The Proposed Reforms

1. Florida Best Interests of the Child Definition Act

     This proposal would give courts a clearer and more reviewable definition of a child’s best interests when parental contact, communication, time-sharing, or decision-making authority is substantially restricted.

2. Florida Family Rights and Due Process Act

     This proposal would require heightened evidentiary safeguards and prompt, specific written findings before the parent-child relationship is substantially restricted.

3. Florida Reimbursement of Fees and Costs for Parental Alienating Conduct Act

     This proposal would provide a focused financial remedy when intentional, proven interference with a child’s relationship with a parent forces that parent to incur substantial expenses to restore the relationship.

4. Florida Appealability of Temporary Family-Law Orders Act

     This proposal would create a narrow and expedited avenue for appellate review of temporary orders that substantially restrict the parent-child relationship. A temporary order should not remain effectively unreviewable while months or years of childhood disappear.

5. Florida Litigant Access and Economy Act

     This proposal would expand reasonable access to remote proceedings for litigants facing financial, employment, transportation, medical, or caregiving barriers, while preserving judicial discretion when an in-person appearance is genuinely necessary.

6. Florida Cameras in the Courtroom Act

     This proposal would strengthen public access, accurate record preservation, and accountability in court proceedings while protecting children, victims, confidential information, and legitimate privacy interests.

7. Florida Justice Delayed Is Justice Denied Act

     This proposal would establish reasonable deadlines for rulings after hearings and trials, with written extensions when extraordinary circumstances make those deadlines impracticable.

8. Florida Equal Shared Parenting Act — A New Start at Equality

     This proposal would strengthen Florida’s existing equal-time-sharing framework by requiring clearer evidence and specific written findings before materially departing from equal parenting when both parents are fit, willing, able, and geographically capable.

9. Florida Three Strikes Custody Interference Act

     This proposal would create a graduated and due-process-based response to repeated, willful violations of parenting and time-sharing orders.

10. Florida Time Taken, Time Back Act

     This proposal would require prompt review and, absent good cause, compensatory time-sharing when a temporary restriction ends without a substantiated adverse finding. Time wrongfully or unnecessarily taken from a child should not simply disappear without a meaningful remedy.