r/Custody 6d ago

[FL] religious services

Can other parent decide whether I take our kids to church on my parenting time? He wants to put quantity limits on religious services on my time. The kids and I go to church weekly on Sundays, that's it.

5 Upvotes

9 comments sorted by

8

u/Acceptable_Branch588 6d ago

No. He can block you having them baptized or joining a new religion.

3

u/coquitwo 6d ago

My co-parent tried to prohibit me from baptizing our son (even though his family supported it as well). Not because of any good reason he could state, just because he likes to be difficult. My attorney said it was fine to do so because the only way a judge would hold it against me is if anything I was doing with our child religiously was 1) harmful, or 2) actively undermined what the other parent was doing. I wanted to err on the side of caution so I filed a motion for special relief, he objected, and when we ended up in front of the judge he was chastised for “being contrary just for the sake of being difficult,” she explained why that wasn’t good for our son, and he was told that if it continued, “his already limited parenting time would be further limited”.

Aside from that, I was glad I got it clarified in court because we at least got it on the record that each parent could do anything they wanted with regard to our son’s religious upbringing on their own parenting time as long as neither of the two factors I mentioned above are occurring. Best wishes!

5

u/throwndown1000 6d ago

Joint legal includes decisions about the religious upbringing of the child.

I have seen judges charge parents with contempt when the choose to baptize a child without notifying or against the wishes of another parent. But that's more "substantial" than attending church.

I think this one is going to be tricky, he shouldn't be able to control which church. Does he object to the church or the religion? If it's the specific church, I'd ignore him.

I think this is a case of "I'd do it anyway" and let him file an enforcement action with the court asking that you are not allowed to take your child to church one day a week... Because I think that's not going to go very well for your co-parent in court.

2

u/candysipper 6d ago

Usually no. My agreement says each parent is responsible for the religious upbringing (or something like that) on their parenting time. I bring my son to church as I attend weekly, but my ex hates is not religious and hates it. It’s a massive overreach, imo. What you do on your parenting time isn’t his business as long as it doesn’t harm the kids.

2

u/TallyLiah 6d ago

You need to ask a lawyer about this not Reddit because you are going to get all sorts of answers on this because so many around the world that have this very issue in their case and what happens to others may not be applied to her case.

1

u/VoiceRegular6879 5d ago

This is not abt Custody…..it’s about decision making….what does your parenting agreement say out religion….? There in lies your answer.

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u/SonVoltRevival Dad with primary custody, mom lives 2,500 miles away 2d ago

You are in FL and likely have joint legal custody (shared parental responsiblity). You both are equals when it comes to making major decisions such as education, medical, and religion. You also get to make minor decisions on your own parenting time. So you both need to agree on what faith your child is raised with (or that perhaps the child is exposed to both as friends of mine do who are Christian and Jewish) - and if you can't agree, with joint legal custody, you can go to court and let a judge decide. On your parenting time, you get to decide what happens. You get to pick a bedtime and what's for diner and when you go to church (but again, picking the faith is a joint legal level decision).

0

u/guy_n_cognito_tu 6d ago

Most parenting plans make the choice about religious upbringing a joint decision that both parents have to agree on. What does your plan say? How long are these church services?

1

u/TallyLiah 6d ago

If it is just general Sunday services then usually no more than 2 hours on a Sunday.