How Do I Keep My Son's Mother from Taking Him to Another State

My question involves a child custody case from the State of: MI. I have 5050 joint and legal custody of my son and his mother just informed me that her husband got a new job and they are moving out of state. We just went through the courts two years ago because she moved out of the county we have lived in his whole life, but because it was within the 100 mile rule we came to a resonable agreement. Now that she wants to move out of state what can I do to keep her from taking my son away from me his brothers and everything he is familiar with?

File immediately for an modification, requesting an injunction to prevent Mom from moving the child.

In Michigan the burden of proof is on Mom to show why the move is in the best interest of the child.

Start reading, Dad!

http://courts.mi.gov/self-help/cente...s/default.aspx

http://apps.americanbar.org/family/m.../june06dvl.pdf

http://www.schwartzlawfirmpc.com/Art...ur-Child.shtml

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And there are forms here:

http://courts.mi.gov/Administration/...Relations.aspx

I think you need to file immediately for a modification of custody based upon Mom's relocation. It should at least put things on hold until the court makes a decision.

How far is she wanting to go?

What's your actual timeshare?

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And please stand by - I'm sending a PM to a fantastic poster who is incredibly fabulous with Michigan family law. :)

Mom needs to ask your permission to move the child, has she done that? Obviously it does not sound like your going to agree to her moving the child out of state, so mom needs to file with the court and get the courts permission to move out of state. If you don't want your child to move, then do not agree to this at all and do what you have to and file with the court. The law is very clear on this in Mi. I personally would not wait on mom to do what she is suppose to do and run down to the court house ASAP and file yourself to block mom from moving the child with her.

It's not about blocking mom from moving, a court can't do that, it's about blocking mom from moving the child with her. You want to also file for full custody if mom moves. Look up the county your case is in online, you want to see if they have the forms online, if they do not, then get yourself down to the circuit court clerk's office and get the forms. Each county can run a bit different and have specific county forms to use and specific ways of sending the forms you file to the other party.

I would also look up long distance plans for your county, look up your county FOC handbook and see if they have a long distance plan in it. If not check county's nearby online. I know that both St Clair County and Genesse County have really good long distance plans online to give you an idea. Write a long distance plan for moms parenting time as the NCP and attach it to your filing.

The burden of proof is on mom to show why the move is in the BEST INTEREST OF THE CHILD, not the best interest of mom or her husband. However you need to also have a thought out argument as to why it's in the best interest of the child, to stay here with you.

Much depends on the county your in, but in general things move fast in court in MI. If your on the east side of the state, I am very familiar with many of these courts, procedures, how fast things move and how it will go. Important thing to remember for Mi is that we have FOC and Refs, along with Judges. FOC and Refs only make recommendations, you don't have to agree to that recommendation, you don't have to sign it(they will try to convince you to do that), you have a right to object to that recommendation and have a hearing with the Judge. You will most likely see a Ref first, and if that recommendation is for mom to move with the child, I highly recommend you object and let the Judge have the final say.

On a move away, if you can scrape the money together, it will really, really be a benefit to hire a lawyer.

Dog asked some questions that would help if you gave answers to, along with that you need to tell us word for word what your order actually says on move aways. There has to be something in every order in Mi on move aways, the 100 mile rule must be in there, unless the parties agree to something else. I need to make sure you did not agree to something else in your order.