Florida Statutes create the guidelines for requesting emergent relief from the court with regard to the emergency pick up of a minor child from the other parent and other emergent relief, such as emergency requests for temporary time-sharing suspensions, temporary suspensions of contact with the minor child/ren, etc. However, qualifying circumstances are extremely limited.
An emergency motion, regardless of the basis or request for relief, is required to be verified by the filing party. This means that it must be sworn to by the filing party as true and a notary must partake in qualifying the same as sworn. Emergency motions should only be used in circumstances by which the filing party has pre-existing legal rights to physical custody of a minor child. Further, emergency motions should only be utilized for true emergent circumstances, such as the imminent risk of harm to the minor child and/or the imminent risk of the removal of the minor child from the court’s jurisdiction.
An emergency motion should only be utilized for the most emergent circumstances for consideration by the court. It is not uncommon for parties to file these in haste and, often, that does not always benefit the filing party if the court denies the motion or references it in later proceedings when evaluating a party’s credibility. In the event the court grants an emergency motion, it allows for law enforcement to directly assist the filing party in retrieving the minor child from the party presently with the child if the court accounts for the same in it’s order. While the court is able to consider many factors in evaluating requests surrounding emergency motions, it is important to have educated and well‑versed counsel to guide you. The Rice Law Firm has handled many emergent custody issues since 1986. Contact us today at our Daytona Beach location at 386‑310‑2914.