April 25th, 2013 by Robert Franklin, Esq.
Our friends in Minnesota are following the progress of the alimony/shared parenting bill in Florida. They send us the message below. The bill would enact sane reforms to Florida alimony law and, more importantly, make equal parenting the presumption in child custody cases. Here and here are the two pieces I’ve written about the bill so far. The bill has now passed both houses of the Florida Legislature and gone to the governor for either his signature or his veto. So please send a polite email to Governor Rick Scott urging him to sign the bill into law. Contact information is below. PLEASE DO THIS TODAY! Thank you.
The following JPC/ESP bill was passed through the Florida legislature in April 2013. The bill now sits on the desk of Florida Governor Rick Scott, awaiting his signature. He is expected to sign or veto the bill today or tomorrow.
YOUR ACTION ITEM – TODAY!
- Email Florida Governor Rick Scott at rick.scott@eog.myflorida.com
- Express to him the importance of passing this Alimony Reform Bill, but especially, the equal shared parenting portion, which is long overdue to reform and clarify outdated family court practices that currently unnecessarily reduce the involvement of one parent and creates excessive litigation, without just cause. Ask him to have the courage to protect children of divorce vs protecting litigators who want to preserve the status quo. Children have an equal need for both fit parents.
- Ask him plainly to SIGN THIS BILL into legislation, to ensure a child’s right to both fit parents.
The bill is actually an Alimony Reform Bill, but the following amendment was included in that bill:
“Equal time-sharing with a minor child by both parents is presumed to be in the best interests of the child unless the court finds that a parent is unfit, that the distance between parental residences is so great as to make equal time-sharing impracticable, or that a parent does not request at least 50 percent time-sharing.”
The National Parents Organization is a Shared Parenting Organization
The National Parents Organization is a non-profit organization that is educating the public, families, educators, and legislators about the importance of shared parenting and how it can reduce conflict in children, parents and extended families. If you would like to get involved in our organization, you can do so several ways. First, we would love to have you as an official member of the National Parents Organization team. Second, the National Parents Organization is an organization that believes in the importance of using social media as a means to spread the word about shared parenting and other topics, and you can visit us on our Facebook Page to learn more about our efforts. Last, we hope you will share this article with other families using the many social networking sites so that we can bring about greater awareness of shared parenting. Thank you for your support.