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Co-parenting therapy · West Palm Beach and the 15th Circuit · Jupiter office and secure video

Co-Parenting Therapy In West Palm Beach, FL

Miami-Dade’s court runs co-parenting sessions in-house. Palm Beach County’s court does not. The Fifteenth Judicial Circuit refers clinical work out to private providers, and its 2025 parenting coordinator roster holds 22 names, exactly 1 of which lists a West Palm Beach location. So the first question is not who to call. It is which of 4 services you actually need.

Call (561) 870-0411 Book a 15-minute call
  • Florida licence PY9058
  • Court-appointed in the 15th Circuit since 2008
  • Member, AFCC
  • Joint or separate sessions

Quick answer: Co-parenting therapy is clinical work with a licensed clinician for 2 separated parents raising a child across 2 households. It builds communication rules, exchange routines and a way to make decisions without fighting. It is privileged under Fla. Stat. 90.503, with 3 exceptions in subsection (4). It is not parenting coordination, not mediation, and not the parent education course Florida requires before final judgment. FC PsychExperts sees West Palm Beach families at the Jupiter office, about 19 miles north on I-95, or by secure video with each parent on a separate screen. Court-referred parents get the attendance and progress documentation the order requires. Call (561) 870-0411.

Dr. Cathy Colet, Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist and founder of FC PsychExperts, court-appointed in Florida's Fifteenth Judicial Circuit
Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D.Founder · Florida licence PY9058 · Member, AFCC
Which one do you actually need

Four Services That Look The Same And Are Not

These 4 are not interchangeable. What separates them is who can repeat what you said.

Co-parenting therapy

What this page is about
Who starts it
You call. One parent can start alone
Confidential
Yes, privileged under Fla. Stat. 90.503, with 3 exceptions at subsection (4)
Can they decide anything
No
How long
Joint work usually runs 6 to 10 sessions
Domestic violence
Joint sessions are contraindicated. Individual work instead

Parenting coordination

Fla. Stat. 61.125
Who starts it
Court appointment on the parties’ agreement, the court’s own motion, or a party’s motion
Confidential
Yes, by statute at 61.125(8), with 11 listed exceptions from (a) to (k)
Can they decide anything
Limited decisions only, and only with the prior approval of the parents and the court
How long
Initial term capped at 2 years by Fla. Fam. L. R. P. 12.742(f)
Domestic violence
The court may not refer with a history of domestic violence unless both parents consent

Family mediation

Court-connected, 15th Circuit
Who starts it
Court referral or the parties
Confidential
Mediation confidentiality applies
Can they decide anything
No. The parties decide
How long
Session by session
Domestic violence
Screened

Parent education course

Fla. Stat. 61.21
Who starts it
Required of all parties before final judgment
Confidential
No. Completion is filed with the court
Can they decide anything
No
How long
A Department of Children and Families approved class, minimum 4 hours
Domestic violence
Still required

Read the confidentiality row twice. It decides which service you want. If you need somebody with authority to break a deadlock about the Thanksgiving schedule, you want a parenting coordinator, and that is a conversation with your attorney about a Fla. Stat. 61.125 referral. If you need to change the pattern that keeps producing the deadlock, you want therapy, and you want the privilege that comes with it. Our other therapy services in Palm Beach County sit alongside this one, and the first call sorts out which door you are standing in.

2008Working with Florida family courts since
5Judicial circuits: 1st, 15th, 17th, 19th, 20th
2Session formats: joint or separate, in person or video
6 daysOpen Monday to Saturday
What is protected, and what is not

The 3 Exceptions That Matter While Your Case Is Open

Fla. Stat. 90.503(4) removes the psychotherapist-patient privilege in 3 situations. Two of them come up in family court constantly.

A court-ordered examination

The statute excepts “communications made in the course of a court-ordered examination of the mental or emotional condition of the patient.” An evaluation ordered by a judge is not privileged. That is 1 reason the person who evaluates your family should never be the person who treats it.

