Child Pick Up & Drop Off

by Erica from Chipley, Florida, Washington County


Nine years ago the judge ordered us to pick up and drop off the minor child at my husbands parents house due to the fact that my husband and I lived just outside the Bay County Florida line.


His ex wife lived on the opposite out skirts of town.

Since then the ex wife now resides in town but my husbands parents have since divorced and moved. The ex wife refuses to meet us half way.

Do we have rights? How do we go about having a judge consider our situation? We pick up the minor child and drop off at the current time.

Answer to Florida Child Visitation Question

Dear Erica,

You can file a Supplemental Petition to Modify Child Custody Time-Sharing Schedule and Other Relief; and a proposed Parenting Plan.

Have a look at our web-powered instructions page for Form 12.905(a) and the Parenting Plan.

These child visitation forms and other family law forms are available on the Florida Supreme Court's website, www.flcourts.org.

Family law judges are aware that situations change over time.

It is remarkable that your current arrangement has worked for as long as it has. Before filing anything in court, however, I suggest, you might try one more time to reason with the ex-wife.

Notice: We provide these answers to the general public and our website visitors as a means to further their online legal research. These answers are merely suggestions and should not be regarded as legal advice.

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Comments for Child Pick Up & Drop Off

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Exchange of Child
by: J. from Florida

I am a dad with primary custody of my diabetic daughter. I am in a steady relationship and so is my ex wife, there has been conflicts with my ex wife and her boyfriend at our exchange times. In my final judgement it does not detail on whom has to pick up the child. I previously verbally stated that the parent doing the time sharing would be the one providing their own transportation.

Since there has been quite a few conflicts, I have now both verbally & wrote notarized and certified mailed stating that it would now be her responsibility to pick up and drop off the child to avoid conflict.

What happens if she does not abide? Previously she has had me wait a couple of hours for my daughter and has consistently been late on picking her up/ or not picking her up at all. What would you recommend? Thank You!

-----

If she does not agree to this arrangement, then you will likely have to ask the court to decide. If you decide to go this route, you can file a Supplemental Petition to modify your current judgement. If you do this, you can ask that a more detailed pick-up and drop-off be ordered by the court. --Staff
Pick up and Drop off Issues
by: Jessica from Walton County, Florida

My ex and I have a 5 year old son. We have been split up the majority of his life, but we were able to get along and work things out amicably for 4 years. Last September, I was served with papers stating he was seeking full custody. It all came out of nowhere! We did mediation and came to an agreement (well, I certainly wasn't fully on board, but I cannot afford an attorney unfortunately) and we have a 50/50 parenting plan.

As I mentioned, I wasn't thrilled with the idea but not having an attorney made me really nervous. The mediator kept telling me that I should try my hardest to come to some sort of agreement because if we went in front of the judge and a judge decided for us, there's no sure way that we would get what we wanted.

I've already had to file a motion of contempt, the judge basically made me feel like he didn't care at all. He didn't listen to all of the facts I had listed in my paperwork, I feel like he wanted to get on with his day. My ex is constantly violating the terms of the parenting plan, yet he's not facing any consequences because no one is making him!

On to the big issue...in mediation we agreed on a meeting place that was half way for the both of us. My ex was ok with it at the time, and we've met there several times since. On the 4th of July, he wanted to keep our son overnight, but it wasn't his turn. He had him for his whole weekend.

He said to me that he could keep him because it was a holiday and it fell on his weekend. The problem with that is the 4th of July isn't one of the holidays listed in our plan. Once he found out I wasn't on board with letting him keep our son, he refused to meet me at our meeting place. He kept our son and wouldn't bring him home. He didn't let me get him until 5 that evening. Yesterday he had Wednesday visitation and refused to bring our son to me at the meeting spot once again.

I didn't get my son until Thursday morning at 6 am. I'm so fed up with him not following the plan, and fed up with the system here! If I file another contempt, is the judge going to even look at it and actually listen to my concerns? What do I do at this point? I have the forms to fill out to try and get the plan modified. It's scary not having an attorney to help me, or to help me fill things out. Any advice is greatly appreciated!

-- I'm not sure what to say. Hopefully the judge will be fair and allow you to state your case. Another route, as you mentioned, may be to modify the current plan by filing a Supplemental Petition to Modify. {See the link above for Form 12.905(a)} Good luck. --Staff

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