Family law
Florida parenting plan and time-sharing attorney
Equal time-sharing is now the starting point, not the thing you argue for
Since 2023 Florida begins from a different place. Fla. Stat. § 61.13 now provides a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the child’s best interests, and a parent who wants something other than equal must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal is not in the child’s best interests. The court must also evaluate all of the statutory best-interest factors and make specific written findings whenever it creates or modifies a schedule, unless the parents agree and the court approves. Shared parental responsibility is ordered unless the court finds it would be detrimental to the child. Modifying an existing plan later requires a substantial and material change in circumstances.
01 Quick answers
- Does Florida presume equal time-sharing now?
- Yes. Section 61.13 creates a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing is in the minor child’s best interests. That is a 2023 change and it reversed the starting point.
- How is that presumption rebutted?
- By a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the child’s best interests — the ordinary civil standard, applied to the statutory best-interest factors.
- Does the judge have to explain the schedule?
- Yes, unless the parents agreed and the court approved it. The court must evaluate all the best-interest factors and make specific written findings of fact when creating or modifying a schedule.
- Is parental responsibility the same as time-sharing?
- No. Responsibility is decision-making; time-sharing is the schedule. The court orders shared parental responsibility unless it finds that would be detrimental to the child.
- Can a plan be changed later?
- Only on a substantial and material change in circumstances. That is a real threshold, not a preference for a different schedule.
- What does a parenting plan have to cover?
- The schedule itself, decision-making, how the parents communicate, exchanges, holidays and school breaks, and how the child’s health care and schooling are handled.
02 The 2023 change
Equal time-sharing is where the court now starts
This is the change that makes most older advice on the subject wrong, and it runs in both directions.
Section 61.13 now states the public policy that each minor child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents, and then provides: unless otherwise provided in the section or agreed by the parties, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the best interests of the minor child.
To rebut it, a party must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the child’s best interests. That is the ordinary civil standard — more likely than not — applied to the statutory best-interest factors.
Which reframes the conversation. A parent seeking a majority of overnights is no longer asking the court to prefer them; they are asking the court to depart from a presumption. And a parent who assumed they would get every other weekend by default is starting from a materially better position than they expect.
The court also has to show its work. Except where a schedule is agreed by the parties and approved, the court must evaluate all of the statutory factors and make specific written findings of fact when creating or modifying a time-sharing schedule.
Equal is the presumption. A different schedule is a departure that has to be proved.
03 Two different things
Parental responsibility and time-sharing are not the same decision
People use these interchangeably and they are not, which causes avoidable fights.
Parental responsibility is decision-making — schooling, non-emergency health care, religious upbringing. Section 61.13 provides that the court shall order that parental responsibility be shared by both parents unless it finds that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child, and sets out what the court considers in determining detriment, beginning with evidence of domestic violence.
Time-sharing is the schedule: where the child is, and when.
A parent can have equal time-sharing and still lose a decision, and a parent with fewer overnights can still hold full joint decision-making. Conflating the two is how a negotiation about a schedule becomes an argument about authority that nobody meant to have.
04 Changing it
What it takes to modify a plan after the judgment
A higher bar than most parents expect, and deliberately so.
Section 61.13 provides that modification of a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule requires a showing of a substantial and material change of circumstances.
That is not the same as wanting a different schedule, or finding the current one inconvenient, or a child simply getting older. It is a change in circumstances, substantial and material, and the court then evaluates the best-interest factors again with written findings.
Which is the argument for getting the plan right the first time. Most post-judgment work exists because an original plan was vague — an exchange time that assumed a work schedule that changed, a holiday clause that did not anticipate a school calendar, a communication term nobody could enforce.
05 The statutes
- Fla. Stat. § 61.13 Support, parental responsibility and time-sharing The equal time-sharing presumption, the written-findings requirement, and the modification standard.
- Fla. Stat. § 61.30 Child support guidelines Where the schedule feeds into the support calculation.
Parenting plans and time-sharing questions, answered
Is equal time-sharing really presumed in Florida now?
Yes. Section 61.13 provides that, unless otherwise provided in the section or agreed by the parties, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the best interests of the minor child.
That is a change from the prior law, and it is the single most common thing people arrive with wrong information about.
It cuts both ways: a parent expecting a majority of overnights now has to justify the departure, and a parent expecting alternate weekends is starting from a better position than they assume.
What does it take to get something other than equal?
Proof by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the child’s best interests.
That is the ordinary civil standard applied to the statutory best-interest factors, not a higher one — but it is still a burden carried by the parent seeking the departure.
Except where the parents agree and the court approves, the court must evaluate all of the factors and make specific written findings of fact when it creates or modifies the schedule.
What is the difference between responsibility and time-sharing?
Parental responsibility is decision-making: schooling, non-emergency health care, religious upbringing. Time-sharing is the schedule.
The court shall order shared parental responsibility unless it finds that shared responsibility would be detrimental to the child, and the statute sets out what it considers in determining detriment, beginning with evidence of domestic violence.
They move independently. Equal time-sharing does not decide who makes which decision, and fewer overnights does not remove decision-making authority.
Can the schedule be changed later?
Only on a showing of a substantial and material change of circumstances, which § 61.13 requires for modification of a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule.
Wanting a different schedule is not that. Nor is inconvenience, nor the ordinary fact of a child getting older.
This is the strongest practical argument for drafting the original plan carefully — most modification work exists because a term was left vague the first time.
What should a parenting plan actually say?
The schedule itself in enough detail to be followed without negotiation: regular weeks, holidays, school breaks, summers, and how exchanges happen.
How decisions get made and what happens when the parents disagree. How they communicate, and about what.
Practical terms people forget until they matter: travel and passports, who holds documents, how school and medical information is shared, and what happens if a parent relocates.
How are fees handled in a family case?
Consultations and attorney’s fees are billed hourly. Court costs and case expenses are billed separately, and payment plans are available.
There is no contingency fee in family work and no free consultation — those are injury terms and they do not apply here.
Consultations and attorney’s fees are billed hourly. Court costs and case expenses are billed separately. Payment plans are available.
06 Keep reading
Talk to Jose A. Dapena about your parenting plans and time-sharing matter
You speak with the attorney who would handle the case, not an intake department. Practicing in Florida since 1998, Florida Bar number 152358.
Consultations and attorney’s fees are billed hourly. Court costs and case expenses are billed separately. Payment plans are available.