Emergencies

According to WPLG Local 10 News, Jorge Barahona, whose adopted daughter, Nubia, was found dead in the back of his pickup truck has been charged with attempted murder after her 10 year old twin brother, Victor Barahona, was found badly burned by a chemical in the same truck. The minor child is at the pediatric intensive care unit at Jackson Memorial Hospital. While Barahona, 53, faces child abuse and attempted murder charges in Palm Beach County his daughter, Jennifer Perez, appeared before Judge Sandy Karlan in Miami for an emergency child custody hearing.

Judge Sandy Karlan heard testimony that Jennifer Perez, daughter of Jorge Barahona, knew that the twins were being abused. Allesandra Perez, the 7 year old grandaughter of Jorge Barahona, told her father, Yovani Perez, that the 10 year old twins Victor and Nubia were required to stay in a bathroom at the Barahona home with their hands and feet tied together.

On February 18, 2011, Judge Sandy Karlan commenced proceedings to terminate Jennifer Perez’s parental rights on a permanent basis. In the interim, she temporary changed custody to the father, Yovani Perez, and ordered that Jennifer Perez was to have no visitation, time-sharing or contact with her daughter, either directly or indirectly. Judge Karlan warned Ms. Perez that any violations of the court’s directives would result in her being held in contempt of court.

In order to temporarily modify custody in Broward County, Florida, you must show that there has been a substantial or material change in circumstances and that the modification is in the best interest of the child or children involved. There must be a factual basis sufficient to show that conditions have become materially altered since the entry of the prior custody order. In the case of Bon v. Rivera, the Fourth District Court of Appeal reversed a Fort Lauderdale, Florida divorce judge who granted the Former Husband’s Emergency Motion for Temporary Change of Custody.

At the time of the parties divorce, the Former Wife resided in Miami-Dade County, Florida and the Former Husband resided in Broward County, Florida. The Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage that incorporated the parties’ marital settlement agreement stated that neither party shall relocate the minor children from Miami-Dade County, Broward County or the southern portion of Palm Beach County, Florida. Two years after the divorce, the Former Wife accepted a job in West Palm Beach, Florida and advised the Former Husband that she intended to move with the two minor children.

The Former Husband filed an Emergency Motion for Temporary Custody, Child Support and Attorney’s Fees alleging that the Former Wife had violated the relocation provisions of the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage. The trial court entered an order modify the Final Judgment of Dissolution of Marriage and granting the Former Husband temporary custody. The Former Wife appealed the decision of the trial court and alleged that the trial court abused its discretion in modifying custody since there was no true emergency.