Your children.
Nothing matters more.
Don't face a custody dispute without an experienced, Board Certified attorney in your corner.
She can't control the courts. She can promise you won't lose sleep wondering if someone's on top of it.
When you need a child custody attorney,
experience is everything.
Allyson Hughes is Board Certified — Marital & Family Law — a credential held by fewer than 300 attorneys in Florida — and one of approximately 100 Florida attorneys selected as a Fellow of the American Academy of Matrimonial Lawyers.
Custody disputes are among the most consequential cases she handles. She prepares every one as if it's going to trial — because sometimes it does, and the parent who isn't ready pays for it.
Plans that work
for how you actually live.
No two families are the same, and no two schedules are the same. Whether you work shifts, travel for work, run a business, or have a demanding professional schedule, a parenting plan needs to reflect the reality of how you actually live — not a generic rotation that creates conflict every time your schedule changes.
At Hughes Law Group, we build parenting plans that are specific, durable, and designed to minimize post-judgment disputes. That means addressing the details upfront — who has the children when schedules change unexpectedly, how communication between parents and children is handled, and what happens when one parent needs to make a schedule adjustment.
Getting these details right at the start is far less expensive than litigating them later.
When your schedule
doesn't fit a standard plan.
Some parenting situations require more technical planning. If your work involves rotating shifts, on-call obligations, frequent travel, or irregular hours — whether you are a nurse, a contractor, a first responder, a physician, or a business owner — a standard parenting plan may not hold up in practice.
We design self-adjusting frameworks that account for the real logistics of your schedule, including right of first refusal provisions, shift-swap protocols, and communication windows that work for both parents and children without creating grounds for contempt every time life doesn't go according to plan.
Whatever your situation, your children deserve a plan that actually works.
You want to be in their lives.
That's worth fighting for.
Florida law does not favor either parent by default. Under § 61.13, both parents are presumed to have the right to a meaningful relationship with their children — but presumption and outcome are different things. If you don't have an attorney who knows how to build a timesharing case, you may end up with far less than the law intends to give you.
The factors courts consider are specific: your involvement in the child's schooling, medical care, and day-to-day life; your ability to support the child's relationship with the other parent; your history of being present. These aren't soft considerations. They are the record Allyson builds for you from the first meeting forward.
If your goal is 50/50 — or something close to it — the time to build that case is now, not at the hearing. Allyson has tried timesharing cases in Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties. She knows how these courts weigh the § 61.13 factors and what it takes to win on them.
Your schedule is real.
Your parenting plan needs to be too.
Nurses, first responders, corrections officers, and contractors don't work nine to five. A standard week-on/week-off parenting plan assumes you do. When your schedule changes every few weeks — or you're on 12-hour rotating shifts — a generic plan doesn't hold up. It creates conflict, missed time, and potential contempt issues every time life doesn't fit the calendar.
The solution isn't a simpler plan. It's a smarter one. We build parenting frameworks that include right of first refusal provisions, shift-swap protocols, and defined communication windows — designed around how you actually work, not how the court assumes you work.
Getting this right at the outset is far less expensive than litigating schedule disputes six months after the final judgment. Allyson has built and argued complex parenting plans in Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties — she knows what these courts will and won't enforce.
One parent wants to move.
The stakes just got higher.
When one parent needs to move — for work, family, or a fresh start — Florida's relocation statute changes everything. Whether your case is in Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, or Hernando County, the legal process is the same and the stakes are equally high.
Under § 61.13001, a parent who wants to relocate more than 50 miles away must either obtain written agreement from the other parent or get court approval. The burden of proof is significant. The factors the court weighs are detailed. And if the relocating parent moves without following the statute, the legal consequences can be severe — including reversal of the relocation and loss of timesharing.
Whether you are the parent seeking to relocate or the parent trying to prevent it, this is not a situation where general family law experience is enough. Allyson has tried cases in the family courts of Pasco, Hillsborough, Pinellas, and Hernando counties. She knows the judges, the local rules, and how these courts handle relocation disputes in practice — not just on paper.
What Florida courts consider
in custody decisions.
Florida law requires that all parenting plans be built around the best interests of the child. Under § 61.13, the court evaluates a detailed set of factors when parents cannot agree. Understanding these factors — and building your case around them — is where preparation makes the difference.
As a child custody attorney serving clients throughout the Tampa Bay area, including New Port Richey and Pasco County, Allyson Hughes has spent over 30 years working with these factors at every level of complexity. The courts she practices in, the judges she appears before, and the standards she argues to are not abstractions. They are the specific reality of your case.
Board Certified — Marital & Family Law. AAML Fellow. 30+ years. Ready to hear your situation and tell you the truth about it.
Schedule a Consultation (727) 842-8227