Are you kidding me?!?!?!
I’m posting early in the morning because this one kept me awake for most of the night.
Senate Bill 932 sponsored by Senator Wright and it’s companion bill House Bill 141 sponsored by Representative Leek, are making their way through the Florida legislature, The Bills would amend the Florida divorce statute to provide that:
“The court may not grant a parent time-sharing with a minor child if the parent is required to register as a sexual offender under s. 943.0435 or a sexual predator under s. 775.21″ unless the court makes a “specific finding in writing that the registrant poses no significant risk of harm to the child and that time-sharing is in the best interest of the child.”
WHAT THE F…?!?!?!
So if you have a sexual offense in your past, no matter what it was, no matter if it was years or decades before you get married and start a family, and you happen to get divorced, even for reasons completely unrelated to the offense, the court may not grant you time sharing (custody) with your own children unless the court specifically finds in writing you present no significant risk of harm to the child?
So if you get divorced you automatically lose your children and it’s up to a judge whether you can see them again and the burden on the judge is for them, not a qualified practitioner in risk assessments, but the judge, to make a specific written finding that you present no significant risk of harm to the child?
We have seen plenty of cases where a judge has a bias against someone on the registry or found that even a “negligible risk” or “less than 1 percent risk” is not “no risk” or “zero risk”, even though “zero risk” does not exist on the risk assessment instruments.
Anyone who is on the registry and has minor children, whether presently married or divorced, should be very concerned. If this horrible bill passes it will change the dynamic of families of registrants immediately.
Below are the links to the bills:
https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/932
https://flsenate.gov/Session/Bill/2021/141
Look for a CALL TO ACTION this coming week.
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Here’s a URL with numerous court cases in opposition to what these nutjobs are proposing. Are there no legislators anymore with even a SHRED of understanding of law? I hate to pine for the days of more lawyers in legislatures, but….
https://fathersunite.org/Constitution/constitutional_right_2B_parent.html
If it makes it to the Governor’s desk, it sure seems like having a request for permanent injunction waiting in the wings would be prudent.
Can you run this one past your lawyers? I was brought up that there are 3 parts to OUR government not just 2 so how can the legislative branch tell the judicial branch what to do in their area of domain?
Btw I was a single man raising my son in Florida granted custody he’s 30 now and doing great ty every much
The legislative branch has already told the judicial branch that defendants convicted of sex offenses be required to register. They have also, for some offenses, set mandatory minimum sentences.
The legislature dictates many things over which courts have no discretion. We sometimes complain about “legislating from the bench,” when the real problem is precisely the opposite.
Go back 20 years ago. I took custody of my daughter from her mother with a conviction. The judge looked at my stability and her mother’s instability and gave me custody.
She went on to go to UK , married and had three kids. If this were the case today. The courts could have easily gave my daughter to her mother. And she would probaly be a life long drug addict like here mom.
This B.S. has gone way too far.
The Idiocracy of such a law is in the fact that if the parent in question is a danger, we’re they not always a danger even while married? What does a separation have any difference in the matter? What if the parent in question is in another relationship with someone else? What if that someone else has children? I’ve stated enough times that law makers will keep pushing the boundaries of legality, until people push back.
This will never hold water in court. To say that one child is safe to live with his parent because his parents live together and another is not because they live separate is irrational. The U.S. Supreme Court has already made clear that such irrebuttable presumptions are unconstitutional.
Parents shouldn’t fear this if it passes. This forces Florida registrants to spend more on legal fees. This is why it is important to seek monetary compensation in these lawsuits, so these morons stop passing unconstitutional laws.
The Supreme Court upheld irrebutable presumption in 2003.
Flora-Duh’s of SCOTUS?
The only reference I found in the bills is for a rebuttable presumption, and no mention of an irrebuttable presumption. Did I miss something?
Veritas.
All Florida registrants are subject to an irrebuttable presumption of dangerousness. With very few exceptions, they cannot obtain registry removal, or avoid community notification, by demonstrating that they are not dangerous.
So, you are saying that the FDLE CAN PREDICT THE FUTURE???
Hmmmmm?
Even if you of the “but if it saves one child” philosophy…You should oppose this law. Separating a child from their parent for a technical reason (divorced registrant) is FAR more likely to endanger the child than to protect them.
If the child is in fact endangered by one of the parents, the court is ALREADY empowered by the state to separate them, even if the dangerous parent is not a divorced registrant! Right?
The “if it saves one child” approach would be to vote “no.”
Registry Supporters/Terrorists do not care about children.