Jacksonville Divorce Lawyer Blog
Written By: Lenorae C. Atter, Attorney
Wood, Atter & Wolf, P.A.
Moving with a child can require meeting Florida statutory requirements, such as providing notice of relocation. If the parent moving has majority time-sharing (i.e. visitation or custody), then that parent needs to provide notice to the other parent of the relocation, which must include certain information in accordance with Florida law. Not following this statute can lead to the court determining you have to come back to Florida.
So, who is entitled to notice? In Florida, a parent is defined as, “…any person so named by court order or express written agreement who is subject to court enforcement or a person reflected as a parent on a birth certificate and who is entitled to access to or time-sharing with the child.” (Fla. Stat. 61.13001) What this means is that any parent so listed on the birth certificate, or given rights by the court, is entitled to notice of the move. However, the fact that the language states, “and” regarding the person having a right to time-sharing, does give a bit of leniency. What this means is that simply having the father listed on the birth certificate does not give rise to this provision since the statute requires that he also have a right to visitation. Parental rights in Florida, for non-marital individuals, must be established by the court by filing an action to determine paternity. Until that is done the court does not recognize the non-married father as having parental rights/time-sharing rights to the child.
Before moving you should speak with a family law attorney to better understand your rights an options.