Amendments to Family Law Forms dealing with paternity and child support
Amendments to Family Law Forms dealing with paternity and child support
The Florida Supreme Court recently adopted amendments to Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms 12.951(a) (Petition to Disestablish Paternity and/or Terminate Child Support Obligation) and (b) (Order Disestablishing Paternity and/or Terminating Child Support Obligation), on its own motion. See In re: Amendments to the Florida Supreme Court Approved Family Law Forms—12.951(a) and (b), No. SC18-698 (Fla. June 21, 2018). The amendments edited the caption to form 12.951(a) to reflect that the form is a petition for disestablishment of paternity, in accordance with Florida Family Law Rule of Procedure 12.100(c)(1)(D)(iv). The amendments to form 12.951(b) replaced several instances of “mother” with “the other parent” so that the form will be appropriate for use in cases with both same-sex and opposite-sex parents, following the United States Supreme Court’s decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, 135 S. Ct. 2584 (2015).
The Court invites all interested persons to comment on the amendments, which are reproduced in full online at http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/opinions.shtml. All comments must be filed with the Court on or before August 20, 2018, with a separate request for oral argument if the person filing the comment wishes to participate in oral argument, which may be scheduled in this case. If filed by an attorney in good standing with The Florida Bar, the comment must be electronically filed via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal (Portal) in accordance with In re Electronic Filing in the Supreme Court of Florida via the Florida Courts E-Filing Portal, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC13-7 (Feb. 18, 2013). If filed by a nonlawyer or a lawyer not licensed to practice in Florida, the comment may be, but is not required to be, filed via the Portal. Comments filed via the Portal must be submitted in Microsoft Word 97 or higher. See In re Electronic Filing in the Florida Supreme Court, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC17-27 (May 9, 2017). Any person unable to submit a comment electronically must mail or hand-deliver the originally signed comment to the Florida Supreme Court, Office of the Clerk, 500 South Duval Street, Tallahassee, Florida 32399-1927; no additional copies are required or will be accepted.
IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA SUPREME COURT APPROVED FAMILY LAW FORMS—12.951(a) AND (b), CASE NO. SC18-698
The amendments are reproduced in full online at http://www.floridasupremecourt.org/decisions/opinion.shtml.
