In some of the most contentions family cases involving minor children, the parties prove to be entirely unable to jointly parent the children.  This is problematic as we, as a society, generally expect parents to work together to make major decisions concerning their children.  This policy is reflected further in our statutes.  Major decision making is referred to under Florida law as, "Parental Reponsibility."  In the vast majority of cases, the Court orderes "Shared Parental Responsibility."  This means that the parties are required to communicate and collaborate in making major decisions about the children.  The policy is so strong that in order for a Court to award "Sole Parental Responsibility," the Court must find that requiring the parents to work together in decision-making would be a detriment to the children.  It's a high burden.

Of course, parents of divorce often have conflict in making decisions. If they were generally agreeable, they probably wouldn't have gotten divorced to begin with.  That aside, most parents are able to work through their differences and further court intervention is not necessary.  For the cases in which there is regular conflict in parenting, an option the court may employ is the appointment of a Parenting Coordinator.  Aside from sometimes seeking that the court appoint a parenting coordnator on our litigation files, our lead litigation attorney, Anne V. Alper, also regularly takes appointments as a Parenting Coordinator.

A Parenting Coordinator's job is essentially to work with the conflicting parents to facilitate decision-making.  Although there is limited instance in which the parenting coordinator reports back to the court, her role is generally to work with the parents, ensuring crucial decisions are made and unnecessary conflict is dispensed with.  the practical reality is that Court is not the best place to resolve most parenting issues.  It takes too long to get before the judge to effectively resolve most issues and the result is generally that the children lose out.  

The appointment of a parenting coordinator may be right for your case if there is regular and continuous conflict when making parenting decisions with the other parent of your child(ren).  A parenting coordinator comes with an expense each time you utilize her services, so choosing this route is not well suited for cases with minor conflict.  Rather, such appointment is best suited for cases in which decisions just simply can't be made collaboratively.  Although there is an expense, in these cases the expense is worth having a readily available means of resolving regular conflict.  

Although the appointment of a parenting coordinator is typically made by a judge, the parties may agree to the appointment, each recognizing the existence of parenting conflict and a need for resolution.  If that's the case, the parents can propose the appointment of a parenting coordiinator.  

If you would like to meet with an attorney in our office to discuss the appointment of a parenting coordinator, please call to schedule a consultation.  You may do so by calling (561)472-0919 or by clicking "Attorney Consultation" to schedule a convenient time to meet.