CLARENCE EUGENE LANGFORD, APPELLANT,
v.
ANGELA LYNNE ORTIZ, APPELLEE

Fla. 2d DCA | 1995-05-10
No. 94-02852
BLUE and FULMER, JJ., concur.
654 So. 2d 1237 Florida District Court of Appeal, Second District (1995) Positive Treatment
Cited by 28 cases

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Synopsis

A father appealed a trial court's order establishing rotating custody of the parties' young daughter between Florida and North Carolina on alternating six-month periods. The appellate court reversed, holding that rotating custody is presumptively not in the child's best interest and that the trial court should have entered a final custody order rather than a temporary one.


Holding

Rotating custody is presumptively not in a child's best interest and the presumption was not overcome here because the arbitrary custody rotation dates would disrupt the child's schooling across two states. The trial court should have entered a final custody order subject to modification upon substantial change in circumstances, rather than a temporary order.


Headnotes

[1] Rotating custody is presumptively not in the best interest of a child.

[2] A rotating custody arrangement is not in a child's best interest when it requires the child to change schools in different states on arbitrary dates unrelated to the scho…

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Key Quotes

“Rotating custody, such as the lower court ordered here, is presumptively not in the best interest of a child.”

Establishes the legal presumption against rotating custody that must be overcome by specific factors.

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Facts & Procedural History

An unmarried couple had a daughter while living in Collier County, Florida. When the relationship ended, the father moved to Dade County while the mot…

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Opinion of the Court
RYDER, Acting Chief Judge.

RYDER, Acting Chief Judge.

Clarence Langford, the father, contends that the trial court erred in entering a temporary order rotating the custody of his daughter between him and the child’s mother, Angela Ortiz. We agree, and hold that rotating custody is not in this child’s best interest and that the court should have entered a final order on custody, rather than a temporary one. We therefore reverse and remand this matter to the trial court for further proceedings, if necessary, and entry of a final order awarding one of the parents primary custody of the child.

When their daughter was born, Mr. Lang-ford and Ms. Ortiz lived in Collier County, Florida. They were not married, and, after their relationship ended, the father moved to Dade County, Florida. The mother later married and wished to relocate to North Carolina with her new husband and the parties’ daughter. The father filed a complaint to determine paternity, custody and child support. The parties filed a joint pretrial stipulation identifying the primary issues for the court to determine as: (1) which of them should be the primary residential parent and (2) who should have primary custody of the child. The court considered the mother’s move in light of the factors discussed in Mize v. Mize, 621 So. 2d 417 (Fla.1993), and determined it could not conclude that it was in the child’s best interest to move to North Carolina. It then ordered that Mr. Langford have custody from June 1,1994 until November 30, 1994, in Dade County. Custody of the child would then rotate to Ms. Ortiz in North Carolina from December 1, 1994 to May 31, 1995. Each parent was allowed visitation during the other parent’s period of custody. The court stated it would re-evaluate its decision at the conclusion of this one-year period.

Rotating custody, such as the lower court ordered here, is presumptively not in the best interest of a child. Courts have, however, discussed several factors that could overcome this presumption: (1) that the child was older and mature, Bienvenu v. Bienvenu, 380 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980); Gerscovich v. Gerscovich, 406 So. 2d 1150 (Fla. 5th DCA 1981); (2) that the child was not yet in school, Parker v. Parker, 553 So. 2d 309 (Fla. 1st DCA 1989); Alexander v. Alexander, 473 So. 2d 236 (Fla. 2d DCA 1985); Wilking v. Reiford, 582 So. 2d 717 (Fla. 5th DCA 1991); (3) that the parents lived near each other, Gerscovich; Parker; Bienvenu; (4) that the child preferred rotating custody, Gerscovich; (5) that rotation would not have a disi’uptive effect on the child, Gerscovich; Bienvenu; (6) that the periods of time spent with each parent were reasonable, Gerscovich; and (7) that the periods of custody were related to divisions in the child’s life, such as the school year, Bienvenu.

The facts in this case do not overcome the presumption against rotating custody. The parties’ daughter is a young girl in the second grade. Under the trial court’s order, she must change schools on arbitrary dates, the first of December and the first of June. These dates bear no apparent relationship to the normal school calendar. Not only will she attend two different schools, the schools are in different states. This has to be a disruption in this young girl’s academic and personal life, no matter how much her parents work to smooth the transition. We therefore hold that a rotating custody arrangement is not in this child’s best interest, and reverse the lower court’s order. The parents have apparently each formed a loving relationship with their daughter because she wishes to spend more than just weekends with the noncustodial parent. The court can, however, fashion a visitation arrangement based on her school holidays that will ensure the child will spend ample time with each parent.

We also hold that the lower court should have entered a final order on custody, subject to modification upon a showing of a substantial change in circumstances. See Martinez v. Martinez, 573 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990), review denied, 581 So. 2d 1309 (Fla.1991). Accordingly, we remand to the trial court to enter a final order determining which party should be the custodial parent, and providing for child support and visitation. Because it has been almost a year since the court entered its temporary order, it may need to take further evidence before arriving at its final decision.

Reversed and remanded.

BLUE and FULMER, JJ., concur.


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Citator

Cited By (13 total)

  • Clark v. Clark, 825 So. 2d 1016 (Fla. 1st DCA 2002)
    …01. While the supplemental final judgment does not expressly designate Mr. Clark the child’s primary residential parent, it does so implicitly in that it orders Ms. Clark to pay child support and grants her visitation rights. See Langford v. Ortiz, 654 So. 2d 1237, 1238 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995) (holding “that the lower court should have entered a final order on custody”). Even a temporary award of custody, moreover, requires consideration of the child’s best interests and findings based on evidence, in accordance w…
  • Bainbridge v. Pratt, 68 So. 3d 310 (Fla. 1st DCA 2011)
    …lans that rotated the primary residential parent on an annual, semi-annual, or weekly basis. See, e.g., Chapman v. Prevatt, 845 So. 2d 976, 979-80 (Fla. 4th DCA 2003); Ruffridge v. Ruffridge, 687 So. 2d 48, 49 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997); Langford v. Ortiz, 654 So. 2d 1237, 1238 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995). [*313] Prior to 1997, Florida courts adhered to the presumption that rotating custody was presumptively disfavored. See, e.g., Ruffridge, 687 So. 2d at 50; Langford, 654 So. 2d at 1238. In 1997, the Florida Legislature enac…
  • MacCONNELL v. Starla K. Cascante, 668 So. 2d 668 (Fla. 4th DCA 1996)
    …with the former wife in Costa Rica and the former husband in Florida.1 While rotating custody arrangements are appropriate in certain cases, they are generally frowned upon and presumptively not in the best interests of the child. Langford v. Ortiz, 654 So. 2d 1237 (Fla. 2d DCA 1995); Bienvenu v. Bienvenu, 380 So. 2d 1164 (Fla. 3d DCA 1980). There are several factors that the court should analyze in determining whether rotational custody is in the best interests of the child including: (1) the age and maturity…

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