Putting your own mental condition in issue

The privilege also drops for “communications relevant to an issue of the mental or emotional condition of the patient in any proceeding in which the patient relies upon the condition as an element of his or her claim or defense.” Argue that your own condition explains your parenting and you may have opened your treatment record.

Compulsory hospitalisation

The third exception concerns proceedings to compel hospitalisation. None of this is a reason to skip therapy. It is a reason to know which conversations are protected before you have them, and to tell your attorney you are in counselling.

Check this before you call anyone, including us

What The Fifteenth Judicial Circuit Actually Offers

Palm Beach County has no in-house court programme for co-parenting work. Here is what the circuit does run.

A coordinator roster, published 2025

22 names. One lists West Palm Beach. Several list Palm Beach County generally, about 7 list Boca Raton, 2 list Jupiter. Coordinators work under Rule 15.400 operating procedures and carry a continuing education requirement of 16 hours every 2 years, 4 of them in interpersonal violence. The circuit publishes the list itself.

A published form order

Florida Family Law Rules of Procedure Form 12.998, the Order of Referral to Parenting Coordinator, sits on the circuit’s site already captioned for Palm Beach County. If a coordinator is being discussed in your case, that is the document your order will look like.

No counselling unit

The circuit’s family division runs mediation, case management, supervised visitation and a self-help centre. It does not run a counselling unit. By contrast, the Eleventh Judicial Circuit in Miami-Dade operates a Family Court Services unit that delivers co-parenting work in-house. Palm Beach County refers it out.

“[The court] may not order the parties to parenting coordination without their consent unless it determines that the parties have the financial ability to pay.”

Fla. Stat. 61.125(7)

Under 61.125(7)(b), where a party is found indigent under the s. 57.082 factors, the court cannot order parenting coordination unless public funds cover that party’s allocated share or the other parent agrees to carry it. Palm Beach County family matters are heard at the Judge Daniel T. K. Hurley Courthouse, 205 North Dixie Highway, West Palm Beach, with satellite courthouses in Palm Beach Gardens, Delray Beach and Belle Glade.

What changed on 1 July 2023

Equal Time-Sharing Became The Starting Point In 2023

Two changes landed in 1 bill, and together they changed what co-parenting has to accomplish in Florida.

“Unless otherwise provided in this section or agreed to by the parties, there is a rebuttable presumption that equal time-sharing of a minor child is in the best interests of the minor child. To rebut this presumption, a party must prove by a preponderance of the evidence that equal time-sharing is not in the best interests of the minor child.”

Fla. Stat. 61.13(2)(c)1., as amended by chapter 2023-301

Preponderance is the lightest civil standard Florida uses. The same paragraph ends with a sentence most articles skip: “Except when a time-sharing schedule is agreed to by the parties and approved by the court, the court must evaluate all of the factors set forth in subsection (3) and make specific written findings of fact when creating or modifying a time-sharing schedule.” Written findings on every schedule the court writes. The single exception is a schedule the parents agreed to and the court approved.

That is why so many Palm Beach County plans now read week-on week-off, 2-2-3 or 2-2-5-5. About 32.7 percent of Palm Beach County households with children under 18 are single-parent households, computed from Census Bureau ACS table S1101, 2020 to 2024 5-year estimates. A large share of those children are running 2 calendars.

Equal time is not a compatibility test. It is a logistics problem. More overnights means more exchanges, more duplicate school emails, more arguments about who has the pediatrician on Thursday, and 1 more conversation every hurricane week about which house keeps the children if the power goes.

Which format fits

Where You Are On The Conflict Spectrum Decides How We Work

Not every co-parenting case belongs in the same room. The format is matched to the level of conflict and, where relevant, to what the court has ordered.

Joint sessions

You can be in the same room

Both parents attend together, in person or on 1 video call. Work focuses on routines, information flow and the 2 or 3 recurring disagreements. Joint work usually runs 6 to 10 sessions.

Mixed

Together for some things, apart for others

Separate sessions to lower the temperature and prepare, joint sessions to agree on rules. The clinician decides the mix and tells both parents why.

