Florida Supreme Court Resolves Relocation Conflict

The Florida Supreme Court issued a revised opinion on February 10, 2011 in Arthur v. Arthur, weighing in on the conflict between the Second District Court's ruling in that case and the holdings of Sylvester v. Sylvester, 992 So. 2d 296 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008); Janousek v. Janousek, 616 So. 2d 131 (Fla. 1st DCA 1993); and Martinez v. Martinez, 573 So. 2d 37 (Fla. 1st DCA 1990). In a nutshell, the Second District approved a lower tribunal's order permitting relocation twenty months after the entry of the Final Judgment, and the Supreme Court rejected the idea that a court is able to make a determination of best interest 20 months away, and required instead that "best interests determination in petitions for relocation must be made at the time of the final hearing and must be supported by competent, substantial evidence".