If you have gotten divorced here in California and are now considering relocation, it’s important to get a divorce lawyer in San Mateo on your side as quickly as possible. It can be difficult to relocate under California law, but a lawyer will be able to tell you how to present your case in the best light for the most favorable outcome.
How Does California Law Handle Relocation With a Child After Divorce?
Parental Rights and the Child’s Best Interests
The first thing to know is that adults have the right to relocate at any time they want: the court cannot stop either parent from relocating. It is your constitutional right to go where you wish. However, what the court can do is decide what is in the best interest of your child, modifying custody orders and visitation as needed to accomplish this goal. If you or the other parent are planning to move, and that’s going to change where the child lives or the feasibility of the current plan for legal or physical custody or visitation, the court may intervene to change the plan.
As always, the standard for the court is the child’s best interest, not the best interest of the parents. This means that the court can forbid a parent to move with a child, change who has primary custody, or alter a visitation schedule significantly, and the court’s outlook may not be aligned with that of either parent. That moving parent, for instance, may be thinking that the move is good because it will improve their financial prospects: but the court may not agree that simply having more money is what’s in the best interest of the child.
Physical Custody Issues
According to California law, a parent with sole physical custody of their child does have the right to change their child’s place of residence. That means they can (mostly) move as they wish, so long as the move doesn’t negatively affect either the child’s well-being or their rights. In situations where the two parents have joint physical custody, however, neither parent has a presumptive right to move with their child. They must go through the court to determine if the current parenting plan needs to be changed.
If one parent has sole physical custody and wishes to move, it would thus be incumbent upon the noncustodial parent to convince the court that the move is not in the child’s best interest or will harm them in some way. The court will only consider changing the custody arrangement if a convincing case can be made on that front.
If the parents have joint physical custody, then the court looks at custody almost as if you were starting over again. If the move is going to make any change to the parenting plan as it currently exists, you will have to seek a modification. The moving parent doesn’t necessarily have to prove that the move is necessary – people are allowed to move simply because they want to – but that does not mean the court does not care at all about the motivations of the moving parent. They will want to make sure that a parent isn’t moving just to make things difficult for the other parent or with no consideration of the child’s needs.
Working With the Other Parent
Whatever your situation, whether you are hoping to move as the custodial parent or whether you are worried about how the other parent’s relocation may change things, the best thing is always to come to some kind of agreement privately, if that’s possible. When the parents can agree, they avoid unnecessary expense, all the time and emotional energy of a court battle, and lower the stress for everyone, including for the kids. Your divorce lawyers can help you with mediation or with finding a qualified third-party mediator if you’re not able to agree. When the parents agree, the courts are usually happy to sign off on changes so long as those changes aren’t going to make things unnecessarily hard on your child.
How It Works
If one of the parents wants to change something about the existing orders, whether that’s planning a move or something else, the first step is to file a legal motion with the court asking for a modification. If you already have a modified parenting plan hashed out, and you’ve had your lawyer look over it to make sure it is likely to pass with the court, this is pretty fast. If you can’t agree, the judge will order a hearing and the court will make a decision.
The court will look at the current custody situation and how much time each parent currently spends with the child, consider how far away the proposed move is, consider issues of stability for the child and their ties within their immediate community, and will also look at the child’s health and educational needs (and even where the child wants to live, if they are old enough to express an opinion on the matter). Bear in mind that the further away the parent wants to move, the more difficult this is and the more seriously the court will look at every factor to decide what is really best for the child. If one parent is suggesting a move that is likely to take the child away from regular interaction with the other parent, the court is unlikely to allow this if the other parent objects.
Stability is important here, and sometimes, that is best achieved by keeping the child with the moving parent, if that is the parent who has had custody so far. But sometimes, and especially if a child is older and has strong ties with a local school and friendship network, the court will consider community and local ties to be just as important.
Working With Your Divorce Lawyer in San Mateo
Whatever side of this issue you are on, the key thing for the court is the best interests of the child. Therefore, whatever you’re arguing for, you have the best chance of success if you are able to show how your view is in your child’s best interest. Your attorney will help you to gather the information and evidence that you need, and this may include testimony from friends and family, school records, medical records, and even testimony from therapists, teachers, and other people involved in your child’s life on a professional level. Your lawyer will help you put all this together into a cohesive presentation that is likely to be well received by the court.
If you’re planning on making a move, or if the other parent is moving and threatening your relationship with your child, the best thing you can do is to get help from an experienced family law attorney. In the San Mateo area, Seeley Family Law is a client-focused family law firm that takes a team-based approach to get the best outcome for every client. Our founder, H. Yvonne Seeley, has been practicing family law in California for more than 35 years and is a Super Lawyers honoree, a Certified Family Law Specialist by the State Bar of California Board of Legal Specialization, and understands that nothing is more important than your children. Contact Seeley Family Law now to request a consultation.