When a Florida judge creates a time-sharing schedule for a child or children of divorce, it does so with the best interests of the child in mind. If a parent refuses to honor the agreement without proper cause, the court may impose monetary and civil penalties. If your child’s other parent makes it difficult for you to exercise your parental rights despite a court-ordered agreement, refer to section 61.13 of the Florida Statutes for an overview of your rights.
If your child’s other parent refuses to honor the custody agreement, the court will calculate how much parenting time you missed out on. It will then award you additional parenting time to make up for lost time. Bear in mind, though, that the court will schedule the additional time in a way that suits the best interests of the child.
Moreover, the courts will ensure that you are not held financially responsible for your former partner’s actions. It does this by ordering the offending parent to pay your attorney and court fees associated with the time-sharing dispute. The presiding judge may also require the offending parent to attend a court-approved parenting course and to do community service, so long as the community service hours does not interfere with the wellbeing of the child.
If you live more than 60 miles away from your former partner, and if he or she denied you visitation time with your child, he or she will assume the financial responsibility associated with travel. Depending on the extent of the offending parent’s contempt of the court order, the courts may impose other reasonable remedies, including jail time.
If your child’s other parent continues to violate the time-sharing schedule, you may be able to petition for a modification of custody. The judge may grant you more custodial time if he or she feels it would be in the best interests of your child to do so.
You should not construe this article as legal advice. It is for educational purposes only.
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