Make Your Own Rules and Teach Everyone Else to Follow Them

People involved with writing Florida’s new custody laws (over 100 pages passed in 2008 as SB2532), now will profiteer some more by doing seminars on implementing them. Of course those that get on board will be in like Flynn, those that don’t might get blindsided. Believe It Or Not – this law was passed in 2008 under the guise that it would make things better. Better for those people who now have more immunity than ever, and more work than ever, and who can stay involved in divorcing parents lives until the children turn 18 and collect money for it. Jeb Bush had vetoed a very similar bill previously. See the veto below for some reasons why the new law is bad. The main reason is still present, that victims of abuse now have forced shared parenting. These domestic abuse divorces are not called domestic abuse anymore – they use backwards language and sometimes call them high-conflict with alienation. Battered moms will be forced to have these profiteering professionals in their lives until the children turn 18. They will be forced to use some sort of parenting counselor, coordinator, therapist, ad nauseum, et al who will act as judge and jury and will get paid for it. No more sole custody for the victims of abuse. It’s a shared parenting disaster. That is unless the mom reports the ongoing abuse, then they lose custody.     

$$$$$$$$ WEBINARS PRESENTS

Handling The Contested Parenting Case
Under Florida’s New Parenting Statute

Feb. 20 or March 20, 2009
11:45 AM through 2:15 PM

Receive Expert Instruction In The
Comfort Of Your Own Office
With Your Staff – via the Internet
CLE & CLA Accredited

For Only $179.00

Host – Norman D. Levin, Esq.
Speaker – Deborah O. Day, Psy.D
Guests – Attorneys Who Have Recently Tried Parenting Cases Under the New Statute

Subjects will include:

Understanding the new statute in the litigation context

Assessing Your Time Sharing Case From Day One

Locating Your Best Witnesses

Drafting Your Proposed Parenting Plan

Using The Psychological Consultant to Plan Your case

What does the Proposed Parenting Plan need to have?

Do we need a Social Investigation and Recommendations Regarding the Parenting Plan?

Should we have a Guardian Ad Litem in our case

The Social Investigation and Recommendations Regarding The Parenting Plan. How is it performed? What will be done? What is the Professional looking for?

Examining the Social Investigation Evaluator. What questions should you ask? What questions should you avoid?

Getting Agreement on Parenting Plan Provisions in contested cases.

What is Time-Sharing?

Where did Primary Residence go?

Will filing a Dependency Petition help in our case?

What Former Case Law is affected by the new statute?

Tools To Use in the Contested Parenting Case

Mediation/ Parenting Coordinator or Co-Parenting Counselor – Which should we have?

 

 

 

Why was this bill vetoed previously? Note the concern for the licensed professionals getting all this new work. It seems that lots of authority and immunity have been granted to psychologists with this bill.      

http://www.flgov.com/leg_actions/2004/SB_2640_veto.pdf

 

June 18, 2004

Ms. Glenda E. Hood

Secretary of State

Florida Department of State

R.A. Gray Building

500 South Bronough Street

Tallahassee, FL 32399

 

Dear Secretary Hood:

By the authority vested in me as Governor of Florida, under the provisions of Article III, Section 8, of the Constitution of Florida, I do hereby withhold my approval of and transmit to you with my objections, Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 2640, enacted during the 36^th session of the Legislature, convened under the Constitution of 1968, during the Regular Session of 2004, and entitled:

An act relating to Parenting Coordination. . .

Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 2640 authorizes courts to appoint a parenting coordinator when the court finds the parties have not implemented the court-ordered parenting plan, mediation has not been successful, and the court finds the appointment is in the best interest of the children involved.

I applaud the dedicated efforts of many whose mission is to identify alternatives to assist families in conflict. I also recognize that some circuit courts are currently utilizing parenting coordinators without statutory authority, and I commend them for seeking legislative direction.

While the intent of the bill is laudable, I am vetoing the bill for the following reasons: 

1. I am concerned that the bill does not adequately protect families as they try to resolve their conflicts. By authorizing courts to require families to use parenting coordinators, this legislation allows the judicial branch to order parenting coordination without the consent of all parties involved.

2. I share the concerns expressed by domestic violence advocates that this bill fails to provide adequate safeguards for victims of domestic violence.

3. I cannot approve legislation that delegates judicial authority to a parenting coordinator and which allows these parenting coordinators to serve in the dual role of judge and jury of parents’ or children’s rights.

4. I am concerned about funding these parenting coordinating programs in the future.

5. I believe that parenting coordinators should serve as volunteers and not be limited to an exclusive class of licensed professionals.

I will support a revised bill during the 2005 legislative session that makes the appointment and selection of a parenting coordinator subject to the consent of both parents. Also, I believe that we must limit the risk of “professionalization” of the parenting coordinator role by limiting it to volunteers. While I respect the Legislature’s policy choice to allow only licensed professionals, clergy or attorneys to qualify as parenting coordinators, I believe that any volunteer, especially any faith-based volunteer, who meets certain minimum criteria should be allowed to serve as a parenting coordinator.

Basic training and standards are important. I support language, some contained in the current bill, regarding domestic violence training, family-court procedures, and mediation.

I am committed to working with the sponsors of this legislation to create a program that can assist parents, preserve their rights, protect the best interests of the children involved, and address the concerns noted above.

Furthermore, by this letter, I respectfully request the Chief Justice of the Florida Supreme Court and all chief circuit judges to consider revising these programs to ensure that parents’ paramount rights are not compromised, regardless of the well-intentioned motives of the program.

For these reasons, and the reasons set forth herein, I am withholding my approval of Committee Substitute for Senate Bill 2640, and do hereby veto the same.

Sincerely,

Jeb Bush 

 

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