Florida Senate - 2023                             CS for SB 1146
       
       
        
       By the Committee on Children, Families, and Elder Affairs; and
       Senator Yarborough
       
       
       
       
       586-02529-23                                          20231146c1
    1                        A bill to be entitled                      
    2         An act relating to shared parental responsibility
    3         after the establishment of paternity; amending s.
    4         742.011, F.S.; authorizing a parent to request certain
    5         determinations and the creation of a parenting plan
    6         and time-sharing schedule; amending s. 742.10, F.S.;
    7         requiring that the determination of parental
    8         responsibility and child support and the creation of a
    9         parenting plan and a time-sharing schedule be
   10         established through a certain action; amending s.
   11         744.301, F.S.; specifying that the mother of a child
   12         born out of wedlock and a father who has established
   13         paternity of such child are the natural guardians of
   14         the child and are entitled and subject to the rights
   15         and responsibilities of being parents if certain
   16         conditions are met; providing that if a father of a
   17         child born out of wedlock has not established
   18         paternity under specified provisions, the mother is
   19         the natural guardian of the child; providing an
   20         effective date.
   21          
   22  Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida:
   23  
   24         Section 1. Section 742.011, Florida Statutes, is amended to
   25  read:
   26         742.011 Proceedings for determination of paternity, rights,
   27  and responsibilities proceedings; jurisdiction.—Any woman who is
   28  pregnant or has a child, any man who has reason to believe that
   29  he is the father of a child, or any child may bring proceedings
   30  in the circuit court, in chancery, to determine the paternity of
   31  the child when paternity has not been established by law or
   32  otherwise. After the birth of a child, a parent may request a
   33  determination of parental responsibility and child support and
   34  for the creation of a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule
   35  pursuant to chapter 61.
   36         Section 2. Subsection (5) of section 742.10, Florida
   37  Statutes, is amended to read:
   38         742.10 Establishment of paternity for children born out of
   39  wedlock.—
   40         (5) Regardless of whether paternity is established in an
   41  action under s. 742.011 or this section, the determination of
   42  parental responsibility and child support and creation of a
   43  parenting plan and a time-sharing schedule must be established
   44  in an action brought under s. 742.011. Judicial or
   45  administrative proceedings are not required or permitted to
   46  ratify an unchallenged acknowledgment of paternity.
   47         Section 3. Subsection (1) of section 744.301, Florida
   48  Statutes, is amended to read:
   49         744.301 Natural guardians.—
   50         (1) The parents jointly are the natural guardians of their
   51  own children and of their adopted children, during minority,
   52  unless the parents’ parental rights have been terminated
   53  pursuant to chapter 39. If a child is the subject of any
   54  proceeding under chapter 39, the parents may act as natural
   55  guardians under this section unless the court division with
   56  jurisdiction over guardianship matters finds that it is not in
   57  the child’s best interests. If one parent dies, the surviving
   58  parent remains the sole natural guardian even if he or she
   59  remarries. If the marriage between the parents is dissolved, the
   60  natural guardianship belongs to the parent to whom sole parental
   61  responsibility has been granted, or if the parents have been
   62  granted shared parental responsibility, both continue as natural
   63  guardians. If the marriage is dissolved and neither parent is
   64  given parental responsibility for the child, neither may act as
   65  natural guardian of the child. The mother of a child born out of
   66  wedlock and a father who has paternity established under s.
   67  742.011 or s. 742.10 are the natural guardians of the child and
   68  are entitled and subject to the rights and responsibilities of
   69  parents. If a father has not established paternity under s.
   70  742.011 or s. 742.10, the mother of a child born out of wedlock
   71  is the natural guardian of the child and is entitled to primary
   72  residential care and custody of the child unless the court
   73  enters an order stating otherwise.
   74         Section 4. This act shall take effect July 1, 2023.