When Florida judges create or approve time-sharing schedules for families in a divorce, they must make the best interests of the children their top priority. Because modern family courts understand how children benefit from frequent contact with both parents, they expect full cooperation with the court-ordered schedule.
Most parents follow the court’s orders, especially when it comes to their kids. However, some parents do violate child custody plans and time-sharing schedules. One of the most common violations involves keeping children away from the other parent. For example, custodial parents may interfere with the other parent’s rights by not showing up for custody exchanges.
How do Florida courts handle time-sharing schedule violations?
The state imposes a variety of consequences to deter child custody violations. When parents continue to keep the other parent from seeing their kids, courts may take the following actions:
- Award extra parenting time to the parent denied visitation
- Order the offending parent to attend an approved parenting class
- Order the offending parent to pay for the other parent’s travel costs when visiting the children
- Order the offending parent to perform community service
- Order the offending parent to pay the co-parent’s lawyer fees and court costs
- Modify the existing child custody or time-sharing schedule in favor of the co-parent
- Hold the offending parent in contempt of court for his or her violation
The court is on your side when you strive to honor your time-sharing schedule despite your co-parent’s efforts to interfere. One way to ensure you get precious time with your kids is by having a legal advocate present your story to the court. In many cases, this can lead to more time with your children and cooperation from your co-parent.