Parenting Plans for Unmarried Couples
For couples who have children together, co-parenting is the most difficult part of divorce. Everywhere you look, it is easy to find online content creators vociferously judging unhappily married people who wait until their youngest child turns 18 before they file for divorce, but if you are in that situation yourself, you easily understand how staying in an unhappy marriage is easier than going through a legal battle over child custody. Today, almost everyone understands that no one wins or loses custody of children in a family law case, but co-parenting after divorce is not for the faint of heart. Unfortunately, it is not any easier if you were never legally married to your children’s other parent. The good news is that all children have the legal right to a stable relationship with both parents, even if the parents were never married to each other. A Boca Raton child custody lawyer can help you establish court-ordered parenting time if your co-parenting arrangement with your ex-boyfriend or ex-girlfriend has thus far been informal.
Family Mediation and Parenting Plan Hearings Are for Unmarried Couples, Too
The process of establishing court-ordered parenting time and child support is the same for couples who have never been married as it is for couples who are going through a divorce. It is like a divorce case without the property division issues. It starts when one parent petitions the court to order parenting time or child support. If child support is the main purpose of the request, the court cannot order it until after it has established a parenting plan, because the number of days of parenting time is a factor in the child support order.
The court only decides which parent is with the children on which days if the parents cannot agree between themselves. As in divorce cases, the court orders the couple to attend mediation and draft a parenting plan. If the parents cannot reach an agreement during mediation, the court will decide on a timesharing schedule after it makes findings about the best interests of the children. After it has established the parenting plan, it calculates child support in accordance with the statewide guidelines.
The Court Can Help You Exercise Your Right to Be Involved in Your Child’s Life
Some former couples choose to get a court-ordered parenting plan because they constantly fight about parenting responsibilities, financial and otherwise, and a parenting plan and child support order can settle these disagreements. If your ex-partner is preventing you from seeing your children, then a court-ordered parenting plan can enable you to exercise your right to spend time with your child. You may need to establish legal paternity before requesting a parenting plan, if you have not already done so.
Contact Schwartz | White About Establishing Court-Ordered Parenting Time
A South Florida family law attorney can help you if you and your ex-girlfriend always disagree about your rights and responsibilities as a father. Contact Schwartz | White in Boca Raton, Florida about your case.
Source:
scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3842070152096399627&q=divorce+train&hl=en&as_sdt=4,10&as_ylo=2014&as_yhi=2024
