Can a parent in a time sharing modification proceeding waive their minor child’s psychotherapist patient privilege and if an exception to the psychotherapist patient privilege exists when there is an ongoing social investigation involving time share with the minor child?

Florida statute 90.503 concerns the psychotherapist patient privilege. One applicable definition of a psychotherapist is “a person licensed or certified as a…family therapist, or mental health counselor under the laws of this state, who is engaged primarily in the diagnosis or treatment of a mental or emotional condition…” “A ‘patient’ is a person who consults, or is interviewed by, a psychotherapist for purposes of diagnosis or treatment of a mental or emotional condition…” A communication between a psychotherapist and a patient is generally confidential. A patient has a privilege to refuse to disclose, and to prevent any other person from disclosing, confidential communications or records made for the purpose of diagnosis or treatment of the patient’s mental or emotional condition between the patient and a psychotherapist. 90.503(2), Florida statutes (2013). The privilege may be claimed by, among others, the patient or guardian of the patient. There is no privilege in the course of a court ordered examination of the mental or emotional condition of the patient. 90.503, Florida statutes.

When calculating alimony, should the former wife’s standard of living be based upon income that the former husband began earning after the marriage has ended or upon the income of the former husband earned during the marriage?

The purpose of alimony is well settled in Florida, to provide the needs and necessities of life to a former spouse as they were established by the marriage of the parties.  It follows that in fixing the amount of support payments, the standard of living to be used is that last shared by the spouses during the marriage. 

When determining income for support, whether it is child support of alimony or whatever, the Court’s look to all sources of income. You have the normal sources of income which are easily identifiable, such as W-2 type salary, hourly rates etc. Overtime also gets included in income especially if it is a consistent reoccurring overtime that a person gets every week, or month, what have you. Things get a little trickier when the income originates from disability sources or from family members. There’s actually of law out there that says that if you get a consistent payment from a family member, that can possibly be included as income for Court purposes. This Blog is specifically about what is called “in-kind” income. Basically, if you get a car free and clear from your company that you do not have to pay for, the Court most likely will consider that as an income source and put a value on that. 

Emergency motions

Florida court allows the trial court to enter temporary emergency modifications to post dissolution time sharing orders. In any chapter 61 action involving children, the court is authorized to enter an emergency temporary order on its own motion if the court deems the order necessary to protect the child. For example, if the court, in a proceeding, initiated to enforce time sharing perceives that the movements, conduct while spending time with the party’s child may be harmful to the child, the court may modify the final judgment and restrict time sharing on its own motion. However, the modification may only be temporary, pending a full evidentiary hearing. Longo versus Longo. 

Is it legal to record another person in the state of Florida without their consent? As always, with any law, everything is grey. For the most part, this is not a practice I would engage in. Recording someone without their consent, if done improperly, is actually a crime in the state of Florida. Florida statutes prohibit the use of recorded communications obtained without the consent of both parties involved, and case law is clear that such unlawful recordings are not admissible in hearings involving domestic relations. Different states, do allow this, however, so don’t be confused. Just because one state allows it doesn’t mean that Florida will. When judging whether a recording is allowed, the court will look to “an expectation of privacy.” This has been defined as “an expectation of privacy does not contemplate merely a subjective expectation on the part of the person making the uttered oral communication, but rather contemplates a reasonable expectation of privacy.