When drafting a time sharing plan, it’s important to put your child’s needs ahead of your own.
It is always advised that you and your ex sit down and determine what sort of time sharing schedule you will have with your minor children. But, sometimes one parent (or both) can be very unreasonable when it comes to time sharing with their children. When that happens, we have to litigate the custody dispute and ask a family law judge to make a decision about what time sharing schedule should be put into place.
The judge will hear evidence regarding 20 factors when making a custody decision. The third factor the court will consider is as follows
The demonstrated capacity and disposition of each parent to determine, consider, and act upon the needs of the child as opposed to the needs or desires of the parent.
Are you able to sacrifice your wants in order to provide for your child’s needs? The judge will want to hear evidence that you are capable of doing so. Conversely, if you believe your ex is incapable of doing so, then you will also want to provide evidence of such examples. When have you ever gone without so that your child can have basic necessities?
In general, most parents that I have come across meet this criteria and are capable of putting their child’s needs above their own. Luckily, I have never had any cases where one parent was so selfish that they were not capable of putting the child’s needs first. But, this factor has been put into the Florida statute for a reason. If you believe that your ex is incapable of putting your children first before themselves, then this is evidence that the judge will want to hear about. It is best to discuss your custody case with an expert family law attorney.
If you have any questions related to time sharing, or require legal assistance in other areas of Family Law, you may always contact Damien McKinney of The McKinney Law Group to discuss your case further. He can be reached by phone at 813-428-3400 or by e-mail at [email protected].