First Right of Refusal

[justme73]

Soc,
In Florida... Our civil order states this regarding first right of refusal:

"The parties shall continue to give each other the right of first refusal to care for a child if a parent cannot care for the child."

My reqests for this portion of our civil agreement aren't unreasonable. I do not request that every time the other parent is out for a couple of hours that he offer that time to me instead of the stepmother. these holidays certainly do not occur often.

also, when the other parent leaves town on business, leaving an 'over-night' that he will not be with them.

I do however request that if they children have a school holiday or teacher planning day, that i have the opportunity to spend that 8 hours with them, while he is at work. that is a substantial amount of time, that i would certainly offer to him.

my question is:
1.  where does this stand in regards to step-parents?

2. how can the wording of our civil order be interpreted in regards to stepparents? (it does say each other)

3. could i present the multiple occassions... all 8+ hours.... as contempt? how?

thanks a bunch!

[socrateaser]

The text of your order is far to vague and ambiguous to enforce. Usually, a first refusal order has a time limit, i.e., if the custodial parent will be unable to care for the child for a period greater than 4 hours, then the other parent has the right of first refusal.

But, in your case, without any time limit, it's pretty difficult to say what is a reasonable time that first refusal be offered to the other parent.

You will need to have the court clarify this part of your custody orders if you want to avoid future difficulties.