Section 61.13001, Florida Statutes (2006), titled “Parental relocation with a child,” establishes the procedures involved in the relocation of a child, whether relocation is sought after agreement between the parties or alternatively contested by one party. In the case of a contested relocation, the Legislature has stated that “[n]o presumption shall arise in favor of or against a request to relocate with the child when a primary residential parent seeks to move the child and the move will materially affect the current schedule of contact, access, and time-sharing with the nonrelocating parent or other person.” § 61.13001(7), Fla. Stat. (2006). Instead, section 61.13001(8) states:
The parent or other person wishing to relocate has the burden of proof if an objection is filed and must then initiate a proceeding seeking court permission for relocation. The initial burden is on the parent or person wishing to relocate to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that relocation is in the best interest of the child. If that burden of proof is met, the burden shifts to the non-relocating parent or other person to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the proposed relocation is not in the best interest of the child.
(MORE TO COME)

Child Support in Florida was made easy by the Florida Legislature. We have a statute (61.30) that outlines child support for us. Child support is determined by adding together your net income and your spouse’s net income, and depending on how many children you have, the legislature has already figured out for you how much you should spend to raise your children, given your net available income. Each spouse contributes a certain percentage to that “income pie”. Multiply your percentage by the amount the legislature has set as child support, and that tells you how much child support will be. Note: in alimony cases, alimony must be figured before child support, since the paying spouse affects both parties’ incomes, which must be determined before calculating child support.

In addition to baseline child support, there are calculations for health insurance and day care expense, if applicable. Those amounts are added to the base child support obligation or allocated between the parties. Each party is credited with the amounts that they pay on behalf of the other party, since only one parent pays for health insurance and for day care, although both are responsible for their percentage. Uncovered medical, dental, psychological and orthodontic bills and co-pays are also paid on some percentage basis (whether 50/50 or proportionate to your incomes). Special needs children are subject to additional consideration.

I attended the annual “Raising the Bar” Seminar hosted by the Family Law Section of the Broward County Bar Association on Friday. There were many presentations by many of the Family Law Judges and Magistrates of Broward County. We were reminded by Judge Renee Goldenberg that as Family Law attorneys, we need to take an active role in lowering the amount of conflict in family cases. High conflict divorce is traumatic for children. Lawyers who encourage their clients to maintain a high level of conflict are doing a disservice to the family, the community and the profession. Do yourself and your children a favor, and minimize the conflict. One of the best ways to accomplish that is to resist the urge to react. Remember the movie “WarGames”? The computer finally learned after playing tic-tac-toe and running all the different thermo-nuclear war scenarios that “the only way to win is not to play the game”. The only way to truly win in your divorce is to not get sucked into playing the divorce war game.