Articles Posted in Custody/Time-Sharing

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Last Friday a ten year old autistic boy was abandoned at Broward General Medical Center. This weekend the mother of this child appeared before Circuit Judge Marina Garcia-Wood, a marital and family law Judge, at the Broward Courthouse for a child custody hearing. At thea hearing, the court wanted an explanation why her ten year old son, Benjamin, was found wandering around an emergency room on Friday.

The mother told the judge that she suffers from bipolar depression and recently separated from her husband. She has two other children, is unemployed and was recently evicted from her foreclosed home. Mrs. Benjamin dropped the minor child off at the hospital because she could not take care of him or find assistance to help her with the minor child.

While the boy’s father travelled from his residence in Islamorada after hearing that his son was abandoned, the minor child has been placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families pending a complete investigation. He has been taken to a foster home for children with special needs so that he can receive the services that he needs.

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Clients will often call their divorce lawyer in Fort Lauderdale and complain about time-sharing scheduling difficulties, missed appointments for their children and other parenting plan problems. Miami marital and family lawyers also hear complaints that one party has sent inappropriate text messages and emails or has requested reimbursement of unauthorized dental and doctor bills. These problems result in expensive court battles with children stuck in the middle of their parents disputes.

Websites are now available to assist parents in being more efficient with their parenting plan and minimizing conflict. Messages are saved in order to avoid conflicting stories from litigants.

In Broward and Miami-Dade, marital and family lawyers request that the court order parents to use websites such as OurFamilyWizard.com and Sharekids.com to communicate with each other in a more effective manner. While these websites permit therapists, lawyers and parenting coordinators to view the site, they also assist in the resolution of child custody disputes without litigation.

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Many children from divorced parents experience difficulties with math and social skills. Emotionally, they experience anxiety and depression. While parents predivorce problems do not influence their kid’s social and academic progress, children fall behind and fail to catch up for at least two years after their parents divorce in Miami or Fort Lauderdale.

Research now shows that divorce is very difficult for children. The stress can double a kid’s risk of a stroke. In a recent university study, children were followed from kindergarten until eighth grade. Researchers followed children whose parents divorced between their kindergarten and third-grade years compared with 3,433 children from intact homes.

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According to WPLG Local 10 News, Jorge Barahona, whose adopted daughter, Nubia, was found dead in the back of his pickup truck has been charged with attempted murder after her 10 year old twin brother, Victor Barahona, was found badly burned by a chemical in the same truck. The minor child is at the pediatric intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital. While Barahona, 53, faces child abuse and attempted murder charges in Palm Beach County his daughter, Jennifer Perez, appeared before Judge Sandy Karlan in Miami for an emergency child custody hearing.

Judge Sandy Karlan heard testimony that Jennifer Perez, daughter of Jorge Barahona, knew that the twins were being abused. Allesandra Perez, the 7 year old grandaughter of Jorge Barahona, told her father, Yovani Perez, that the 10 year old twins Victor and Nubia were required to stay in a bathroom at the Barahona home with their hands and feet tied together.

On February 18, 2011, Judge Sandy Karlan commenced proceedings to terminate Jennifer Perez’s parental rights on a permanent basis. In the interim, she temporary changed custody to the father, Yovani Perez, and ordered that Jennifer Perez was to have no visitation, time-sharing or contact with her daughter, either directly or indirectly. Judge Karlan warned Ms. Perez that any violations of the court’s directives would result in her being held in contempt of court.

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A Fort Lauderdale mother was awarded unsupervised time-sharing and visitation rights to her 11-month-old son. However, a Broward county General Magistrate denied her requested to regain full custody of her child. The court ordered the child, Charlie Costa, to stay with a new foster family in light of a recent injury.

The minor child, Charlie Costa, is at Broward General Medical Center suffering from a skull fracture. He is reported to be alert, eating and does not have any hemorrhaging. In light of his recent injury, the mother, Apple Costa, unsuccessfully persuaded General Magistrate Giuseppina Miranda to remove her child from foster care and place him back in her home.

The minor child entered foster care 7 months ago due to burns on his hand and his mother’s drug addiction. Since then, his mother has had clean drug tests, completed parenting counseling and had psychiatric evaluations.