Parallel parenting

The option nobody on page 1 will sell you

Written contact only, through 1 channel. Each parent decides day-to-day matters during their own time. Separate attendance at school events. Exchanges at a neutral location, at a fixed time, with nothing renegotiated at the door.

Parallel parenting reads like a smaller ambition than cooperative co-parenting. For a subset of families it is the arrangement that actually protects the child, and buying harmonious-partnership therapy instead is how 2 people who should not be in a room together keep ending up in one. We tell you which of the 2 you are on the first call.

What happens after you call

How The Sessions Work

Both parents are seen separately first. Joint sessions begin after both intakes, never before.

Separate intakes, 1 session each

Goals, history, and what the children are seeing. Screening happens here, and it is the stage that decides whether joint work is appropriate at all.

The communication protocol

Most co-parenting conflict happens in writing, so the first thing built is a rule for what to send, what not to send, and when to say nothing. The rule is BIFF: brief, informative, friendly, firm. Facts, the child’s need, 2 options, no history. It takes about 3 sessions to become automatic.

The exchange routine and the decision process

A rule for each seam where the 2 households touch: how exchanges happen, how information moves, how a decision gets made when you disagree, and what the children hear. Written down, with both parents signing off.

Testing under pressure

Real weeks, real slip-ups, adjusted in session. Then sessions space out. Joint work usually runs 6 to 10 sessions.

Format matched to conflict level

The clinician decides the mix and tells both parents why
  1. JointBoth parents in the same room or on 1 video call.
  2. SeparateThe clinician meets each parent in turn and carries agreements between them in writing. Used for high-conflict cases and where an order limits contact.
  3. MixedSeparate sessions lower the temperature, joint sessions set the rules.

If the court sent you

Parenting plan, final judgment, GAL or attorney referral
  1. Bring the order to the first callThe office confirms what the order requires and what will be reported before anyone books.
  2. Releases signed at intakeSo documentation can go where the order says.
  3. Attendance and progressAttendance is logged, progress is summarised for counsel or the court, and any agreements you reach are documented as they are reached.

That work overlaps with our court-ordered therapy in West Palm Beach, and the same documentation standard applies.

The part the ranking pages skip

What Insurance Does With A Court-Ordered Session

Family psychotherapy has 2 billing codes and they are not the same one. CPT 90846 is family psychotherapy without the patient present. CPT 90847 is family psychotherapy with the patient present. Medicare’s current billing article, effective 1 January 2026, states that both codes are for the treatment of mental disorders.

Why a court order changes the answer

Coverage for these codes generally turns on a diagnosed mental health condition and on medical necessity. Court-ordered work aimed at compliance rather than at treating an illness sits outside that frame. Plan documents commonly exclude court-ordered services in their own right, and some exclude marriage and family counselling outright. No insurer publishes a policy naming co-parenting therapy, so read your own plan document and expect a court-ordered joint session to be a private-pay service. We tell you plainly on the first call what we think your plan will do with it.

Two things worth knowing whoever you choose

Federal law entitles uninsured and self-pay clients to a written good faith estimate of expected charges before care begins, and self-pay includes a client who has coverage and chooses not to submit a claim. Ask every provider you interview for one. Separately, a superbill is an itemised receipt you submit yourself to claim out-of-network reimbursement. We produce one on request. It carries no guarantee that anyone reimburses it, because that depends on whether your plan has out-of-network benefits and where you sit against the out-of-network deductible.

Honest limits

When Joint Work Is The Wrong Room

Four situations where we decline joint sessions, said on the first call rather than after anyone has booked.

An active injunction, or a history of domestic violence

Joint co-parenting 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 the chance to consult an attorney or a domestic violence advocate. Where there is a history, 61.125(4)(c) requires the court to order safeguards including adherence to every provision of an injunction. What we offer instead is individual work, a written-only communication protocol and a parallel parenting structure.

You want a report, not counselling

If what you need is an opinion for the judge, that is an evaluation. Different engagement, different provider, different confidentiality rules.

