Lindsey Nicole Harrell, Mother v. Michael Cook, Father
CourtDistrict Court of Appeal of Florida
Date FiledJanuary 12, 2022
Docket1D20-1379
StatusPublished
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Full Opinion
FIRST DISTRICT COURT OF APPEAL
STATE OF FLORIDA
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No. 1D20-1379
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LINDSEY NICOLE HARRELL,
Mother,
Appellant,
v.
MICHAEL COOK, Father,
Appellee.
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On appeal from the Circuit Court for Escambia County.
Thomas V. Dannheisser, Judge.
January 12, 2022
B.L. THOMAS, J.
Appellant raises two issues challenging the lower court’s time-
sharing determination in the final judgment establishing
paternity and parenting plan. We address only one issue, because
Appellant failed to preserve for appellate review her argument
that the trial court erred in its custody determination under
section 61.13, Florida Statutes. See Owens v. Owens, 973 So. 2d
1169, 1170 (Fla. 1st DCA 2007) (holding appellant fails to preserve
the issue of sufficient findings of fact for appellate review, when
she fails to move for rehearing or otherwise raise the issue before
the lower court).
Appellant lives in Pensacola, and Appellee lives in Houston,
Texas. Under a temporary order, Appellee was entitled to time-
sharing twice a month from Thursday afternoon to Tuesday. The
lower court entered a parenting plan, which included the following
paragraph concerning weekend time-sharing:
Until the minor child begins Kindergarten, the Mother
shall have timesharing every other weekend from Friday
at 4:00 pm until Sunday evening at 6:00 pm. Mother’s
weekends with the child shall rotate in coordination with
the child’s sister, so that both children are with the
Mother at the same time.
Appellant argues the lower court engaged in a prohibited
prospective-based analysis when it made its time-sharing plan. We
agree. See Preudhomme v. Preudhomme, 245 So. 3d 989 (Fla. 1st
DCA 2018) (holding that lower court engaged in prohibited
prospective-based analysis when it ruled it was in the best interest
of the child for the parties to continue to rotate weekly time-
sharing until the child entered kindergarten); see also Hughes v.
Binney, 285 So. 3d 996 (Fla. 1st DCA 2019) (holding that lower
court erred by engaging in prohibited prospective-based analysis
when it attempted to anticipate what the future best interests of
the child would be when modifying a time-sharing schedule); see
also Robbins v. Kerns, 308 So. 3d 255 (Fla. 1st DCA 2020) (holding
that lower court engaged in prohibited prospective-based analysis
by ruling that time-sharing schedule would change to 50/50
automatically when the child entered kindergarten approximately
two years in the future). On remand, the lower court shall delete
the portion of its order addressing time-sharing and custody
matters related to future events. See Preudhomme, 245 So. 3d at
990.
AFFIRMED in part, REVERSED in part, and REMANDED.
LEWIS, J., concurs; BILBREY, J., concurs with opinion.
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Not final until disposition of any timely and
authorized motion under Fla. R. App. P. 9.330 or
9.331.
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BILBREY, J. concurring.
I continue to believe that the trial judges of Florida should be
permitted to make rulings on parenting that “involve reasonable,
evidence-based anticipation or prospective determination of likely
future events.” Horton v. Horton, 257 So. 3d 1197, 1201 (Fla. 1st
DCA 2018) (Bilbrey, J., concurring). Allowing trial judges to do so
would conserve judicial resources. It would also save parents the
expense of litigating over future events which, at the time of the
initial ruling, will almost certainly occur. But I agree with the
majority that Arthur v. Arthur, 54 So. 3d 454 (Fla. 2010), and
various cases from this court following Arthur preclude such
prospective-based rulings from the trial courts. As a result, I agree
that here we must reverse to strike the prospective-based ruling in
the parenting plan.
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Ross A. Keene of Ross Keene Law, P.A., Pensacola, for Appellant.
Nicole Kessler Ferry of Ferry & Ferry, P.A., Pensacola, for
Appellee.
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