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Many clients will ask their Fort Lauderdale divorce attorney how they will have contact an access with their child in cases involving relocation or in which one parent resides outside of the state where their child resides. Video chats through the internet and programs such as Skype have become very popular in parenting plans. In fact, Florida marital and family lawyers believe that language regarding virtual time-sharing will soon become entrenched into all parenting plans.

Presently video conferencing between a parent and child is used by parents who face distance hurdles such as one parent living in Los Angeles and one parent residing in Miami. While relocation of a minor child often carries a difficult burden of proof, professionals believe that virutal access between a parent and a minor child is in his or her best interest.

Video conferencing between a parent and child is not a substitute for doing homework with a child or watching a child enjoy extracurricuar activities. There is a tremendous benefit in a child being able to immediately see their parent by webcam chatting. However, there still remains many unanswered questions such as whether virtual access should take place in front of the other parent and whether the use of technology by Miami child custody attorneys will be beneficial in all cases.

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The Miami Herald is reporting that Circuit Judge Jeri Cohen has ruled that a Hialeah women will not have custody of her children pending an investigation by DCF. On Monday, Rebecca Garcia, 21, left her infant and five year old son alone in her vehicle while shopping. She was subsequently arrested and charged with two counts of child neglect. In addition, she tested positive for marijuana prior to Tuesday’s hearing.

She told law enforcement that she was returning a previously made purchase and only left her children in the car for five minutes. Judge Cohen placed the daughter with the grandparents and father and the son with an aunt. While the parties are due to return to court on September 28, 2010, the court is permitting liberal time-sharing with the mother.

Garcia was previously investigated by DCF in 2005 when her daughter obtained a bone fracture.

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Marital and family law in Miami-Dade and Broward, judges and divorce attorneys have relied upon the OurFamilyWizard® website for high conflict child custody, parenting plan and time-sharing cases. This website has become one of the most effective shared parental responsibility tools to remove parental conflict and to assist parents in doing what is in the best interest of the minor children.

After nearly ten years of helping separated families communicate, the OurFamilyWizard® website has added yet another revolutionary tool to its repertoire. Earlier this year the OurFamilyWizard® website announced the release of OFWpay™.

The OFWpay™ system allows parents to make and receive electronic payments to their checking or savings account. OFWpay™ transactions allow parents to send payment for expenses like unreimbursed medical, extra-curricular activities or even child support payments where permitted.

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Dwyane Wade was in a marital and family law court today while his former wife testified during child custody proceedings in Chicago. Lawyers for the Miami Heat star tried to establish that his former wife has erratic behavior based upon her relationships, confrontations and parenting decisions. Prior to the trial, the divorce judge requested that the Miami Heat basketball player and his former wife attempt to resolve their child custody litigation. However, the parties quickly reached an impasse.

Divorce lawyers for Miami Heat’s Dwyane Wade argued that the former wife has bizarre behavior and interferes with his time-sharing. On the otherhand, lawyers for the former wife argued that Mr. Wade is too busy to be designated as the sole custodial parent.

The guardian ad litem has recommended that Dwyane Wade be granted custody. Dwyane Wade is scheduled to testify in court later this week.

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An extended family member such as a relative in the third degree by blood or marriage to the parent of a stepparent of a child currently married to a parent may have a lawyer file an action under Florida law to seek temporary custody of a minor child in Broward. This is intended to provide a legal means for a statutorily defined family member to acquire the necessary legal documentation to permit them to provide for the minor child under for whom they are caring for by allowing them to consent to medical treatment, to obtain copies of school records and to enroll the minor child in school.

In a recent case from the Fourth District Court of Appeal, Mohorn v Thomas, the grandmother appealed an order entered by Broward marital and family Judge Marina Garcia-Wood. The trial court denied her petition for temporary custody. Judge Garcia-Wood found that the father’s name on the birth certificate was insufficient to establish paternity and that the father was required to file a paternity action to establish or ratify paternity before temporary custody of an extended family member could be sought by an extended family member.

The minor child’s birth certificate listed Sylenia Danielle Thomas as the mother and Ronnie Kennedy as the father. One year after the minor child was born, the mother and father executed a document that gave all rights and legal guardianship of the minor child to the paternal grandparents.

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