IN RE: AMENDMENTS TO THE FLORIDA RULES FOR QUALIFIED AND COURT-APPOINTED PARENTING COORDINATORS. (2019)

The Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy Committee (ADRR&P Committee or Committee) proposes amendments to Part II (Discipline) of the Rules for Qualified and Court-Appointed Parenting Coordinators.¹ We have jurisdiction ² and adopt the proposed amendments, with the modifications explained below.

BACKGROUND

In In re Amendments to the Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure; New Rules for Qualified and Court-Appointed Parenting Coordinators, 142 So. 3d 831 (Fla. 2014), the Court adopted the Rules for Qualified and Court-Appointed Parenting Coordinators (Parenting Coordinator Rules). As explained in that opinion,

Part I [of the Parenting Coordinator Rules] sets forth ethical standards for parenting coordinators and reinforces the concepts of communication, negotiation, and facilitation upon which parenting coordination is based, as well as explaining the role of the parenting coordinator․ Part II [of the rules] addresses discipline and provides simply [in rule 15.210] that complaints alleging violations of the standards for qualified and court-appointed parenting coordinators shall be filed with the Dispute Resolution Center which shall be responsible for enforcing the standards.

Id. at 832. The ADRR&P Committee proposes amendments to existing rule 15.210 (Procedure) in Part II of the rules. The Committee also proposes adding new rules 15.220 through 15.370 to Part II, which will supersede and codify in the Parenting Coordinator Rules, with some changes, the disciplinary procedures for parenting coordinators that the Court originally adopted, by administrative order, as the Parenting Coordinator Discipline Operating Procedures (Operating Procedures). See In re Parenting Coordinator Operating Procedures, Fla. Admin. Order No. AOSC17-18 (March 13, 2017).

Before filing its rule proposals with the Court, the ADRR&P Committee published the proposals for comment and revised several of the proposals in response to the comments the Committee received. After the Committee's proposals were filed, the Court published the proposals for comment. The Court received comments from one individual. The Committee further revised several of its proposals in response to those comments. At the request of the Court,³ the ADRR&P Committee also filed a supplemental report addressing the Court's authority to adopt proposed rule 15.350 (Confidentiality). In the supplemental report, the Committee proposes a revised confidentiality rule, which the Committee modeled after Rule for Certification and Regulation of Spoken Language Court Interpreters 14.440 (Confidentiality of Disciplinary Proceedings). See In re Amends. to the Fla. Rules for Certification & Regulation of Court Interpreters, 136 So. 3d 584, 587 (Fla. 2014) (amending rule 14.440 to be consistent with Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420(c)(3)(B)).

AMENDMENTS

After considering the ADRR & P Committee's proposed amendments to the Parenting Coordinator Rules, the comments, the Committee's responses to the comments, and the Committee's supplemental report, we adopt the majority of the Committee's proposals with only minor technical revisions. However, we have modified the notice and publication requirements in proposed rules 15.290(j) and 15.300(k) and (l) to require the redaction of information that is “confidential under Florida Rule of Judicial Administration 2.420,” which governs the confidentiality of judicial branch records.⁴

Accordingly, the Rules for Qualified and Court-Appointed Parenting Coordinators are amended as set forth in the appendix to this opinion. New language is underscored; deleted language is struck through. The committee notes are offered for explanation only and are not adopted as an official part of the rules. The amendments shall become effective immediately upon the release of this opinion.

It is so ordered.

APPENDIX

FOOTNOTES

1.   The Committee proposes the amendments pursuant to In re Committee on Alternative Dispute Resolution Rules and Policy, Fla. Admin. Oder No. AOSC16-40 (June 28, 2016), which charges the Committee with proposing rules governing alternative dispute resolution, and a request from this Court.

2.   See art. V, § 2(a), Fla. Const.; ch. 2019-98, § 3, Laws of Fla. (adding § 61.125(11), Fla. Stat.).

3.   See In re Amendments to the Florida Rules for Qualified and Court-Appointed Parenting Coordinators, No. SC18-847 (Fla. order filed May 24, 2019).

4.   See Fla. R. Jud. Admin. 2.420(a) (providing that rule 2.420 governs public access to and the protection of judicial branch records); 2.420(c) (listing the judicial branch records that are confidential and exempt from the public's right of access under article I, section 24(a) of the Florida Constitution).

PER CURIAM.

CANADY, C.J., and POLSTON, LABARGA, LAWSON, LAGOA, LUCK, and MUÑIZ, JJ., concur.