Legal Question in Family Law in Florida
I was awarded primary, residential custody of my son in 2007. The court order states the following in reference to visitation:
"The mother shall have open, frequent and continuing access with the minor child. In order to facilitate such access and contact the parties shall adhere to the following contact schedule between the Mother and the minor child: On Going Visitation: the mother shall excercise visitation with the minor child three (3) weekends per month. The mother shall have overnight weekend visitation with the minor the first and second weekends of the month as well as the forth weekend of the month."
My son's mother is attempting to pick apart the words, "open, frequent and continuing access" from the first line by claiming this means she can pick up my son whenever she feels like it and it not bound to the three weekends each month outlined as the contact schedule. Can you please confirm that I understand the sentence, "In order to facilitate such access and contact the parties shall adhere to the following schedule" correctly and that she is in fact only entitled to the three weekends per month cited in the schedule.
We are in the state of Flordia, Hillsborugh County court order.
Please respond to [email protected]
Thank you,
Kevin Curry
4 Answers from Attorneys
The Courts will interpret the specific orders of the court, not the vague and the general, she is going way overboard, the actual contact she gets is what the schedule says unless you both agree otherwise in writing. Contact my office for free consultation 727-446-7659.
Though you have shared certain clauses an attorney will need to see the entire Final judgment regarding visitation (time sharing)
The attorney may be able to file a Motion for Clarification or a Motion to Enforce the existing Judgment.
Natalie Hall, Esq.
(407) 412-7035
It would appear that the Final Judgment was setting out a specific time-sharing schedule to be followed by the mother. I am not sure why she would claim not to be understanding this now almost 6 years later, but your interpretation of the language appears to be correct.
Take your document to have an attorney read the entire agreement. Open and frequent does mean exactly what it says. The fact that she was given some specific times does not exclude her open and frequent contact. YOu need to have this parenting agreement modified now that the child is older to incorporate those things such as school and sports. You also may want to modify the child support as well to take in things such as after school day care and expenses as to sport activities and uniforms etc.
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