Child custody Attorney serving Walton, Okaloosa, Bay Counties, FL.
Your children mean the world to you and your big hope during this divorce process is that they emerge relatively unscathed. It's highly recommended that you and your spouse mutually agree on a custody arrangement and visitation schedule.
If you cannot agree on issues related to your children, a judge will make those decisions for you.
Florida establishes two kinds of custody: legal and physical
1. Legal: the right to make decisions about your children's well-being (education, health, extracurricular activities, religion, etc.)
2. Physical: determine where your children will live
Shared legal and physical custody is highly preferable in the Florida courts, and they are reluctant to award sole custody unless one parent is deemed unfit.
How Much Child Support Will I Get or Pay?
Child support in Florida is based on a mathematical formula which calculates:
- net income of both parents
- healthcare and insurance costs
- daycare costs
- number of overnights (less overnights = more child support; more overnights = less child support)
Using this mathematical formula, state law will come up with a minimum support amount which will be broken out into a percentage with one parent paying one percentage and the other parent paying the remaining percentage.
Child Custody While Deployed
According to Section 61.13002 of the Florida Statutes, if you are deployed for more than 90 days, you can designate a family member to have custody of your children in your absence.