Children’s Hour: Ensuring You Can Have Custody

Divorce can be devastating for all parties involved, especially the children. It can be painful for a mother and father to even think of separating from their children. If anything should happen to one parent, the other gets custody of the child. Florida law usually allows both parents a chance to have shared responsibility for a child in the state, unless circumstances warrant sole custody by a parent. 

Some problems also arise when a member of the child’s extended family wants custody. The member may do it out of concern for the child’s welfare or for some other reasons. As someone who is not a direct relation, the member will need the help of a family law attorney to help obtain custody for the child. These are the options available:

• Temporary Custody. It is possible to have responsibility of a child for a set period of time. This means you have the right to make any decision that concern’s the child’s life. This type of custody can be obtained if you either have a signed, notarized consent form from a parent or have the child living with you and are caring for him or her as a substitute parent.
• Concurrent Custody. This shares the custody rights between you and the child’s parents, though the parents can revoke this at any time. You can file for this type of custody if you have the authorization of the parent or the child has lived with you for at least 10 days in a month within the last year.