My wife and I have been seperated for a little over a year now, and I plan on filing for absolute divorce, ED, and for a custody agreement very soon. She has maintained primary custody of the children, and I have them every Wednesday, and every other weekend. She is not happy that this is happening and can be very difficult to say the least. With the child support payments that I am making, and the added expenses of a seperate residence etc. I am simply not making enough money to afford it all. I have a job offer in SC about 4 hours away that would solve my monetary issues, but could she stop me from taking the children still every other weekend if she wants just because it is out of state? The money with a new job would be great, but not if I couldn’t see my little girls regularly.
Your move out of state will not affect how much time you should be able to spend with your children in theory, however practically speaking it may affect the visitation you do receive.
When the court makes a determination of child custody all factors which have a bearing on what is in the children’s best are considered. The fact that you have been separated for some time now and have been exercising a consistent schedule will go to show that the schedule you have been following is appropriate and that spending time with you is in their best interests.
Since you are moving so far away the schedule will have to change for feasibility reasons. It is unlikely that a court would order the children to visit with you every Wednesday as the travel time would interfere school. The fact that you are crossing a state line really has no effect, its really the travel time that makes a difference. A judge may order that you drive back to NC every other weekend to pick the children up, but moving to SC will not entitled your ex to refuse you visitation.