Articles Posted in Custody/Time-Sharing

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A Lee County judge signed an order Thursday demanding the return of Country singer Mindy McCready’s 5-year-old son, Zander, to his maternal grandmother’s care in Florida. McCready reportedly took the boy to her home in Tennessee after visiting him late last month at her father’s Florida home. McCready, who is reportedly seven months pregnant with twins, said she was currently incapable of travel and allegedly refused to return her son to Florida.

McCready’s mother was named Zander’s guardian in 2007. Since then, the two have engaged in a long battle over his custody. The 36-year-old singer recently accused her mother of abusing Zander and stated she took the child in an effort to protect him. Her mother denies the allegations. In August, McCready also filed a libel lawsuit against her mother.

Early Saturday morning, Arkansas authorities reportedly took Zander into custody at a previously unoccupied summer home in Heber Springs. McCready allegedly did not have permission to be on the property and was found hiding in a bedroom closet with her son. The Arkansas Division of Children and Family Services is currently making arrangements to return the child to his grandmother in Florida. McCready has allegedly told her half-brother via text message their mother would never see her again.

McCready has reportedly led a complicated life since finding fame. She allegedly suffers from severe depression, has publicly battled a drug addiction, and she spent time in the hospital three years ago for an alleged suicide attempt. It is unclear whether McCready will now face criminal charges for violating the custody arrangement and the judge’s order.

Changes to child custody arrangements must be approved by the courts. In Florida, a parent must show substantially changed circumstances since the original arrangement was created before a court will modify a child custody arrangement. Additionally, the child’s best interests must justify any change. A parent’s fitness to raise the child, the child’s age, the parent primarily responsible for the child’s upbringing, and the child’s preference are all factors a court will look at when determining the best interests of a child. The court will also look at other factors such as the moral fitness of the parents, any evidence of sexual violence, child abuse, child neglect or child abandonment, and various other statutory factors.
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A number of judges in Broward and Miami Dade county courts have begun ordering divorcing parents to use third-party websites designed to effectively manage scheduling for their children. Websites such as OurFamilyWizard.com and ShareKids.com allow parents to maintain an online calendar to communicate important events, appointments and custody hand-offs. The technology can often eliminate the need for parents to call, text, or email one another during times of discord. The websites can also provide parents with an incentive to restrict highly emotional or vindictive communications because messages cannot be erased and all communications may be traced. Additionally, such technology may cut down on time spent in court as the websites may be viewed by divorce mediators, lawyers and judges.

Scheduling websites for divorced parents are popular. OurFamilyWizard.com was started in 2001 and currently has more than 20,000 subscribers hailing from all 50 states and some foreign countries. It provides parents with a shared calendar, expense logs, a place to list significant telephone numbers, a message board accessible to children as well as parents, and space to upload and view documents like report cards and school awards. Courts in more than 35 states currently order its use. ShareKids.com, founded by a divorced father of four, offers many of the same features.

Broward County’s administrative family court judge, Susan Greenhawt, believes other forms of communication such as emails and texts are not always an effective method for parents to communicate productively. She thinks scheduling websites have the ability to assist parents who are seeking what is best for their children. Miami-Dade chief family court judge Sandy Karlan has stated most judges in the county have been recommending the technology to parents for years. Many judges also order its use. Both judges said they generally encounter little opposition from parents who are ordered to use the online scheduling websites. Parents who divorced before use of the technology became widespread may also find the sites useful.

In Florida, custody arrangements are referred to as time-sharing. A parenting plan that includes a time-sharing schedule is established when parents divorce. This plan will outline the amount of time each week a child will spend with each parent including overnights and holidays. If parents cannot agree on a time-sharing plan, the court will set a schedule which takes into account several statutory factors such as abuse or violence and the child’s preference. In order to modify a time-sharing plan, Florida law requires a parent seeking modification to show circumstances have changed substantially enough to justify the change.
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A Broward divorce lawyer and his client received promising news last week which may help him regain custody of his child. Christopher Dahm was advised by the United States Department of State that his former wife, Leslie Delbecq, was detained at the Abu Dhabi airport when she attempted to depart the United Arab Emirates.

Dahm has been engaged in a global search for his two year old child for approximately one year. The United States Federal government has indicted his former wife with the crime of parental kidnapping, a violation of the laws of the United States of America.

The court in Abu Dhabi has requested information and documentation about the federal charges which are pending against Ms. Debeq who, along with her mother and father, were recently indicted by a federal grand jury.

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Today, Broward marital and family law Circuit Judge Susan Greenhawt appointed a guardian ad litem for two girls and ordered an expedited study to determine if a relative is capable of having temporary child custody of the minor children. While the court waits to learn whether or not the young girls, ages 6 months and 5 years old, have a relative who they can reside with they have been placed in foster care. The court also ordered supervised time-sharing between the mother and the minor children when she is released from jail.

On Tuesday, an anonymous tip led Broward Sherrif’s officers to a home where they discovered roaches in three rooms, trash and mold in the living room, foul odors in the kitchen and piles of garbage on the floor. The two minor children were sleeping in a roach infested bedroom without sheets on their bed. An animal control officer also discovered filthy and malnourished pitbulls in the back yard.

When child protective services investigators arrived at the home, they were unable to locate any responsible adults to watch the two children. The children were immediately placed in protective child custody.

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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.