At Beller Law, PL, we help you request a modification to your parenting plan. Attorney Rebeccah Beller draws on more than 25 years of trial experience to prepare court filings, negotiate parenting-plan terms, and represent parents at hearings. Our firm provides compassionate, education-focused representation in Duval, Clay, and St. Johns County for family law issues.
What Is a Parenting Plan?
A parenting plan lays out how parents share responsibilities for their child and when the child spends time with each parent. Parenting plans must address a number of issues including the following:
- How the parents divide daily parenting tasks;
- When the child spends time with each parent;
- Who makes decisions about health care, education, and other activities;
- How the parents communicate about the child; and
- Where the parents exchange the child.
Parents often work together to create their parenting plan, and it requires court approval to become legally binding. Often, you create your initial parenting plan through a dissolution of marriage case or a petition for custody in Florida.
When Can You Modify a Parenting Plan in Florida?
Florida law states that parents may modify a parenting plan when there has been a substantial, unanticipated, and material change in circumstances since the current plan, and the modification would serve the child’s best interests. Several common circumstances that change a child or parent’s life often satisfy that legal standard.
What Is a Substantial and Material Change in Circumstances?
A substantial and material change is a significant development that affects the child’s welfare or the continued suitability of the current plan. When evaluating what is in the child’s best interests, Florida courts consider factors such as the child’s:
- Stability,
- Daily routine,
- Development,
- Schooling,
- Safety, and
- Relationship with each parent.
They also consider the geographic practicality of the schedule and each parent’s ability to meet the child’s needs and carry out parenting responsibilities.
What Are Common Reasons to Modify a Parenting Plan in Florida?
Common reasons to modify a parenting plan in Florida that typically satisfy the material and substantial change requirement include:
- A move that changes travel times, school transportation, or exchange arrangements;
- A permanent work-schedule change that conflicts with the time-sharing schedule;
- New educational, medical, developmental, or caregiving needs;
- Repeated interference by one parent with the other’s time with the child;
- Domestic violence, abuse, neglect, substance misuse, or another safety concern; and
- Significant improvement in a parent’s ability to care for the child.
Additionally, if the parents lived more than 50 miles apart when the court entered the last order, one parent’s move to within 50 miles of the other may constitute a substantial and material change.
How to Modify a Parenting Plan
To modify your parenting plan, reach out to your family lawyer. We can help you understand how the law applies to your circumstances, then work with you to draft and file a motion to modify a parenting plan to seek approval of the changes you need.
Parents may agree that their parenting plan should change, or one parent may ask the court to modify it over the other parent’s objection. In either situation, only the court can replace the existing order.
If you and the other parent agree, your attorney can draft a revised parenting plan that complies with Florida law. If the other parent opposes modification, we help you gather evidence showing what has changed and how the proposed revision would affect your child. We include that evidence with the motion, in which we explain what the law requires the court to do based on the circumstances at play.
After we file the request for modification, the other parent may agree, object, or propose different provisions. In that case, we help you try to reach a resolution outside the courtroom through negotiation and mediation. If disagreement remains, we present your evidence in court and explain why modification is justified and what terms the judge should include in the modified parenting plan.
Discuss a Parenting Plan Modification in Florida with Beller Law, PL
Beller Law, PL, can help you modify your parenting plan to update time-sharing, parental responsibilities, exchanges, or decision-making to reflect significant life changes. When you work with us, we provide dedicated support and focus on ensuring that you understand what is happening in your case, why, and when.
Contact us to discuss your options.