Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
Child Custody And Divorce: Free Legal Advice
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Here's that answer:
AS IMPORTANT
AS A MOM.
Have you got that? See that you do. If you start acting like you don't know that, it is going to be explained to you, loud and clear. Very loud, and very clear. I mentioned, on the last page back, that the law changes, and has been changing: this is one of the things that has changed. The law has given fathers short shrift in the custody area, in the past, and that has changed, and it is still changing. The whole notion of "father's rights" is a hot topic in legal circles. (The law has also given mothers short shrift: we'll be discussing that in one of the next chapters. But not this one.) The father has a right to reasonable contact with his children, and, more importantly, THE CHILDREN HAVE A RIGHT TO REASONABLE CONTACT WITH THEIR DAD. (Read the top of the page again.)
As I said earlier, the law is changing. The notion that a custodial Mother can move away, and thus deprive a non custodial father of his children, and thus deprive the children of their Dad, is a notion that is fading fast. I predict that before too long, the answer will be "No". Just a flat, no-nonsense "No". Either both parents move to the new town, or nobody goes.
At the present, however, we are in some sort of middle ground: the old days, where a woman could, either out of malice, or, to be fair, out of innocence, out of just plain not-knowing airheaded never-thought-about-it IGNORANCE, deprive the dad and the kids that relationship of theirs, are gone forever. It's past, and good riddance. We are not yet, however, to the flat "No" for an answer. We are in the middle ground, and the legal test is the D'Onofrio test, with its four parts, which we've discussed. That test is not perfect, and will not fit every family, but it's the best we have, for the moment. That test will be used, by your judge. If the conditions of the test can be met, permission will be granted. Otherwise, not.
On the one hand, you could petition the court with something like "Well, it involves a promotion, in my career, which will result in a sizeable raise, and my increased earnings will obviously lower the support that the Father is required to pay each week, and my new husband, who is an airline pilot, can arrange airfare for the kids each vacation period, and that airfare will cost the father nothing, you can put in the order that it's at my expense, and the kids are old enough to fly, at ten and twelve, and I have here a letter from the school board president that the kids will be allowed to take their exams early, and leave on December 9th, rather than the 15th, so they can be with their father starting on December 10th, which is when Father's plant shuts down for Christmas, so he'll still get the whole layoff period with the kids...."
You, my dear, have a big, fat "Yes". Permission granted. If the dad is even contesting the move, which he is likely not to do, with a considerate plan like that being proposed.
On the other hand, you could petition the court, and propose, in addition to your moving, that child support be raised, since Dad got a promotion last year. You know support should go up, because you're still unemployed, but your new husband's earnings aren't counted, and, since you're still unemployed, it's only fair that Dad should pay the airfare as well, every time he wants to spring for a visit from the kids. You, my dear, will get a resounding "No". Permission to move out of state is denied.
Of course, most of the factual situations actually presented, by real people, will be somewhere in between these two extremes, won't they? The closer you get to the first example, the more likely you'll get that permission from the judge. The closer you are to the second one, the less likely.
So in answer to your question, "Can I Move Out Of State?" Well, like I told you at the beginning of this chapter: it depends on just what you're asking.
Good luck with it.