Category: Timesharing/Visitation

Bleeding Grandparent Visitation Rights

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On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Timesharing/Visitation on Monday, October 29, 2012.

In order to educate the public, and shamelessly promote myself, I wanted to mention that my latest article, “Bleeding Grandparent Visitation Rights” is now available for download at the Florida Bar’s website. The article was printed in the September/October 2012 issue of the Florida Bar Journal. Here’s a brief abstract:

Grandparent rights to visit their grandchildren over the objections of fit parents do not exist in Florida . . . or so we thought. Floridians who are activated, deployed, or temporarily assigned to military service can now designate to grandparents their timesharing rights over the objections of a fit parent. The article briefly examines the history of grandparent visitation rights in Florida, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision inTroxel v. Granville, 530 U.S. 57, 97 (2000) and the recently enacted Florida Statute §61.13002(2) in light of Florida and U.S. Supreme Court cases.

Although the statute may not pass constitutional muster, Florida may have found constitutional ways to promote grandparent visitation. For example, Chapter 751 authorizes concurrent custody to grandparents with custody, and voters adopted the “Granny Flats” amendment to the Florida Constitution, which provides tax incentives for constructing living quarters for grandparents.

FYI, the title is derived from the 19th Century Kansas border wars (the statute in question impacts military divorces) the pain associated with grandparent visitation cases, and how grandparent child custody have historically spread into family law.

Grandparent visitation rights are an especially sensitive topic in the very emotional area of marital and family law. Hopefully, the article answers some questions many of you may have about grandparent visitation rights in Florida.

A Presumption of Equal Timesharing?

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On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Timesharing/Visitation on Friday, September 14, 2012.

Increasingly, clients are demanding shared custody and 50-50 child custody, meaning they want to divide the time with their children and other parent equally and have equal decision making rights. I’m also hearing calls for legislation to make joint custody and equal time sharing mandatory. The British government recently announced it is seeking to amend Section 1 of the Children Act 1989 to introduce a legal presumption of ‘shared parenting’.

When parents get along reasonably well, and live close by, an equal timesharing schedule may be in the children’s best interests. It can: foster Florida’s policy of frequent contact with parents after divorce, reduce custody litigation, spare thousands of children from being dragged into a battle between their parents, and discourage custody cases which have more to do with how much child support gets paid than timesharing.

Equal timesharing can be done in different ways: Week on/week off, 5-5-2-2 (in which a parent has the child for two weeknights then the child goes to the other parent for two weeknights, then the child goes back to the first parent for the three day weekend and the first two assigned weeknights which equals five nights.) and more. I can’t list all of the schedules possible, but an equal timesharing schedule is only limited by the parties’ willingness to be creative.

The rub of course, is creating a timesharing schedule which maximizes parent/child time, and minimizes transition troubles. While a 50/50 timesharing schedule may be desired, geographic distance, school hours, extra-curricular activities, and work schedules make equal timesharing impractical. In those cases, a more traditional timesharing schedule may be desired, and any shortfall in a parent’s timesharing can be made up during long school breaks, like Christmas and summer.

In order for an equal timesharing schedule to succeed though, the parents have to be flexible, and put the interests of the children first. This is easier said than done. Inevitably, school and extra-curricular activities – or a parent’s work commitment – are going to require the timesharing schedule to be adjusted. If parents are inflexible and unwilling to cooperate with each other, 50% timesharing can have a 0% chance.

Grandparent Visitation

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On behalf of Ronald H. Kauffman, P.A. posted in Timesharing/Visitation on Thursday, August 23, 2012.

It is tough sledding for grandparent child custody. On Monday Reuters reported:

Here’s a sad scenario: Grandma and Grandpa pay for camp, shoes and college funds. But something goes awry; the kids’ parents decide to split, and next thing you know it’s Grandma and Grandpa who are out in the cold, writing checks but missing their grandchildren.

Think that couldn’t happen? There are at least two trends that point to more of the above. Grandparents are helping their progeny more than ever; the AARP reported that a quarter spent more than a $1,000 a year on their grandkids, with 37 percent saying that they helped cover daily living costs.

Grandparents’ rights to see and spend time with their grandchildren has become more difficult to litigate since the Florida Supreme Court’s ruling in 1996, Beagle v. Beagle, which struck down a Florida Statute that allowed courts to order visitation rights for grandparents if they would be in the child’s “best interest.”

That is too bad, because grandparents help out a lot. Better yet, tax laws allow gifts of $13,500 a year from one individual to another before gift tax limits start to kick in. But be careful. Judges differ about how to evaluate regular financial gifts from grandparents. A judge could count regular gifts as part of a parent’s income, which can impact child support calculations and even alimony.

As the article goes on to note, parents can get greedy too.

“I’ve seen parents say ‘it’ll be a $1,000 a visit’ and I’ve had grandparents pay it,” says Bloomfield Hills, Michigan, family lawyer Richard Victor, founder of the Grandparents Rights Organization, which helps grandparents with visitation battles, among other problems.

“It’s emotional blackmail and will escalate if you give into it,” says Abramowitz, who advises clients to offer to pay for family therapy instead.

Is there a solution for grandparents? “You get more with sugar than you do with a cane,” says Atlanta family lawyer Randall Kessler, who chairs the American Bar Association Family Law Section. “Be nice to the person who has control, and that may include some financial support.”

Kessler also gets creative: When a mother objects to being parted from her children, he has suggested that grandparents invite the mother along on a family vacation as their guest, even with her current partner. “Usually they stay in a hotel down the road,” he says. More often, they turn down the offer but allow the visit.”