When a Custodial Parent Moves Far Away

When a custodial parent decides to move away, the interests of the other parent and the children may be adversely affected.

Harry and Sally, after a reasonably long marriage and an unreasonably bitter and acrimonious divorce, finally resolved the issues of alimony, child support, visitation and so forth. Sally was awarded primary physical custody of little David and Becky, ages 5 and 8, respectively. While Harry was not thrilled with the award of custody, he followed the visitation schedule, not too difficult a task since the parties lived in the same town.

However, Sally has just informed Harry that she and her new husband, Fred, plan to move to New Jersey from Florida with the children because of her new husband's employment. Harry is very much against this proposed move because he believes it will irreparably damage his relationship with the children and break the very tight bonds he has worked so hard to develop. Since the issue of relocation was not addressed by the parties or the court at the time of trial, and the parties obviously cannot agree on how to resolve the conflict, it's back to court!

The above situation is becomingly increasingly more common in family courts throughout the country. Relocation cases are difficult as they balance the custodial parent's constitutional right to move with the noncustodial parent's right to regular and consistent visitation and retaining role in the children's lives, all while considering the best interests of the children, which may or may not be consistent with either of the parent's rights.

Why the increase in "relocation cases"? First and foremost is the increase in the number of divorces, followed by remarriage and the formation of a new family unit, coupled with general greater population mobility.