Hurricane season is a reality in Florida, and it should be a reality in your timesharing agreement too, especially since September is one of the most active months in Florida’s hurricane seasons over the last decades. Timesharing agreements and parenting plans can include wording for emergency situations to prevent contentious behavior and to set expectations for cooperation in a time of chaos.

The decision of whether to shelter in place or to evacuate can be painstaking when you share a child who may or may not be with you at the time. The benchmark for planning around a natural disaster is – even during a serious weather event – the best interest of the child.

Your timesharing plan may address the following considerations:

1. 1. Obviously, any weather disaster will bring a host of unknowns, but some consequences are predictable, such as closed roads, unsafe conditions, and canceled work/school days. Especially once schools and roads begin closing, it is best to minimize exchanges of the child, which means now is not the time to demand strict adherence to the timesharing schedule. Our experienced family law attorneys can help you to include a natural disaster provision in your timesharing agreement to recognize that complying with the exact terms may be impossible, especially if communication methods are impaired.
   2. Co-parents should agree on a rough safety plan for the child and work together to discuss options. Watch your tone, and do not argue over whose house is safer or who has the best hurricane snacks. No judge is going to entertain a hearing over hurricane timesharing issues if the decisions made during the emergency circumstances were reasonable and appropriate to the conditions at the time.
   3. Not only is a weather-related disaster the time to ditch access demands, but it is also the time to avoid involving the police in timesharingdisputes, as emergency response teams should focus on life-threatening emergencies and securing affected areas. If the child is in a safe place with a parent, wait out the disruption to your timesharing and then resume your normal schedule when conditions allow.
   4. Evacuation is a possible event. Discuss with your co-parent where each of you would likely go in the event of evacuation. If officials recommend leaving the area, it is best to follow that advice; however, if only one of you wishes to evacuate, but the other is staying local, it may be best to let the child go with the evacuating parent. Your timesharing plan may include a provision about sharing the cost of emergency supplies/lodging expenses for your child. Additionally, if evacuate before an official order for evacuation, communicate to obtain the consent of your co-parent, and at best, try to do so in compliance with the terms of your timesharing agreement.
   5. Prioritize sharing travel information and/or status updates during weather disasters. You can include a provision in your parenting plan that requires an update between co-parents before anyone else, especially as to travel progress if evacuating. Keep an ongoing exchange of contact and location information as you move so that you are reachable in case of emergency.
   6. Make communication a priority among all adults involved in the child’s life. For example, even if you normally would not share your girlfriend’s phone number with your co-parent, it may be a good idea to do so in the event of a hurricane. Cell towers go down and some providers will have service while others do not. You may wish to download the Zello app for post-hurricane communication. Expect reduced phone contact with your child if the weather harms cell phone towers.

1. Your timesharing plan may include a clause that allows for make-up time with the co-parent who could not access the child during the disaster. This make-up time is not about fairness to that co-parent; instead, make-up time is about observing the child’s right to time with each parent and to a meaningful relationship with both parents.

Remember that you are modeling calm, sensible behavior that helps your child learn how to handle a storm and other disruptions in life; it’s neither a catastrophe nor a party.

Warning: All posts on this website and partner website, JustPrenups.com, contain general information about legal matters for broad educational purposes only. The information is not legal advice, and readers should not treat any part of the website as legal advice tailored to their situation. This blog post does not create any attorney-client relationship between the reader and the DADvocacy™ Law Firm.