Simon Cowell’s beau, Lauren Silver, recently agreed to stay in New York following her divorce from real estate mogul Andrew Silverman. She did this to maintain shared parental responsibility over their seven-year-old son. The ability of parents to be actively involved in their children’s lives is seriously strained when one parent moves to a distant location. It is ideal when parents live a reasonable distance from each other since this enables a healthy timesharing arrangement.

Sometimes relocation is inevitable, when a career opportunity or a new partner is involved. Relocation need not prevent parents from forming a reasonable timesharing plan. However, relocation does generally require the approval of the Florida court or consent of the other parent.

If you are facing a situation in which relocation is imminent, then make sure to review different guidelines for long-distance timesharing provided by judicial counties, such as Brevard County’s Shared Parental Responsibility Timesharing Guidelines and Related Matters, which applies to parents who reside more than 150 miles apart. These guidelines recommend the following:

• Mediation of all timesharing disputes before applying to the court
• Equal participation in children’s school activities
• Maximum communication
• Facilitation of relationships
• Making all arrangements with the goal of minimizing trauma to children
• Avoiding conflict, hateful remarks and physical altercations around children
• Remaining flexible to meet the children’s developing needs

A Florida attorney can explain how relocation may affect your timesharing arrangements.