Paternity and Co-Parenting Mediation in Southwest Florida

If you are Not married but have children in common and need to file a Paternity Case to set a plan for time sharing, child support, special needs, medical, or child care, please reach out. Florand Mediation helps co-parents write agreements to file for Paternity to establish child support, medical decisions, child expenses, holiday visits, and parenting plans.

You will have the option of submitting your agreement to the court, or holding onto it and adhering to it between the two of you. If you chose to open a case and have a judge make your agreement a court order, it is much faster to enforce should the need arise. However, if you have not submitted it to the court and it is not being adhered to, you can still start a case to enforce your agreement. Christina is always available for a Free 30-Minute Phone Consultation if you need a better understanding of how writing a Co-parenting plan works. You can also go to the Parenting Plan page or the Child Support page on this website.

There are two ways to establish Paternity in Florida

• Voluntary Acknowledgement: This is the simplest method and involves both parents signing the Birth Certificate or signing a document called an Affidavit of Paternity (DH-511) at the hospital when the child is born with a notary present.

• Filing a Petition in Court: If there is disagreement about paternity, or if the acknowledgement process was not completed at birth, then a paternity case can be filed in circuit court. This typically involves the following steps:

  • Completing Family Law Form 12.983(a), Petition to Determine Paternity and for Related Relief and stating either the father is in question and a DNA test will be required or the fathers name is on the Birth Certificate.

  • Florand Mediation will help you with filing your Paternity case and ALL of the paperwork necessary for your case to get to a final hearing with your wishes intact.