Ford v. Ford

700 So. 2d 191 (1997)

Study Aids
Case Briefs Overview
Casebooks
Case Briefs
F
From our private database of 46,300+ case briefs, written and edited by humans—never with AI.

Ford v. Ford

Florida District Court of Appeal
700 So. 2d 191 (1997)

Play video

Facts

Tara Ford (plaintiff) sought a divorce from Jay Ford (defendant) due to domestic violence. The six-day dissolution hearing centered around the issue of custody of the Fords’ child, Kylee. Several witnesses provided testimony corroborating Tara's allegations of domestic violence, including a court-ordered custody evaluator. The custody evaluator submitted a thorough report to the trial court detailing the domestic disputes and recommended that Tara should have primary custody, because she was more emotionally stable and would provide a more stable home life for Kylee. Jay told numerous inconsistent stories regarding his past. For example, evidence showed that on one occasion Jay took Tara's car to prevent her from transferring Kylee to him for visitation and then used that incident as evidence to prove that Tara was withholding Kylee from him. Nevertheless, the trial court found that Tara manipulated visitation and that the mental health factor favored Jay. The trial court also found that under the friendly parent statutory provision, Jay was more likely to encourage a close continuing relationship between Tara and Kylee. Thus, the trial court ordered that Tara and Jay share parental responsibility of Kylee, but awarded primary physical custody to Jay. Tara appealed.

Rule of Law

Issue

Holding and Reasoning (Polen, J.)

What to do next…

  1. Unlock this case brief with a free (no-commitment) trial membership of Quimbee.

    You’ll be in good company: Quimbee is one of the most widely used and trusted sites for law students, serving more than 810,000 law students since 2011. Some law schools—such as Yale, Berkeley, and Northwestern—even subscribe directly to Quimbee for all their law students.

    Unlock this case briefRead our student testimonials

  2. Learn more about Quimbee’s unique (and proven) approach to achieving great grades at law school.

    Quimbee is a company hell-bent on one thing: helping you get an “A” in every course you take in law school, so you can graduate at the top of your class and get a high-paying law job. We’re not just a study aid for law students; we’re the study aid for law students.

    Learn about our approachRead more about Quimbee

Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:

  • Written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students. 46,300 briefs, keyed to 988 casebooks. Top-notch customer support.
  • The right amount of information, includes the facts, issues, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents.
  • Access in your classes, works on your mobile and tablet. Massive library of related video lessons and high quality multiple-choice questions.
  • Easy to use, uniform format for every case brief. Written in plain English, not in legalese. Our briefs summarize and simplify; they don’t just repeat the court’s language.

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership
Here's why 810,000 law students have relied on our case briefs:
  • Reliable - written by law professors and practitioners, not other law students
  • The right length and amount of information - includes the facts, issue, rule of law, holding and reasoning, and any concurrences and dissents
  • Access in your class - works on your mobile and tablet
  • 46,300 briefs - keyed to 988 casebooks
  • Uniform format for every case brief
  • Written in plain English - not in legalese and not just repeating the court's language
  • Massive library of related video lessons - and practice questions
  • Top-notch customer support

Access this case brief for FREE

With a 7-day free trial membership

Casebooks

Family Law

Key Terms