Your children come first
Let us help you find a resolution to your parental responsibilities and time sharing needs.
Determining Parenting Time Schedules
Parental responsibilities and time sharing are ways to describe where children will spend their time when parents are separated or divorced. Family law courts typically do not look at parents’ marital status when determining where a child will live or visit when parents live separately. Both never-married and divorced parents have obligations to care for their children.
For best results in this sensitive area of family law, work closely with an experienced family law attorney. Our Florida attorneys at The Gufford Law Firm, P.A., have decades of experience and have helped many families through legal transitions involving parental responsibilities, time sharing and child support. We can do the same for you.
Understand How To Protect Your Parent-Child Relationship
As you enter into negotiations over parental responsibility and time sharing as part of a divorce or if you are separated or unmarried, get knowledgeable legal counsel to understand your rights and responsibilities.
In an ideal world, parents who are separated or divorced will collaborate and put children’s interests first when negotiating where children will live and how they will maintain relationships with both parents. In real life, however, parents often disagree. Most parents naturally want their children to be with them as much as possible. Logistical, emotional and financial factors come into play when parents are planning who will care for the children, and when. Our lawyers are ready to advocate for you and your children.
Types Of Time Sharing By Separated Parents
Legally speaking, the rights and responsibilities for children’s nurturing may be allocated in one of these ways:
When time sharing includes overnights with each parent: The child(ren) may alternate time with each parent, usually in the parents’ respective homes. In some cases, parents collaborate well enough to let the children stay in one place while the parents take turns caring for them there. More often, time sharing will mean children have two homes. Legal aspects of parental responsibilities include the right to enroll children in school, take them to the doctor, take them on vacations and so on. Parental responsibilities: Decisions about children’s upbringing may be allocated to one or both parents. Sometimes one parent is absent or unfit. In such cases, the court may give one parent full responsibility to care for children and make decisions for them.
If Your Case Involves Deep Disputes
Parents’ locations, home environments, degree of involvement with children and other factors are all part of the big picture. If you and your children’s other parent disagree about where the children will live and when, your case may be resolved through:
- Negotiations
- Mediation
- Litigation
- Court order