Florida law encourages judges to
award shared parenting to parents. This means that both parents
have a right to make decisions concerning their children, such as
education, medical treatment and religious training.
The court also has the power to
award residential responsibility to one or both parents. Primary
residential responsibility determines where the child actually
lives, and it is most common for the children to spend most of
their time with one parent.
The parent who does not have
primary residential responsibility is usually granted secondary
residential responsibility or other visitation rights.
It is most common for the
non-custodial parent to have specified periods of time consisting
of alternating weekends, one evening per night and one-half of the
children's school vacations.
In some cases, the parents agree
to reasonable or flexible secondary physical custody or visitation
rights, which means that the parents agree on the times when the
non-custodial parent will have the children.
