Blog

What is Sole Custody

Sole custody is where one parent has custody of the child and has the ultimate decision making regarding all aspects of the child’s life. Sole custody differs from Shared custody in that in shared custody both parents make decisions regarding the child’s life. With shared custody, both parents time share with the child. With sole custody, one parent has custody of the child and the other parent has supervised visitation or no visitation with the child.

When is sole custody appropriate? Sole custody may be requested when the other parent is unfit, has abused the child, has abandoned the child, has neglected the child, has been convicted of domestic violence of a misdemeanor of the first degree or higher, or has a domestic violence injunction issued against them. It may also be appropriate when the other parent is an alcoholic or a drug addict and that addiction causes them to be unfit to care for the child; or when the other parent is in prison. The court would examine the parent’s history of criminal behavior, which may include the frequency of incarceration and the unavailability of the parent to the child due to incarceration. It may also be appropriate where a parent disobeys a court order and flees to a foreign country with the children and does not return them to the US.

In order to prove a parent is unfit, you must see if they meet the criteria in Florida Statute 39.01. This section of the statute defines abandonment, abuse, neglect, and harm.

Domestic violence is defined in Florida Statute 741.28.

There are administrative orders on removing the children from the court’s jurisdiction while the case is pending before the court.

Usually, when sole custody is granted, the other parent is given supervised visitation. This supervised visitation will continue until the other parent successfully completes tasks to rectify his or her problem. For example, an alcoholic or drug addict would have to successfully complete a treatment program, an after-care program, and submit to random urinalysis. They would have to show the court they are drug and alcohol free; and that it is safe for the child to be around them unsupervised. When the parent does that, then he or she is entitled to unsupervised visitation.

In other words, the court cannot deny a parent any contact with a child without prescribing a schedule or benchmarks for reestablishing the parent’s timesharing and parenting of the child. The court must advise a parent of the necessary steps to regain contact with the child. There must be steps to reestablish contact with the child.

This information is provided only as educational materials, and does not constitute the providing of legal advice, and does not create an attorney client relationship.