To file for visitation rights in Florida, submit a petition and a proposed Parenting Plan to the circuit court in the county where your child has lived for the past six months. Florida does not use the word “visitation” in its statutes. What most people mean by that is called time-sharing, and every arrangement has to be written into a court-approved Parenting Plan that spells out when the child is with each parent. The exact petition you file depends on whether you are divorcing or you are an unmarried parent asking the court to set up a schedule for the first time.
Can You File? Married, Unmarried, and Paternity
Both legal parents can ask the court for time-sharing. If you are married, the request is part of your divorce case. If you are unmarried, you need a separate paternity action in circuit court before a father can get an enforceable schedule. Being listed on the birth certificate is not enough on its own.
Florida gives unmarried fathers two paths to establish paternity. The first is a voluntary acknowledgment of paternity signed and notarized by both parents, which creates a legal presumption of fatherhood. Either parent can rescind it within 60 days of signing. After 60 days it becomes binding and can only be challenged for fraud, duress, or a material mistake of fact.1The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes Chapter 742 – Determination of Parentage If the mother disputes paternity or a voluntary acknowledgment isn’t an option, the father files a Petition to Determine Paternity and the court typically orders genetic testing. Time-sharing can be requested in that same case once paternity is established.2Florida State Courts. Petition to Determine Paternity and for Related Relief
Grandparents cannot use this process to ask for visitation in most situations. Florida only allows a grandparent petition when both parents are deceased, missing, or in a persistent vegetative state, or when one parent is in that situation and the other has been convicted of a felony or violent offense that threatens the child. Even then the grandparent has to prove parental unfitness or significant harm to the child by clear and convincing evidence.3Justia Law. Florida Code 752.011 – Petition for Grandparent Visitation With a Minor Child
The Forms You Need to File
All of the forms are available on the Florida State Courts website. The combination depends on your situation, but three documents sit at the center of nearly every case.
The Petition
If you are going through a divorce with minor children, the petition is Form 12.901(b)(1), a Petition for Dissolution of Marriage with Dependent or Minor Children. If you are unmarried and paternity is not yet established, use Form 12.983(a), a Petition to Determine Paternity and for Related Relief.2Florida State Courts. Petition to Determine Paternity and for Related Relief
The Parenting Plan
Every case involving minor children requires a Parenting Plan, Form 12.995(a). This is the document that will govern your life after the judge signs it, so vague drafting here causes real problems later. At a minimum the plan must include:
- A detailed time-sharing schedule covering regular weekdays, weekends, holidays, school breaks, and summer vacations.
- Which parent decides health care, school enrollment, and extracurricular activities.
- How parents will communicate with each other about the child, and how each parent will communicate with the child during the other parent’s time.
- Designated exchange locations for drop-offs and pick-ups, with a neutral site if safety is a concern.
The plan has to describe daily parenting responsibilities in enough detail that both parents know what is expected.4The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing You can add optional provisions as well, like a right of first refusal clause that requires a parent who cannot be present during their scheduled time to offer that time to the other parent before hiring a sitter.5Florida Courts. Family Law Forms – Parenting Plan 12.995 Forms A-C
Supporting Forms
You also need a UCCJEA Affidavit, Form 12.902(d), which establishes Florida’s jurisdiction and lists every address the child has lived at for the past five years along with the names of the people the child lived with.6Florida State Courts. Instructions for Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.902(d) – Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction and Enforcement Act (UCCJEA) Affidavit If child support is on the table, you file a Family Law Financial Affidavit. Use the short form, 12.902(b), if your gross income is under $50,000 a year, and the long form, 12.902(c), if it is $50,000 or more.7Florida State Courts. Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Form 12.902(b) – Family Law Financial Affidavit (Short Form)
Where to File and What It Costs
File your signed and notarized documents with the clerk of the circuit court. Florida has jurisdiction if the state has been the child’s home for at least six consecutive months before you file, or if the child left Florida within the last six months but a parent still lives here.8The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 61.514 – Initial Child Custody Jurisdiction
Expect to pay around $409 to file a dissolution of marriage or around $301 for a paternity or standalone custody action. The base family law filing fee is set by statute at up to $295, and surcharges bring it to those totals.9The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 28.241 – Filing Fees for Trial and Appellate Proceedings If you cannot afford the fee, file an Application for Determination of Civil Indigent Status. You qualify if your household income is at or below 200 percent of the federal poverty guidelines, though there is a presumption against eligibility if you own property beyond your home and one vehicle worth less than $5,000 with net equity of $2,500 or more.10Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 57.082 – Determination of Civil Indigent Status When the clerk accepts your filing you will get a stamped petition, a case number, and a summons. Keep copies of everything.
