These are two of the buzzwords of family cases that have minor children involved. It is the job of the Court, sometimes with the assistance of service providers, to determine parental responsibility and timesharing. Parental Responsibility and Timesharing are the new words for what people usually think of as “custody”. The Court no longer looks at the parent-child relationship in terms of “custody”. 

Parental responsibility refers to the making of major decisions relating to the child’s life. Major decisions include, but are not limited to, decisions about the Minor Children’s education, healthcare, religious indoctrination, and other responsibilities unique to your family. Pursuant to Florida law, we start at joint or shared parental responsibility where both parents are required to discuss and agree to all of these major decisions. However, there are instances where this will not be possible. The Court can take into consideration the lengthy list of factors detailed in the statute to determine if shared parental responsibility is truly in the best interests of the child(ren).

Timesharing is what most parents think of as visitation. The Parenting Plan will contain a detailed schedule of when each parent spends time with the child(ren) during the school year, school breaks, holidays unique to the family, and even birthdays. This schedule will always take into consideration the needs and ability of the parents to attend to the child on these particular days and most certainly caters to the needs and schedule of the child.