Fort Lauderdale Divorce Lawyer Blog

Once your Broward divorce lawyer has finalized your divorce, you may seek to relocate . Some parents move closer to family and friends. Others find better employment offers outside of the Fort Lauderdale area. In addition, you may meet someone new and decide to relocate from Florida. Whatever the reason may be, a parent relocating after a Broward divorce can be traumatic for children. It is important that your children maintain contact and access with you in order to comply with the parenting plan and time-sharing arrangement.

It is important that your children keep in touch when you relocate. The children should visit with the relocating parent during long weekends and holidays. Time-sharing in Fort Lauderdale or your new home should be made in advance. Make a note of the time-sharing that your children will spend with you so that you can look forward to the time that you will spend with your children.

In between time-sharing in Broward, text message and e-mail your children in between telephone calls. Your Fort Lauderdale divorce lawyer can include other means of communication between your children and you including a web camera and videoconferencing.

It is important that you and your spouse strictly comply with your Broward time-sharing schedule and parenting plan to reduce any anxiety that your children will experience when you relocate. If there is a set schedule for telephone access, you and your spouse should make sure that telephone calls to your children are not forgotten. The both of you should also ensure that you are on time for pick-up and drop-off of your children during time-sharing exchanges.

Last but not least, make the most of your time with your children. Living away from your children makes it more complex to see your children. In addition, traveling to see your children can be stressful. Enjoy the time that you spend together. Cooking meals, going to the park, watching movies and reading with your children are ideal activities which you can enjoy together as a family. Most important, be affectionate and tell your children that you love them.

In order to temporarily modify custody in Broward County, Florida, you must show that there has been a substantial or material change in circumstances and that the modification is in the best interest of the child or children involved. There must be a factual basis sufficient to show that conditions have become materially altered since the entry of the prior custody order. In the case of Bon v. Rivera, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a Fort Lauderdale, Florida divorce judge who granted the Former Husband's Emergency Motion for Temporary Change of Custody.

At the time of the parties divorce, the Former Wife resided in Miami-Dade County, Florida and the Former Husband resided in Broward County, Florida. The Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage that incorporated the parties' marital settlement agreement stated that neither party shall relocate the minor children from Miami-Dade County, Broward County or the southern portion of Palm Beach County, Florida. Two years after the divorce, the Former Wife accepted a job in West Palm Beach, Florida and advised the Former Husband that she intended to move with the two minor children.

The Former Husband filed an Emergency Motion for Temporary Custody, Child Support and Attorney's Fees alleging that the Former Wife had violated the relocation provisions of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. The trial court entered an order modify the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage and granting the Former Husband temporary custody. The Former Wife appealed the decision of the trial court and alleged that the trial court abused its discretion in modifying custody since there was no true emergency.

In reversing the decision of the trial court, the Fourth District Court of Appeal held that the trial court erred in temporarily modifying custody of the parties' children. The Court reasoned that the Former Husband did not specifically allege, in his motion or at the hearing, that there had been a substantial change in circumstances since the entry of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. Furthermore, the trial court did not make any written findings to support its ruling. The Court further stated that Former Wife had a misplaced reliance on the "true emergency" test. The Court reasoned that under the "true emergency test", a court can modify custody without notice when there is a showing that the minor children are to be threatened with physical harm or about to be removed from the state. However, in the instant case this test did not apply since the trial court conducted an evidentiary hearing after notice to both parties.