We evaluated your family, or we might

A practice that conducts custody evaluations should not also treat the family it evaluated, and should not evaluate a family it has treated. We keep those roles apart. If you need both, you need 2 providers.

Untreated substance dependence or acute psychiatric instability

Skills work does not land on top of an untreated condition. That parent needs individual treatment first, and we say which kind.

Where the children themselves need to be in the room, that is family therapy in Palm Beach County, which is a different service with a different structure.

Unmarried parents

If You Were Never Married, Your File Is Different

Florida’s Good Dad Act, HB 775 of 2023, chapter 2023-209, took effect 1 July 2023 and changed Fla. Stat. 744.301(1). An unmarried father who has established paternity under s. 742.011 or s. 742.10 is now a natural guardian of the child, “entitled and subject to the rights and responsibilities of parents.”

“[T]he determination of parental responsibility and child support and the creation of a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule must be established in an action brought under s. 742.011.”

Fla. Stat. 742.10(5), added by chapter 2023-209

That is the limit most coverage leaves out. Signing the Acknowledgment of Paternity, Florida Department of Health Form DH 432, does not by itself produce a schedule. The equal time-sharing presumption reaches you once a paternity action puts a schedule in front of a judge. An executed acknowledgment on its own gets you guardianship, not overnights. The clinical work is identical either way. The file is not, and a page that says “unmarried parents welcome” without telling you that is not helping you.

Who you will work with

Clinicians Who Know How Florida Family Courts Actually Work

Dr. Cathy Colet, Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Florida licence PY9058

Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D.

Licensed Clinical & Forensic Psychologist · Founder · Florida licence PY9058

Founder of Forensic and Clinical PsychExperts, LLC, in practice since 2008. Court-appointed across Florida’s 1st, 15th, 17th, 19th and 20th Judicial Circuits, and the 15th is Palm Beach County. Roughly 75 percent of her practice is forensic and 25 percent clinical, with family work covering custody, parental capacity and child custody evaluations, with specialised training. Member of the American Psychological Association and the Association of Family and Conciliation Courts. She served on the Operation Youth Violence Task Force in West Palm Beach. Her CV, dated April 2026, is published on her bio page.

Works with: court-referred co-parents · custody-related evaluation · treatment oversight · expert testimony

Jessica T. Aloise, Licensed Clinical Social Worker at FC PsychExperts

Jessica T. Aloise

Licensed Clinical Social Worker · 20+ years

Licensed Clinical Social Worker with more than 20 years of clinical work with individuals, couples and families, covering communication and conflict, emotional regulation, and clinical supervision.

Works with: individuals · couples · families · communication and conflict

Florida issues no separate co-parenting credential. What exists is the psychology licence under chapter 490 and the clinical social work, marriage and family therapy and mental health counselling licences under chapter 491. Verify any of them, ours included, at the Department of Health portal. Dr. Colet’s evaluation work as a forensic psychologist in West Palm Beach is a separate service with separate rules.

In their words

What Parents And Attorneys Say

“I am truly grateful for what Dr. Colet has done for our family. Everything about her was above and beyond what I had experienced before with other psychologists in the industry.”

Georgia W.Client, on Dr. Colet

“I have worked with Dr. Colet for several years. Dr. Colet places her clients first and provides each with individualized care, attention to detail, and real-world guidance. I do not hesitate to refer clients to her.”

Maria CammarataAttorney at Law

“The staff took the time to explain each step, and the entire experience was both professional and supportive. It has been a crucial part of our treatment plan.”

Christopher S.Client
Co-parenting therapy session at FC PsychExperts, serving West Palm Beach families from the Jupiter office
Where we are

Where West Palm Beach Families See Us

We do not have a West Palm Beach office. Saying so up front is more use to you than burying it. The Jupiter office at 210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, is about 19 miles north of downtown West Palm Beach on I-95. Most joint sessions run by secure video, with each parent on a separate screen in a separate place. That solves the drive, and it solves the larger problem of 2 people who do not want to share a waiting room.

