Ex Moving Away

[wantjustice]

My husbands ex said she will be moving soon, far away, where...she won't tell us, my question is how far is she allowed to move? there is no mention of this in the papers. We lived about 30 miles away from their daughter for a few months, but we always followed visitation schedule and picked up and dropped off the child. So if she does move further away will she be responsible for the transportation? Transportation is not mentioned in the papers either, about who will pick up the child and drop off...could we ammend the papers to reflect this?

[Anonymous]

In most states, absent a provision within the judgment of divorce, there is nothing that stops an in-state move at the discretion of the custodial parent. (That may, however, constitute grounds for modification of parenting time, or in some cases even for a motion for a change of custody.) Typically, judgments contain provisions barring the relocation of a child's domicile to another state without court approval.

If there is no provision for transportation in relation to parenting time in the present order, your best approach is to try to agree on how transportation would be handled after a move. If you come to an agreement, that modification can be reduced to a written document or order, although there will likely be procedural steps you must follow if you want to reduce the agrement to an order and have it entered by the court.