You and your spouse got married, bought a house, had two children and then decided to get divorced. Initially, when you bought the house, you had planned to stay in that area indefinitely. Now that you’re no longer married, you’re thinking of traveling again – or at least moving to another location.
Unfortunately, it may not be as easy as you would hope. If you didn’t have children, you could get divorced and move anywhere that you wanted. But since you do have children, your custody arrangement with your ex is going to have an impact.
Reasons for the move
The problem here is that some people will attempt to move simply so that their ex can’t see the children. They’re essentially doing it out of spite or simply because they’re not thinking about their ex’s rights.
But your ex probably has visitation rights with the children — and moving could violate those rights. If you move out of state, you can’t realistically stick to the custody schedule. As such, the court may want to know the reason for the move.
There are acceptable reasons that can get this move approved. For instance, maybe you put out an application for a new job and you were just offered a position in a different city. Or maybe you want to go back to school and get an advanced degree so that you can increase your standard of living. Perhaps you just want to move back by your own extended family members, who did not live anywhere close to you and your spouse during your marriage.
With reasons like these, moving is possible, but it can be complicated. It’s very important to know exactly what legal steps to take.
