How to Create a Long-Distance Parenting Plan in Florida

A long-distance parenting plan in Florida is required any time a parent moves their primary residence at least 50 miles away for 60 or more consecutive days, and the move must be authorized either by a written agreement with the other parent or by a court order before it happens.¹ The plan itself has to spell out the new timesharing schedule, how the child travels between homes and who pays, how the parents will keep in touch with the child between visits, who makes major decisions, and where exchanges happen. Miss a required piece and a judge will not approve it.

When the Long-Distance Rules Apply

Florida Statute 61.13001 defines relocation as moving your primary residence at least 50 miles from the address on file in your last timesharing order, for at least 60 consecutive days. Short trips for vacation, school, or the child’s medical care do not count toward the 60 days. The distance is measured from your previous court-recognized address, and the rule applies the same way whether you move across Florida or across the country.¹

Once the move crosses that threshold, informal arrangements no longer protect you. You need either a signed written agreement from the other parent or a court order approving the move and the revised plan.

Agreement or Petition: Two Ways to Authorize the Move

If the Other Parent Agrees

A written agreement is the faster, cheaper route. It has to cover three things: consent to the relocation, a revised timesharing schedule for the non-relocating parent, and the transportation arrangements that make the new schedule workable.¹ You submit it to the court as a stipulation. The judge checks that it serves the child’s best interests and, if satisfied, signs it into an enforceable order.

If You Have to File a Petition

Without agreement, the parent who wants to move files a sworn petition to relocate and serves it on the other parent. The petition must include:

The city, state, and specific physical address of the intended new home, if known
The planned date of the move
A detailed explanation of the reasons for moving, with a written job offer attached if employment is one of them
A proposed revised timesharing schedule and transportation arrangements

That last item is non-negotiable. A petition filed without a proposed revised schedule is legally insufficient, and the court will not consider it.¹

The non-relocating parent then has 20 days from service to file a written objection. If no objection comes in on time, the court can presume the move is in the child’s best interests and approve it without a hearing, adopting the schedule and transportation plan the relocating parent proposed.¹ If an objection is filed, the move cannot happen until a judge rules.

What the Plan Itself Must Contain

Florida Statute 61.13 sets the minimum contents for any parenting plan. Long-distance plans need to address each requirement with more detail than a local plan, because the logistics are harder and vague terms become fights later.

Timesharing Schedule

Long-distance schedules do not alternate weekends. They consolidate the non-relocating parent’s time into longer blocks, usually most of the summer plus major school breaks. The schedule has to cover the regular school year, every major holiday, school breaks, and teacher workdays. Florida’s public policy favors equal timesharing as a starting point, so the plan should explain how the proposed blocks preserve frequent and continuing contact with the long-distance parent even though a true 50/50 split is rarely workable across that kind of distance.²

Transportation and Cost Sharing

The plan has to say exactly how the child gets between homes. Identify who books travel, who handles drop-offs and pickups, the method of travel, and how costs are split. Write in what happens when a flight is canceled or delayed.

If the child will fly alone, plan around airline rules. Most carriers require unaccompanied minor service for children under 15, with fees typically around $150 each way on top of the ticket. Children under 8 are usually restricted to nonstop flights, and younger children generally cannot fly alone at all.³ Over a full school year, those fees matter, and the cost-sharing clause should name them directly.

Communication Between Visits

Every Florida parenting plan must describe the methods and technologies the parents will use to communicate with the child.² For a long-distance plan this provision does the heavy lifting. Name the specific platforms for video calls. Set a recurring schedule with days, times, and expected frequency, and make clear that both parents will facilitate the calls on their end. Specifics prevent the familiar pattern where the child is never available when the other parent calls.

Decision-Making Authority

Florida presumes both parents share responsibility for major decisions about education, healthcare, and activities. Sole decision-making is awarded only when shared responsibility would be detrimental to the child, with domestic violence and certain criminal convictions creating a presumption of detriment.²

Even under shared responsibility, a court can assign one parent “ultimate responsibility” over specific areas when the parents cannot agree. In long-distance arrangements, the parent the child lives with during the school year often ends up with ultimate authority over school-related decisions, since those decisions have to be made where the child actually attends. State clearly in the plan which decisions require joint agreement and which belong to one parent alone.

Exchange Locations

The plan has to designate authorized exchange locations, and the court can require a neutral, safe location if there is any risk of harm to a parent or the child during the handoff.² When air travel is involved, the airport is usually the exchange location, and the plan should name which parent is responsible for being present at departure and at arrival.

Cross-Border Issues to Build Into the Plan

Which State Keeps Control of Custody

If the move crosses state lines, the state that issued the original custody order keeps exclusive jurisdiction to modify it as long as at least one parent or the child continues to live there, under the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act as adopted in Chapter 61.⁴ A Florida order stays a Florida matter as long as one parent remains in Florida. The relocating parent cannot establish a new home state and relitigate custody somewhere more favorable, and the parent left behind will not have to defend the order in a distant courtroom.

Passport Authority

For any child under 16, both parents must consent and appear in person with the child when applying for a U.S. passport. The rule exists to prevent international parental abduction. If both parents cannot appear together, one can provide notarized written consent on Form DS-3053.⁵ Settling passport authority in the parenting plan prevents one parent from blocking travel later as leverage.

Who Claims the Child on Taxes

The parenting plan effectively decides which parent qualifies for federal tax benefits tied to the child. Only the custodial parent can claim the child as a dependent, and the IRS defines the custodial parent as the one with physical custody for the greater portion of the calendar year.⁶ In most long-distance arrangements, that is the parent the child lives with during the school year.

The custodial parent can release the dependency exemption and child tax credit to the other parent using IRS Form 8332, and some parents alternate years as part of the plan.⁷ Head of household filing status, the dependent care credit, and the earned income tax credit stay with the custodial parent regardless of what any agreement says.⁶ A court order to the contrary will not change the IRS rule.

Do Not Move Without Approval

Relocating without a signed agreement or a court order is one of the worst strategic moves a parent can make. The statute lets the court simultaneously hold you in contempt, order the child returned, make you pay the other parent’s attorney fees and travel costs for recovering the child, and weigh the unauthorized move against you when ruling on the relocation petition itself and on any future modification.¹ Judges read an unauthorized move as a willingness to go around the court, and that damages credibility on every other issue in the case.

Getting It Signed Into an Order

A parenting plan has no legal force until a judge signs it. If both parents agree on everything, submit it as a stipulation; the judge reviews it against the child’s best interests and enters it as an order. If the parents disagree, the petition process runs its course and the judge issues the final terms after hearing evidence. Either way, once signed, both parents are bound, and violations are enforceable through contempt.

1
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.13001 – Parental Relocation With a Child
2
Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children; Parenting and Time-Sharing
3
American Airlines. Unaccompanied Minors
4
Online Sunshine. Florida Statutes 61.514 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction
5
U.S. Department of State (Travel.State.Gov). Apply for a Child’s Passport Under 16
6
Internal Revenue Service. Divorced and Separated Parents
7
Internal Revenue Service. About Form 8332, Release/Revocation of Release of Claim to Exemption for Child by Custodial Parent