Custody Vs. Time-Sharing
Providing low cost, affordable legal services for custody, parental responsibility and timesharing issues.
Types Of Custody
In divorce, custody is probably the issue that creates the most apprehension for divorcing parents. Many people feel that they are transitioning into the unknown. Unknown family status – will the kids stay with you or not? Unknown quality of life – how will you and your children fare with the changed circumstance? Will you just be a stranger in your child’s life, but be forced to pay through child support for the privilege of seeing them on a sporadic basis? The terms “custody” and “timesharing” are legal terms. In Florida, the term custody has been replaced by the terms parental responsibilities and timesharing.
What Is Timesharing?
Timesharing like physical custody refers to how following a divorce, a court allocates the time children spend with each of their parents. Custody and timesharing are often the most contested issues in a divorce. Florida no longer recognizes the term custody. Instead the terms timesharing and parental responsibility are the terms used to describe the legal relationship between a child and his or her parent.
The loss of a family unit is a deeply emotional period and the transition from one household to two is often a great source of stress for parents. Tensions run high during a divorce. In addition to dealing with where the children will spend their time, the issue of child support leaves many parents panicked as they must cope with the idea of providing financial support for two households.
Are Your Children At Risk?
In contested cases, it is not unusual for the following scenarios:
- One parent is attempting to poison the children against the other parent. This is referred to as parental alienation (link to parental alienation page). The alienating parent often times suffers from a narcissistic personality disorder and tend to put the children in the middle of the parents’ dispute
- One parent does not allow the other parent access to the children. Timesharing and visitation are done on “their terms.” This is also a classic example of parental alienation
- One parent will fight for more custody or timesharing just to have more child support
- One parent will make false allegations of sexual or domestic abuse against the other parent
- One parent will use another parent’s employment and work commitments as a reason as to why the parent is unfit.
What To Do
These emotionally challenging issues require a family attorney who has been trained to understand the issues common to divorce or other family law areas. My firm, , solely focuses on marital and family law, and I provide my clients with competent legal advice. I am attorney Jennifer H. Milne, and I understand the goal is to protect the best interest of the child. Call today for a free phone consultation and speak with an attorney who can help navigate you through this difficult period. I have provided many clients with much-needed legal advice regarding custody and timesharing. I will carefully listen to the facts of your situation and provide you with a no-nonsense legal assessment of your case. Call 561-303-0400 to schedule your free phone consultation. Click here after hours for an immediate call during the next available business hours.