The vocabulary matters: parental responsibility and time-sharing
Florida law replaced "custody" and "visitation" years ago. Courts now decide two things: parental responsibility — how major decisions about school, health care, and religion are made, usually shared between the parents — and time-sharing — the schedule of overnights and time each parent has with the children. Both are recorded in a parenting plan, which every Florida case involving minor children must have.
This isn't just terminology. The framing changes the fight: the question in a Florida courtroom is not which parent wins the children, but what arrangement serves the children best — and a parent who approaches the case as a war for possession usually reads worse under the statute's own factors, which include each parent's willingness to honor the schedule and to foster the child's relationship with the other parent.
What goes in a parenting plan
Under Fla. Stat. § 61.13, a parenting plan must, at minimum, describe in adequate detail how the parents will share the daily tasks of raising the child; the time-sharing schedule itself; who is responsible for health care, school matters, and other activities; the address used for school-boundary and registration purposes; and how the parents will communicate with the child and each other. Good plans go further: holiday and summer schedules, exchange logistics, travel rules, technology contact, and a method for resolving future disagreements short of a court motion. Vague plans are the raw material of future litigation; specific plans prevent it. See our plain-language guide to Florida's parenting plan requirements.
The best-interests standard — and the 2023 equal time-sharing presumption
Every time-sharing decision runs through the best interests of the child, evaluated against the roughly twenty factors in § 61.13(3): each parent's demonstrated capacity to put the child's needs first, the division of parental responsibilities before the case, the stability of each home, the child's school and community record, each parent's physical and mental health, any history of violence or substance abuse, and more.
Since July 1, 2023, Florida law also starts from a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in a child's best interests. That presumption can be overcome — by evidence tied to the statutory factors, and it does not apply where, for example, domestic violence is established — but it changed the posture of these cases meaningfully. A parent seeking more than half the time now carries a real evidentiary burden, and a parent seeking equal time starts on firmer ground than a few years ago. The same 2023 law also eased modification: a parent now must show a substantial and material change in circumstances, without the old requirement that the change be "unanticipated."
Relocation: the 50-mile rule
Once a time-sharing order exists, a parent cannot simply move more than 50 miles away with the child. Fla. Stat. § 61.13001 requires either a written agreement signed by both parents or court permission after a petition — and moving first and asking later is treated harshly. If a move is on your horizon, or your co-parent's, build it into the plan now rather than litigating it under deadline pressure later.
Key law: Fla. Stat. § 61.13 (parental responsibility, time-sharing, parenting plans; equal time-sharing presumption as amended by ch. 2023-213, HB 1301); § 61.13001 (parental relocation with a child).
Common questions about custody and time-sharing
No. The statute is explicitly gender-neutral, and since 2023 the starting presumption is equal time-sharing for both parents. Outcomes turn on the best-interests factors and the evidence — not on being Mom or Dad.
There's no magic age in Florida. A child's reasonable preference is one statutory factor, weighted by the child's maturity and understanding — but children don't testify their way into a schedule, and putting a child in the middle of the case tends to hurt the parent who does it.
It sets the starting point, not the ending point. To land somewhere other than 50/50, a parent must rebut the presumption with evidence tied to the best-interests factors — distance between homes, work schedules, the children's needs, safety concerns. It also interacts with child support: the overnight split feeds directly into the support formula.
Document every missed exchange, then enforce. Florida courts can order make-up time-sharing, fees, and compliance measures against a parent who withholds the children — and self-help (withholding support, or withholding the children in response) backfires legally. Enforcement done cleanly usually fixes the pattern.
Yes — with proof of a substantial and material change in circumstances since the last order (the 2023 law removed the extra "unanticipated" requirement). New work schedules, moves, or a plan the children have outgrown are common grounds. See our guide to modification for what the process looks like.
Or call the office at (863) 298-0606. Located at 290 Cypress Gardens Blvd, Suite 10, Winter Haven.