Serving the Other Parent
You cannot hand the papers over yourself or drop them in the mail. A neutral third party has to deliver copies of the petition and summons to the other parent through formal service of process.
The usual route is the sheriff’s office in the county where the other parent lives or works. Florida sheriffs charge a statutory fee of $40 per summons served, which may be waived if you qualified as indigent.11The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 30.231 – Sheriffs Fees for Service of Summons, Subpoenas, and Executions A private process server is also an option and generally costs between $40 and $100.
If you have genuinely exhausted efforts to find the other parent, Florida allows service by publication as a last resort. You file a sworn statement showing that you conducted a diligent search and that the person’s residence is unknown, outside Florida, or that they are hiding to avoid service.12The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 49.041 – Sworn Statement, Natural Person as Defendant The court then authorizes publishing a legal notice in a local newspaper. Judges look hard at whether the search was really thorough before approving this method.
The Parenting Course Deadline
Florida requires every party in a divorce with minor children or a paternity case to complete a four-hour Parent Education and Family Stabilization Course before the judge enters a final judgment. The deadlines are tight and easy to miss: the parent who files has 45 days from filing to complete it, and the other parent has 45 days from the date of service.13The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 61.21 – Parenting Course Authorized Courses must be approved by the Department of Children and Families, and many are offered online. You file proof of completion with the court. Skipping it will not get your case dismissed, but it will stall your final judgment.
What Happens After You Serve
Once served, the other parent has 20 days from the date of service, not counting the day of service, to file a written response. The response will admit or deny the claims in your petition and may include a counter-petition with different terms.
If the other parent ignores the deadline, you can ask the court to enter a default. Child custody is treated differently from other civil matters, though. A judge cannot enter a default judgment on time-sharing without giving the non-responding parent a chance to present evidence about the child. The court will hold a hearing and the judge will still have to evaluate the child’s best interests before approving your proposed plan.
Florida requires parties in family cases involving children to attend mediation before trial.14Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 44.102 – Court-Ordered Mediation A neutral mediator helps you negotiate time-sharing and any other unresolved issues, and the process is confidential.15Florida Courts. Mediation The exception is a documented history of domestic violence, which keeps a case out of mediation. If you reach a full agreement it is written up and submitted to the judge for approval as a final order. If you agree on some issues but not others, only the unresolved ones go to trial. If mediation fails, the judge holds a hearing and decides the schedule.
How the Judge Will Decide
Every time-sharing decision in Florida has to be based on the child’s best interests. The statute lists roughly 20 factors the court must weigh, which is why the way you frame your petition and your Parenting Plan matters. The factors that tend to carry the most weight include each parent’s willingness to encourage the child’s relationship with the other parent and honor the schedule, the stability of the child’s current environment, each parent’s knowledge of the child’s daily life, the ability to maintain consistent routines, the geographic practicality of the proposed plan, each parent’s mental and physical health, the child’s own preference when the court finds the child mature enough, and any evidence of domestic violence, child abuse, or neglect. The court also looks at whether either parent has given false information to the court about abuse or unreasonably denied the other parent access to the child.4The Florida Legislature. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing A health condition on its own will not disqualify a parent, and the judge must put in writing that any evidence of violence was considered.
If You Already Have a Parenting Plan
Modifying an existing time-sharing order is a different, harder question. Florida requires you to show both a substantial and material change in circumstances since the last order and that the proposed change is in the child’s best interests. One without the other is not enough. Courts have accepted changes like a parent’s relocation, a major shift in work schedule, changing needs as a child ages, or safety concerns. Simply wanting more time is not enough on its own. One specific scenario the statute spells out: if the parents lived more than 50 miles apart when the last order was entered and one parent later moves within 50 miles, that move can qualify as a substantial change for purposes of asking for a new schedule.16Florida Senate. Florida Statutes 61.13 – Support of Children, Parenting and Time-Sharing The procedure mirrors the original case: file a supplemental petition, serve the other parent, attend mediation if ordered, and go to a hearing if no agreement is reached.