certified Jacksonville divorce lawyers about maximizing your time with your children.  And, of course, there are some special considerations for military families.