  • Jupiter office: 210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, Jupiter, FL 33458. In-person sessions available to anyone who prefers them.
  • Fort Lauderdale office: 1451 W. Cypress Creek Road, Suite 300, for parents on the Broward side.
  • Saturdays: 9 AM to 4 PM, for the parent who cannot leave work on a weekday.
  • Parents in 2 counties: where 1 parent lives in Martin or Broward, video removes the argument about who drives.
West Palm BeachPalm Beach GardensRiviera BeachLake Worth BeachWellingtonRoyal Palm BeachGreenacresJupiterJuno BeachNorth Palm BeachTequestaBoynton BeachDelray BeachBoca Raton

The same work across the wider county sits on our co-parenting therapy across Palm Beach County page.

Questions co-parents ask before calling

Co-Parenting Therapy FAQ

What is co-parenting therapy?

Co-parenting therapy is 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 there a court co-parenting programme in Palm Beach County?

No. Miami-Dade’s Eleventh Judicial Circuit runs a Family Court Services unit that delivers co-parenting work in-house. The Fifteenth Judicial Circuit, which covers Palm Beach County, publishes no equivalent unit. Its family division runs mediation, case management, supervised visitation and a self-help centre, and refers clinical work out to private providers.

How is co-parenting therapy different from a parenting coordinator?

Parenting coordination is a court role under Fla. Stat. 61.125. A coordinator helps parents create or implement a parenting plan, educates, recommends, 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. The Fifteenth Circuit publishes a 2025 coordinator roster of 22 names, of which 1 lists West Palm Beach.

Can a Palm Beach County judge order co-parenting therapy?

Yes. Florida family courts include co-parenting therapy or counselling in parenting plans and final judgments, and can separately appoint a parenting coordinator under Fla. Stat. 61.125 on the parties’ agreement, the court’s own motion, or a party’s motion. Bring the order to the first call. We confirm what it requires and what will be reported before anyone books.

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 Medicare’s current billing article states both codes are 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 counselling. 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.

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).

How long does co-parenting therapy 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.

Do we have to be in the same room?

No. Sessions can be joint, separate with the same clinician meeting each parent in turn, or a mix. Many West Palm Beach families meet by secure video with each parent on a separate screen. High-conflict cases usually begin separately.

Which co-parenting app should we use?

The one your court order names. No Florida statute and no Fifteenth Circuit rule names a specific product, so judges specify them case by case. If your order does not name one, ask your attorney before you choose, because switching later is a compliance question rather than a preference.

We were never married. Does any of this apply?

The clinical work is identical. The legal position is not. The Good Dad Act, chapter 2023-209, effective 1 July 2023, made an unmarried father who has established paternity a natural guardian with the rights and responsibilities of a parent. Signing the Acknowledgment of Paternity, Form DH 432, does not create a schedule: under Fla. Stat. 742.10(5) a parenting plan and time-sharing schedule must be established in an action brought under s. 742.011.

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.

Take the first step

Book A Call With Our Jupiter Office

Tell us 3 things: whether a case is filed, whether an order sends you to therapy, and which specific handoff or decision keeps failing. We will tell you which of the 4 services fits your situation.

Call us: (561) 870-0411

210 Jupiter Lakes Blvd, Unit 4-201, Jupiter, FL 33458 · Mon-Fri 7:30 AM-4:30 PM · Sat 9 AM-4 PM

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    If you are in crisis or thinking about harming yourself, call or text 988 (Suicide and Crisis Lifeline) or 911.

    Thank you. We'll be in touch within 1 business day.

    Need to talk sooner? Call (561) 834-5849.

    Clinically reviewed by Dr. Cathy Colet, Psy.D., Licensed Clinical and Forensic Psychologist, Florida licence PY9058. Last reviewed: 15 September 2026.

    This page describes psychological services and Florida court procedure. It is not legal advice and it does not create a therapist-patient relationship. Ask your attorney about your own case.