| 1 | A bill to be entitled |
| 2 | An act relating to the parent-child privilege; creating s. |
| 3 | 90.5045, F.S.; creating a parent-child privilege to |
| 4 | prevent disclosure of communications that were made by |
| 5 | children younger than a specified age to their parents or |
| 6 | by parents older than a specified age to their children |
| 7 | and intended to be made in confidence; defining the term |
| 8 | "parent"; prescribing proceedings in which the privilege |
| 9 | does not exist; providing for waiver of the privilege; |
| 10 | requiring that a guardian ad litem be appointed to |
| 11 | represent a minor child prior to the court's approving the |
| 12 | child's waiver of the privilege; providing an effective |
| 13 | date. |
| 14 |
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| 15 | Be It Enacted by the Legislature of the State of Florida: |
| 16 |
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| 17 | Section 1. Section 90.5045, Florida Statutes, is created |
| 18 | to read: |
| 19 | 90.5045 Parent-child privilege.-- |
| 20 | (1) Because of the family relationship that exists between |
| 21 | parents and their children, there is a privilege to refuse to |
| 22 | disclose, and to prevent another from disclosing, communications |
| 23 | that were intended to be made in confidence between: |
| 24 | (a) A child who at the time of making the communication |
| 25 | was 25 years of age or younger and that child's parent. |
| 26 | (b) A parent who at the time of making the communication |
| 27 | was 65 years of age or older and that parent's child. |
| 28 | (2) The privilege may be claimed by either the child or |
| 29 | the parent, or by the guardian or conservator of the child or |
| 30 | parent. The authority of a child or the child's parent, or |
| 31 | guardian or conservator of the child or parent, to claim the |
| 32 | privilege is presumed in the absence of contrary evidence. |
| 33 | (3) As used in this section, the term "parent" means a |
| 34 | woman who gives birth to a child or a man whose consent to the |
| 35 | adoption of the child would be required under s. 63.062(1). If a |
| 36 | child has been legally adopted, the term "parent" means the |
| 37 | adoptive mother or father of the child. The term does not |
| 38 | include an individual whose parental relationship to the child |
| 39 | has been legally terminated and does not include an alleged or |
| 40 | prospective parent, unless the parental status falls within the |
| 41 | terms of s. 39.503(1) or s. 63.062(1). |
| 42 | (4) There is no privilege under this section: |
| 43 | (a) In any proceeding brought by or on behalf of the child |
| 44 | against the child's parent. |
| 45 | (b) In any proceeding brought by or on behalf of the |
| 46 | child's parent against the child. |
| 47 | (c) In a criminal proceeding in which the child is charged |
| 48 | with a crime committed at any time against the person or |
| 49 | property of the child's parent or the person or property of any |
| 50 | other child of the child's parent. |
| 51 | (d) In a criminal proceeding in which the child's parent |
| 52 | is charged with a crime committed at any time against the person |
| 53 | or property of the child or the person or property of a child of |
| 54 | the child. |
| 55 | (e) In any criminal or other governmental investigation |
| 56 | involving allegations of abuse, neglect, abandonment, or |
| 57 | nonsupport of a child by a parent of that child. |
| 58 | (f) In any criminal or other governmental investigation |
| 59 | involving allegations of sexual or physical abuse of a parent by |
| 60 | a child of that parent. |
| 61 | (g) In any proceeding governed by the Florida Family Law |
| 62 | Rules of Procedure or the Florida Rules of Juvenile Procedure. |
| 63 | (5) This privilege may be waived if either the parent or |
| 64 | the child expressly consents to the disclosure of the |
| 65 | communication. However, if the child has not reached the age of |
| 66 | majority or been otherwise emancipated, the child's stated |
| 67 | consent is invalid or ineffective unless it is approved by a |
| 68 | court of competent jurisdiction. The court may approve such |
| 69 | child's consent only after appointing a guardian ad litem to |
| 70 | represent the child and after the guardian ad litem makes a |
| 71 | recommendation to the court that the waiver of the privilege |
| 72 | would be in the best interests of the child. |
| 73 | Section 2. This act shall take effect July 1, 2007. |