Recent Articles of Interest

An article titled "Sealing Civil Court Records" by Judge John C. Lenderman appeared in the June 2007 edition of the St. Petersburg Bar Association's publication "The Paraclete."  Judge Lenderman reports that "On April 5, 2007, the Florida Supreme Court amended the Rules of Judicial Administration. Rule 2.420-Public Access to Judicial Branch Records."  In short, the change allows portions of court records which relate to trade secrets, information which would harm innocent third parties, and/or information protected by  common law or privacy right.  In order to petition the court to make court records private, the party must file a "Motion to Make Court Records Confidential"  and the motion must "A. identify the particular court records the movant seeks to make confidential with as much specificity as possible without revealing the information to be made confidential; and B. specify the bases for making such court records confidential."  Judge Lenderman goes on to state that "If all parties agree to the properly styled motion, the court has discretion to hold a hearing on the motion within 30 days.  If all parties do not agree, the court must hear the motion within 30 days in an open court with a complete record created.  Notice of the hearing on the motion and the motion itself are public records."

Dr. Andrea Corn and Howard Raab wrote "Age-Appropriate Time Sharing for Divorced Parents" for the Family Law Section of the Florida Bar Journal which appeared in the June 2007 edition.   The article outlines each stage of a child's development in relation to a time sharing agreement and concludes that there is no "one size fits all" approach and the factors in F.S. s61.13(3) must be considered. 

Lisa Bench Nieuwveld wrote "Florida Continues to Lead the Nation in Mediation" for the August 2007 edition of The Florida Bar Journal.