Watch and learn how this important element of family law may affect Ms. Bullock and other adoptive families facing divorce.

Why? Traditionally, the father worked outside the home, and the mother was the at-home parent.

Much has changed. Many mothers work outside the home, and parenting duties and responsibilities now are evenly split between both parents.

It seemed it was time for the law to change.

Last year, the Florida Legislature did just that. It rewrote Chapter 61 of the Florida Family Law Statutes to, among other things, redefine how the courts were to view roles of each parent. As of October 1, 2008, Florida law required “that each minor child has frequent and continuing contact with both parents after the parents separate or the marriage of the parties is dissolved.” It goes on to “encourage parents to share the rights and responsibilities, and joys of childrearing.”

The goal was – and is – to keep both parents involved in the child’s life. This includes each parents’ involvement in and conversations about decisions regarding such issues as doctor and medical treatment, religious observance, school, trips and vacations, camp, child care facilities, sports and extra curricular activities, and even psychological care. As minor children become adolescents and teens, the parents stay equally involved.

It has been our experience that parents seeking divorce were misinformed about their roles in their children’s lives. Some mothers felt the role of “primary” or custodial parent granted them sole responsibility in the decision-making process. The law’s original language wasn’t intended to grant such responsibility or favoritism to one parent over the other. But for years, that’s the way it was interpreted – and often abused – by parents. In many cases, kids are used as leverage in the parents’ acrimonious struggle for superiority in the divorce process.

So the Legislature removed any confusion. It removed the phrase primary residential or custodial parent. The truth is, neither party has any inherent priority unless a judge ruled such in situations of abuse, neglect, or egregious domestic violence.

The law hasn’t really changed. Just the language has. Now, mom and dad are simply parents with an equal role in the care and rearing of their children. Neither has a presumption of being “better for the kids. Each has “timesharing,” and neither has “custody.”

The Florida Legislature’s change brought the laws into the modern era. Today’s families are better for it.