In Re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms – 12.948(a)-(e)

CourtSupreme Court of Florida
DecidedJuly 9, 2020
DocketSC19-1897
StatusPublished

This text of In Re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms – 12.948(a)-(e) (In Re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms – 12.948(a)-(e)) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Supreme Court of Florida primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

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In Re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms – 12.948(a)-(e), (Fla. 2020).

Opinion

Supreme Court of Florida ____________

No. SC19-1897 ____________

IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT APPROVED FAMILY LAW FORMS—FORMS 12.948(a)-(e)

July 9, 2020

PER CURIAM.

This matter is before the Court for consideration of further amendments to

the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms.1 Previously in this case,

the Court adopted new Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms

12.948(a)-(e), to implement the Uniform Deployed Parents Custody and Visitation

Act, part IV of chapter 61, Florida Statutes (2018). In re Amendments to Fla.

Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms—Forms 12.948(a)-(e), 44 Fla. L.

Weekly S273 (Fla. Dec. 5, 2019). After adoption of the new forms, interested

parties were permitted to file comments with the Court. Two comments were

received: one from the Orange County Clerk of Courts; the other from the Family

1. We have jurisdiction. See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const. Law Section of The Florida Bar.

Upon consideration of the comments, and having received input from the

Advisory Workgroup on the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms,

we adopt many of the suggestions therein, amending forms 12.948(a)-(e) to clarify

and correct the forms as necessary and to revise the notary certificates to reflect

new procedures for online notarization in accordance with section 117.05(13),

Florida Statutes (2019). However, with regard to several comments received,

including that the instructions to the forms be amended to add the Space Force to

the list of “uniformed services” and to expand the definition of deployment, we

conclude that such comments address provisions in the forms that track the

statutory language, and thus, we are unable to change those provisions without

changes to the statutes.

The amended forms are adopted as set forth in the appendix to this opinion,

fully engrossed and ready for use. The forms shall become effective immediately

upon release of this opinion. The forms may be accessed and downloaded from the

Florida State Courts’ website at http://www.flcourts.org/resources-and-

services/court-improvement/family-courts/family-law-forms.stml. By adoption of

the amended forms, we express no opinion as to their correctness or applicability.

It is so ordered.

-2- CANADY, C.J., and POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, MUÑIZ, and COURIEL, JJ., concur.

THE FILING OF A MOTION FOR REHEARING SHALL NOT ALTER THE EFFECTIVE DATE OF THESE AMENDMENTS.

Original Proceeding – Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms

Douglas A. Greenbaum, Chair, Fort Lauderdale, Florida, Amy Hamlin, Past Chair, Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, Altamonte Springs, Florida, K. Beth Luna, Co-Chair, Jacksonville, Florida, Kristin Kirkner, Co-Chair, Tampa, Florida, and Anthony M. Genova, Past Co-Chair, Rules and Forms Committee, Family Law Section of The Florida Bar, Miami, Florida; and Sonite Metayer, Orlando, Florida,

Responding with comments

-3- APPENDIX

INSTRUCTIONS FOR FLORIDA SUPREME COURT APPROVED FAMILY LAW FORM 12.948(a) AGREEMENT GRANTING TEMPORARY CUSTODIAL RESPONSIBILITY DURING DEPLOYMENT (07/20)

When should this form be used?

This form should be used when one parent who is a servicemember is being deployed and the parties wish to temporarily establish or change the custodial responsibility, parenting plan, or time-sharing schedule.

A servicemember is a member of the uniformed services and includes:

• Active and reserve components of the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marine Corps, or the Coast Guard of the United States; • The United States Merchant Marine; • The commissioned corps of the United States Public Health Service; • The commissioned corps of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration; • The National Guard of a state or territory of the United States, Puerto Rico, or the District of Columbia.

Deployment means the movement or mobilization of a servicemember for less than 18 months pursuant to uniformed service orders that: • Are designated as unaccompanied; • Do not authorize dependent travel; or • Otherwise do not permit the movement of family members to the location to which the service member is deployed.

Custodial responsibility includes all the powers and duties relating to caretaking authority and decisionmaking authority for a child. It includes physical custody, legal custody, parental responsibility, parenting time, right to access, time-sharing, visitation, and authority to grant limited contact with a child. Caretaking authority means the right to live with and care for a child on a day-to-day basis. The term includes physical custody, parenting time, right to access, time-sharing, and visitation.

Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.948(a), Agreement for Temporary Custodial Responsibility During Deployment (07/20) -4- Decisionmaking authority means the power to make important decisions regarding a child’s education, religious training, health care, extracurricular activities, and travel. The term does not include the power to make decisions that necessarily accompany a grant of caretaking authority. Limited contact means the authority of a Nonparent to visit a child for a limited time. The term includes authority to take the child to a place other than the child’s residence. This agreement is temporary and automatically terminates 30 days after the Deploying Parent gives notice of his/her return from deployment to the Other Parent, unless the parties agree otherwise in writing or in a record, or the agreement has been terminated by court order. A Nonparent who is an adult family member of the child or a non-family member with whom the child has a close and substantial relationship may be granted temporary caretaking authority, decisionmaking authority, and/or limited contact. A close and substantial relationship means a positive relationship of substantial duration and depth in which a significant emotional bond exists between a child and a Nonparent. The Agreement Granting Temporary Custodial Responsibility During Deployment must:

• To the extent permissible, identify the destination, duration, and conditions of the deployment that is the basis for the agreement;

• Specify the allocation of caretaking authority among the Deploying Parent, the Other Parent, and any agreed-upon Nonparent;

• Specify any decisionmaking authority that accompanies a grant of caretaking authority;

• Specify any grant of limited contact to an agreed-upon Nonparent;

• Provide a process to resolve any dispute that may arise if custodial responsibility is shared by the Other Parent and an agreed-upon Nonparent, or by other agreed-upon Nonparents.

• Specify the frequency, duration, and means, including electronic means, by which the Deploying Parent will have contact with the children, any role to be played by the Other Parent or agreed-upon Nonparent in facilitating the contact, and the allocation of costs of contact;

• Specify contact between the Deploying Parent and children during the time the Deploying Parent is on leave or is otherwise available;

• Acknowledge that the agreement does not modify any existing child support obligation and that changing the terms of the obligation during deployment requires modification in the appropriate court;

• Provide that the agreement will terminate 30 days after the Deploying Parent gives notice of his/her return from deployment to the Other Parent, or as otherwise agreed upon in writing or in a record by the Deploying Parent and the Other Parent; and

• Specify which parent is required to file the agreement with the court.

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In Re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms – 12.948(a)-(e), Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/in-re-amendments-to-the-florida-supreme-court-approved-family-law-forms-fla-2020.