Florida Custody Forms & Panic‑Search Guides
These resources focus on Florida time‑sharing documentation, modification basics, and evidence‑ready organization. Educational only - not legal advice.
For form checklists and terminology, use the Florida forms index.
Florida procedure overviews
Statewide orientation: choose the lane that fits your case (custody modification, parenting time, child support, or enforcement) before you open a checklist page. Checklists live on the Florida forms index.
Start here (fastest wins)
National and cross-topic MCC tools (support only; not a substitute for Florida procedure pages above).
Forms index
12.905, 12.995, 12.902 and related checklists with plan-versus-modify discipline called out on each page.
Open Florida forms hubEvidence & clarity
Panic-search visitors need simple, repeatable structure: logs, timelines, and clean narratives.
Declaration and timeline resources are linked in Start here (fastest wins) above.
Enforcement / denied parenting time
If parenting time is being denied or disrupted, start with documentation and a clean timeline.
Relevant Florida law
The statutes and appellate decisions below are the ones Florida courts actually apply here. Educational orientation only — not legal advice. Read the source before you rely on it.
Statutes
- Fla. Stat. § 61.13 — Support of Children; Parenting and Time-Sharing; Powers of Court
Makes the best interests of the child the primary consideration for parental responsibility and time-sharing, and requires a substantial and material change in circumstances, plus a best-interests finding, to modify an existing parenting plan or time-sharing schedule.
- Fla. Stat. § 61.13001 — Parental Relocation With a Child
Requires a parent who wants to relocate with a child to file and serve a petition to relocate; the relocating parent must first prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the move is in the child’s best interest, after which the burden shifts to the objecting parent.
- Fla. Stat. § 61.30 — Child Support Guidelines
Establishes Florida’s child support guidelines, under which the guideline amount based on the parents’ combined net income presumptively sets the support the court must order.
Key cases
- Arthur v. Arthur, 54 So. 3d 454 (Fla. 2010)
A court cannot make a “prospective” best-interests determination that authorizes a parent to relocate with the child at a future date; the propriety of relocation must be decided on the circumstances at the time of the final hearing, not predicted in advance.
- Wade v. Hirschman, 903 So. 2d 928 (Fla. 2005)
The substantial-change-in-circumstances test governs modification of all custody arrangements, including rotating or shared custody; a court modifying custody applies that test rather than re-deciding custody as if making an initial determination.
- Warner v. Warner, 692 So. 2d 266 (Fla. 5th DCA 1997)
To impute income to a parent for child support under Fla. Stat. § 61.30(2)(b), the court must first find the parent’s unemployment or underemployment is voluntary, then make specific findings — based on the parent’s recent work history, occupational qualifications, and prevailing earnings in the community — of the parent’s probable earnings and the source of the imputed income; imputing income without those findings is reversible.
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Get StartedGeneral support (not Florida-specific)
Templates and methods that help in many states. Use Florida procedure overviews first when the question is modification versus enforcement.
MyCustodyCoach is not a law firm. Court rules, fees, and form versions change by county; confirm what applies to your case with official court resources or counsel you hire.