based on his failure to pay the mother’s attorney’s fees was improper when it foreclosed him from litigating child custody issues, in which the best interests of the child must be considered. Id. at 493. See also Barnett v. Barnett, 718 So.2d 302, 304 (Fla. 2d DCA 1998) (“It has long been the rule in Florida that child custody should be decided based on the best interests of the children, not based on the default of one of the parents.”); Andrews v. Andrews, 624 So.2d 391, 392 (Fla. 2d DCA 1993) (reversing an order striking the mother’s pleadings in a modification proceeding for her failure to comply with court orders and noting that decisions affecting child custody require consideration of the child’s best interests); McEwen v. Rodriguez, 766 So.2d 316, 318 (Fla. 4th DCA 2000) (<HOLDING>). For this court to grant a certiorari petition
holding that the issue of custody was foreign to the dissolution action because the husband was not the natural father but that the husband could seek to intervene to assert a thirdparty custody claim in a pending custody modification proceeding between the childs natural parents recognizing policy and ruling that person who failed to file counterclaim when childs paternity was being determined in earlier litigation should not be allowed to bring later suit to establish that he was childs natural father as this would not be in the childs best interests holding that cooperation between parents is essential if the arrangement is to be in the best interests of the child holding that a modification of custody should not be based on one parents default because it is the childs best interests that are at stake holding that requiring a petitioner to establish by clear and convincing evidence that visitation is in the best interests of the child would provide effective protection for a parents choice except where the choice is plainly contrary to a childs best interests