CopyCited 1 times | Published | Florida 1st District Court of Appeal | 2013 WL 3215232, 2013 Fla. App. LEXIS 10236
...2008 DR 001829) and to transfer jurisdiction to Pennsylvania or stay the Florida action. Throughout, he has continued to detain the child in Pennsylvania. After the evidentiary hearing on the motion to intervene, the court found that Mr. Sweeney qualified as an “extended family member” as defined by section 751.011(2)(a), Florida Statutes, because his status as the child’s biological father made him “[a] relative of a minor child within the third degree by blood or marriage to the parent.” Thus, the trial *77 court found that as the biological father, Mr....
...Sweeney to intervene despite his blatant and continuing violation of the temporary custody order must be reversed. Even if Mr. Sweeney had relinquished the child, as ordered, and proceeded without the cloud of disobedience barring his claim, he does not qualify as an “extended family member” as defined by section 751.011(2)(a), Florida Statutes. Mr. Sweeney’s contribution of DNA, resulting in the birth of this child within an intact marriage — to which he was not a party — does not establish him as an “extended family member.” Section 751.011(2)(a) defines and extended family member as “a person who is ......
...Sweeney’s motion to intervene is REVERSED due to Mr. Sweeney’s persistent refusal to comply with the current, valid temporary custody order in effect; the erroneous determination that Mr. Sweeney is an “extended family member” as defined by section 751.011(2), Florida Statutes; and because the parental rights of the man married to the mother at the time the child was born have not been terminated in accordance with Florida law, which does not recognize dual or concurrent fathers....
