Relocation and Child Custody: Moving Out of State
Video on Relocation and Child Custody
If you’re a divorced parent thinking of moving out of the state, you’re also thinking about relocation and child custody. How will your move affect your parenting time and relationship with your children? Relocation will usually look like one of the two scenarios for the moving parent:
- You are moving out of state, and your children will stay in Georgia and travel to visit you.
- You and your children are moving out of state, and your children will be returning to Georgia to visit their other parent.
Child Custody and Moving Out of State
Moving out of state is, in custody parlance, a “material change in circumstance” related to child custody. “A material change in circumstance” is a significant life event that affect the parents or the children and can authorize a change in custody. A relocating parent must give the other parent at least 30 days’ written notice for any change in address. Some custody plans may also require more than 30 days’ notice.
Remember that there are two types of custody: legal custody and physical custody. Legal custody relates to parents’ authority to make major decisions for children. Physical custody (also known as parenting time) relates to the time each parent spends with the children. An out-of-state move substantially affects the time children can spend with both parents (physical cust0dy), and it may also impact decision-making for the children (legal custody).
The most important decisions impacted by relocation are educational (school enrollment for the children) and extracurricular activities. A parent who wants to move out of state with the children will have to make changes to the children’s schools, and extracurricular activities may affect the time the children have available to spend with the other parent.
Custody and Relocating With Your Children
If your intention is move out of the state of Georgia and take your minor children with you, you must first give notice of your new address to the other legal parent. If you don’t yet have an address, then you should, at a minimum, notify of your plan to move.
The 30-day notice provision gives the other parent the opportunity to take legal action. This action will seek to either:
- Modify legal custody in an effort to keep the children in Georgia; or
- Modify parenting time with the children to accommodate the new location and any required travel.
After you have given the required notice, you and the other co-parent may work out an agreement regarding changes to parenting time. But, the other parent may also take the position that legal custody and decision-making should be changed to keep the children in Georgia.
Relocation out of state is not grounds for an automatic change in custody to the Georgia parent, but it is a material change. That means that the Georgia parent has legal grounds to ask the judge to modify custody. So, if you want to move with your children, you will need to prove to the court that the move is in the best interests of the children. The judge is required to consider many factors in deciding the best interests of the children. Best Interests Factors
If you want to relocate with your children, you will also need a plan for facilitating the children’s parenting time with the other parent. Will the children fly back and forth alone? Will you be driving the children back to Georgia? If the other parent travels to you to see the children, where will that parent stay? And, importantly, because of the expense of travel, you should expect your child support to be reduced.
When Might a Judge Allow You to Move WITH Your Children:
- You are relocating for better employment or financial opportunity.
- You are relocating to be closer to family who will provide support for you and your children.
- The children would be moving to a superior school, better/safer neighborhood, or have better extracurricular opportunities.
- You have a good plan for maintaining and facilitating parenting time between the children and the other parent.
When a Judge Might Change Child Custody If You Relocate Out of State:
- Your move will significantly impact the other parent’s visitation and parenting time.
- You are moving to accommodate a new spouse or solely to pursue a romantic relationship.
- You have a history of instability including changes in residence, employment, and relationships.
- The children would be moving to an unsuccessful school district or deprive the children of their extracurricular activities.
- The children would lose frequent contact with other family members.
Parenting Time and Relocating Without Moving Your Children
Relocating out of state and then arranging parenting time with your children remaining in Georgia is the easier legal relocation. In that case, you don’t have to prove that the relocation serves the children’s best interests. You only need to modify your parenting time to accommodate the travel. If you are relocating without your children, you will likely have increased child support or have to pay for the children’s travel costs.
If a party wants to modify child custody based on one parent’s relocation, that party must prove that the relocation matters somehow. Generally, moving from one house to another down the street is not sufficient to mount a custody action, but moving out of state or a substantial distance from the other parent can present a material change in circumstances. Relocation can also be a material change in circumstances where a non-custodial parent moves “home” or to a location much closer to the children to enable that parent to exercise more parenting time.
Typical Schedule for Relocation and Child Custody
A fairly typical relocation parenting time schedule for the noncustodial typically involves:
- During the school year, one long weekend per month with the “away” parent, with travel issues to be determined.
- Two long school breaks awarded to the away parent each year instead of alternating even and odd years.
- Extended summer parenting time with the away parent, often 4-6 weeks.
- Parents share travel expenses for the children.