JONATHAN MASON EVANS, APPELLANT,
v.
LARA WOODARD, APPELLEE
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A father appeals an order granting temporary custody and sole parental responsibility of a minor child to the mother. The court affirms the temporary custody award but reverses the sole parental responsibility determination because the trial court failed to make the required statutory finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child.
The trial court's award of sole parental responsibility must be reversed because Florida Statutes Section 61.13(2)(b)(2) requires that parental responsibility be shared by both parents unless the court makes a specific finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child. The absence of such a finding requires reversal.
[1] A trial court must order shared parental responsibility unless it finds that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child.
[2] An award of sole parental responsibility is reversible error if the trial court fails to make a specific finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental…
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligence“order that the parental responsibility for a minor child be shared by both parents unless the court finds that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child”
Statutory requirement establishing the presumption of shared parental responsibility and the required finding for deviation
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Join FLexlaw to unlock all legal intelligenceJonathan Mason Evans, the father of a minor child, sought custody and parental responsibility in a family law matter. The trial court awarded temporar…
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CANADY, Judge.
Jonathan Mason Evans, the father, appeals an order granting temporary custody and sole parental responsibility of a minor child to Lara Woodard, the minor child’s mother. The father raises two issues on appeal. First, he challenges the trial court’s award of temporary custody to the mother. On this issue, we affirm the trial court’s order without further comment. Second, the father contends that the trial court erred in awarding the mother sole parental responsibility without first making a specific finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child. On this point, we agree with the father. Section 61.13(2)(b)(2), Florida Statutes (2004), provides that trial courts shall “order that the parental responsibility for a minor child be shared by both parents unless the court finds that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child.” In this case, the trial court did not make a specific finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to the child. Without such a finding, the court’s award of sole parental responsibility must be reversed. See Feger v. Feger, 850 So. 2d 611, 614 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003) (“Under section 61.13(2)(b)(2), a court is required to order shared parental responsibility unless it finds that such an arrangement would be detrimental to the child.”); Stelk v. Stelk, 699 So. 2d 811, 812 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997) (holding that trial court erred “in awarding sole parental responsibility to [one parent] without a specific finding that shared parental responsibility would be detrimental to .the child”).
We, therefore, reverse on this issue and remand for the trial court to revisit the issue of sole parental responsibility.
Affirmed in part; reversed in part; remanded for further proceedings.
ALTENBERND, C.J., and STRINGER, J., Concur.
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Citator
Cited By
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Musgrave v. Musgrave, 290 So. 3d 536 (Fla. 2d DCA 2019)
Authorities Cited
- Feger v. Feger, 850 So. 2d 611 (Fla. 2d DCA 2003)
- Stelk v. Stelk, 699 So. 2d 811 (Fla. 1st DCA 1997)