What is co-parenting therapy?
Structured clinical work with a licensed clinician for 2 parents who are no longer together and are raising children together. The goal is a working system for communication, exchanges and decisions rather than a repaired relationship. Sessions are joint, separate, or a mix. It is privileged under Fla. Stat. 90.503, with 3 exceptions in subsection (4).
Is co-parenting therapy available in Jupiter itself?
Yes. Our office is at 210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, Jupiter, FL 33458, just off Indiantown Road. In-person joint and separate sessions run here, and secure video is available with each parent on a separate screen.
One parent lives in Martin County. Does that change anything?
It changes the build of the plan. Palm Beach County sits in the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit and Martin County sits in the Nineteenth, along with St. Lucie, Indian River and Okeechobee. Exchanges get longer, documentation has to read the same way to a judge in either circuit, and video is usually the format both parents will actually attend. Dr. Colet is court-appointed in both circuits.
How is co-parenting therapy different from a parenting coordinator?
Parenting coordination is a court role under Fla. Stat. 61.125. A coordinator educates, recommends, helps parents create or implement a parenting plan, and makes limited decisions only with the prior approval of the parents and the court, inside the referral order. Sessions are confidential under 61.125(8) with 11 listed exceptions. The initial term is capped at 2 years by Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.742(f). A therapist decides nothing and reports to nobody unless an order says otherwise.
A judge appointed a parenting coordinator in my case. What are my deadlines?
Read the order. Form 12.998 as captioned for the Fifteenth Judicial Circuit gives the coordinator 30 days to file a response accepting or declining, and requires each party to contact the coordinator within 10 days of the date of the order to schedule the first appointment. Your own order governs; take it to your attorney.
Does the 4-hour parenting course count as co-parenting therapy?
No. Fla. Stat. 61.21 requires a Department of Children and Families approved parent education and family stabilization course of at least 4 hours from all parties to a dissolution with minor children or a paternity action involving parental responsibility, with 45-day deadlines. It is a prerequisite to final judgment. Completing it does not satisfy an order for therapy, and a parent who fails to complete it can be held in contempt or otherwise sanctioned.
Can a Palm Beach County judge order co-parenting therapy?
Yes. Florida family courts include co-parenting therapy or counseling in parenting plans and final judgments, and can separately appoint a parenting coordinator under Fla. Stat. 61.125. Bring the order to the first call. We confirm what it requires and what will be reported before anyone books.
Who can consent to therapy for my child?
Read your parenting plan. Under Fla. Stat. 61.13(2)(b)3.a., where the court orders shared parental responsibility over health care decisions, either parent may consent to mental health treatment for the child unless the plan states otherwise. Florida’s Fourth District Court of Appeal held in Hernandez v. Mendoza, No. 4D21-1866 (22 June 2022), that a plan granting shared responsibility over health care without that provision was facially insufficient and had to be amended on remand. Co-parenting therapy for the adults and therapy for the child are different consents and usually different clinicians.
Do both parents have to attend?
Ideally yes, because the work is on the interaction between 2 people. One parent can start alone, and the office will explain how to invite the other parent without it reading as a demand. Individual sessions focused on your own side of the co-parenting relationship often change the pattern on their own.
Is what I say confidential from the other parent?
The rules are set in writing at intake, before anything starts. In most co-parenting work, information relevant to the children moves between parents and personal history that is not relevant stays private. Court-referred cases may carry specific reporting duties, explained up front. Privilege against the court is separate and governed by Fla. Stat. 90.503(4).
Does insurance cover co-parenting therapy?
Usually not when a court ordered it. Family psychotherapy bills under CPT 90846 without the patient present or 90847 with the patient present, and both are codes for the treatment of mental disorders. Coverage generally turns on a diagnosed condition and on medical necessity, and many plan documents separately exclude court-ordered services and family counseling. Read your own plan document. We provide a superbill on request, which lets you claim out-of-network reimbursement yourself with no guarantee it is reimbursed.
How long does it take?
Joint work usually runs 6 to 10 sessions. High-conflict cases, and cases where a parenting plan is being rebuilt, run longer and are structured in stages with review points.
Can we do co-parenting therapy if there is a domestic violence injunction?
Joint sessions are contraindicated. Fla. Stat. 61.125(3) excludes domestic violence proceedings under chapter 741 from parenting coordination referral, and 61.125(4)(a) provides that where there has been a history of domestic violence the court may not refer the parties to parenting coordination unless both parents consent, after each has had an opportunity to consult an attorney or a domestic violence advocate. Individual work, a written-only communication protocol and a parallel parenting structure are the appropriate next steps.
