When an appellate court reweighs the evidence
In Statewide GAL v. C.C., the Florida Supreme Court quashed a reversal because the Fifth District reweighed the evidence on least restrictive means.
Parental Rights & Adoption
Termination of parental rights, stepparent, second parent and relative adoptions, and dependency matters in Florida.
No proffer, no review
Florida requires the substance of excluded evidence in the record. What a proffer must contain, when an oral one works, and why exhibits must be marked.
Objections that preserve, and the two words that undo them
What it takes to preserve an objection for appeal in Florida, why a standing objection can fail, and the two words that undo a prior ruling.
The rehearing trap in dependency appeals
A motion for rehearing does not toll the appeal clock in Florida dependency and termination cases. What that costs, and the one motion that does toll.
When appellate deference runs out
The Fifth DCA reverses a Florida termination of parental rights judgment, marking where appellate deference to a trial court’s findings actually stops.
A tribe’s right to intervene does not end when the judgment does
The First DCA holds that a tribe’s ICWA right to intervene in a private Florida termination of parental rights case survives entry of final judgment.