Sharing custody is relatively challenging. Parents have to find a schedule that works for them. They have to regularly travel to meet each other and perform custody exchanges. They need to communicate about the health and educational needs of their children.
Parents who have separated or divorced find new living arrangements and may start new relationships. Sometimes, the opportunities they seek in life may require that they relocate. They may move hours away or plan to leave California entirely.
Can either parent make the decision on their own to relocate with their children in a shared custody scenario?
Not all moves work in a shared custody situation
Relocations are all different, just like custody arrangements are inherently unique. Some relocations are unlikely to complicate shared custody arrangements. If the parents are still relatively close to each other, the move may not affect what school the children attend or how often the parents exchange custody.
Other relocations could very easily affect co-parenting arrangements. A move across the state or out of California might prevent one parent from regularly seeing their children. It might become prohibitively expensive or time-consuming to travel for custody exchanges. If a proposed move is significant enough to affect one parent’s access to the children, then the other can theoretically oppose the move.
Any significant relocation requires advance notification provided to the other parent and possibly the courts. If the parents don’t agree about the move, then the case may require the review of a judge. Family law judges can modify custody orders to allow a relocation and shift how the parents split custody. They could also decide that the relocation with the children is inappropriate.
If a judge does not approve of the relocation, then they might alter the allocation of parenting time so that the parent who doesn’t intend to move has the majority of parenting time during the school year. Factors including the reasoning behind the move and the impact it could have on the children may influence what ends up happening after one parent proposes a long-distance relocation.
One parent’s desire to move does not necessarily mean that the other has to lose out on time with their children. Learning more about California’s unique rules for complex child custody situations can help people more effectively preserve the relationship they have with their minor children.