Gov. DeSantis signs ‘Cassie Carli Law’ to ease the safe exchange of minors

Florida law will change next month to better protect parents and their children during custody exchanges through legislation Gov. Ron DeSantis just signed.

The bipartisan measure (HB 385) is named for Cassie Carli, a Navarre woman who died after a custody exchange gone wrong.

Had it been law at the time, she likely would still be alive, the bill’s many proponents said.

Effective July 1, the “Cassie Carli Law” requires all court-approved plans for shared parental custody to include, unless otherwise agreed to by both parents, a list of “authorized locations” to hand off their children.

When parents provide evidence that they or their children are at risk of harm, a court may require the exchange to happen in the parking lot of a well-lit, video-surveilled Sheriff’s Office parking lot. Every Sheriff’s Office in Florida must designate and equip at least one parking lot for such purposes.

The measure also entitles domestic violence victims to the same protections, mandating a court order to enforce the condition.

Carli’s tragic end came in late March 2022 following a scheduled exchange of her daughter at a restaurant parking lot near her home. She agreed to a last-minute location change the father requested, despite fears she’d shared with friends that he wanted to hurt her.

Police uncovered her body in a shallow Alabama grave six weeks later and soon arrested the father, whom a federal grand jury indicted for kidnapping resulting in a death.

Navarre Republican Rep. Joel Rudman, who sponsored the measure, said he learned of Carli’s story from her friend, a former police officer, who presented him with a “list of items” she believed would have prevented her death.

“Everything in the bill that you guys have become familiar with … came from a young woman named Stacy (Cole) who loved Cassie Carli very much,” he said during an emotional House floor speech in January.

House members voted unanimously for the bill, Rudman’s second attempt at improving protections during sometimes emotionally heated custody exchanges. Senate Democratic Leader Lauren Book carried a companion of the earlier legislation last year. This year, Rudman enjoyed Senate sponsorship from Jacksonville Republican Sen. Clay Yarbrough and co-prime sponsorship support from Dania Beach Democratic Rep. Hillary Cassel.

Last year, Cassel successfully passed a related measure called “Greyson’s Law” that added safeguards for children at risk of parental harm. She said Rudman asked for her support in passing the “Cassie Carli Law” this year and called it “an honor and a privilege” to do so.

Sarah Kay, Chair of the Florida Bar’s Family Law Section, which helped Rudman and Cassel craft the bill’s language, called it a “commonsense policy that can potentially save lives by simply strengthening (existing) laws.”

Just one Senator cast a “no” vote for the bill: Lori Berman, a Boynton Beach Democrat who sponsored “Greyson’s Law” last year. She said that while the measure’s aims were well-intentioned, it still left open the possibility for future cases like Carli’s.

“I am just concerned about how the court will interpret this,” she said. “If there is an imminent threat of harm, there should not be an exchange. Or at the very minimum, it should be a supervised exchange. Even that I’m not very comfortable with.”

DeSantis quietly signed HB 385 Wednesday.

___

A.G. Gancarski and Gabrielle Russon of Florida Politics contributed to this report.