Does Florida favor mothers?

No. There is no presumption for either parent. The court starts from the premise that a child benefits from frequent contact with both parents and then applies the statutory best-interest factors.

Can I keep my child in the same Fort Lauderdale school?

School stability carries real weight, and a parenting plan can designate the school-boundary address. Where one parent plans to move, that becomes an issue to address directly in the plan.

My child's other parent keeps changing the schedule. What can I do?

A vague plan invites that. We either enforce the existing order through the court or move to modify it into something specific enough to leave no room for negotiation at every exchange.

Fort Lauderdale, Florida - Broward County

Fort Lauderdale Child Custody Attorney

Time-sharing plans built around the school calendar, the commute and the way your family actually runs.

Florida law does not use the word custody in the way parents expect. Broward judges approve a parenting plan that allocates shared parental responsibility for decisions and sets a time-sharing schedule. The plan must fit the child's life, not a template, and it has to survive contact with reality: Broward County Public Schools calendars, early-release days, aftercare cutoffs and traffic on Federal Highway at 5:30 pm.

For Fort Lauderdale parents, the details that decide whether a plan works are local. Whether both homes stay inside the same school boundary. Whether an exchange happens at the school, at a parent's office downtown, or somewhere neutral. How a parent working restaurant, hospital or marine-industry shifts gets meaningful weekday time when the other parent has a nine-to-five.

We draft plans specific enough to be enforced later, which is what prevents the same argument returning every holiday. When a parent is unsafe or a child is being used as leverage, we move quickly instead of waiting for the next scheduled hearing.

How Broward handles a time-sharing case

Cases are heard in the Seventeenth Judicial Circuit at the Broward County Courthouse in downtown Fort Lauderdale.
Every case involving children requires a written parenting plan approved by the court, covering decision-making, the schedule, holidays and how the parents will communicate.
The standard is the best interests of the child, weighed against the statutory factors in section 61.13 of the Florida Statutes, including each parent's capacity to put the child's needs first.
Parents are typically ordered to mediation, and a parenting course is required before the case concludes.
Moving a child more than 50 miles for 60 days or more requires the other parent's written agreement or a court order.

Fort Lauderdale questions we hear

For the full statewide overview of this area of law, see our child custody page.