i have been divorced for about a year and a half now. According to the court papers,
“Husband and wife are both fit and proper persons to have joint legal custody of the parties minor child and the best interests of the said minor child will be served by granting the parties joint legal custody of their minor child with the wife having primary physical custody and husband having secondary physical custody.”
Then it goes over my visitation with me getting child every other weekend and at different periods of time throughout year including five weeks over the summer. We have both lived in greenville for four years and have always lived in NC. her family is here and my family is in Ohio. I always knew that she wanted to move from greenville. she made that clear. she stated that she wanted to get by her parents in swansboro or her sister in raleigh. One hour was the distance. that is something i could deal with. Now, out of the blue she has a job offer in SC, which is six hours away. She is a teacher and said there was not one job around here to get. thats beside the point. she says she is moving in three weeks. she notified me a few days ago. I have never missed a weekend with my child. i have actually never not takin him extra whenever she had things going on. My son loves me and we have the best time together. He does no wanna move. he is only six and a half. he wants to be closer to me so we can spend time together. i have never missed a support payment. In fact, we did not go to court for custody. i agreed to what the terms are. i didnt want my son in court and i didnt want my ex to have a nervous break down. she is my sons mother. well that was before she woke up one day and decide to leave NC.
Here is what it says in court papers about moving.
“In the event either party desires to take the minor child out of the state of NC, such party will provide the other with reasonable notice. Neither party will take the minor child out of town without providing the other party with the location, the duration of the out of town visit, and the telephone number where the party traveling out of town may be reached.
The reference to “school” shall mean the school the minor child is actually attending or the public school in the county in which the minor child resides if the minor child is not yet of school age.
The parties shall provide the other party with at least sixty days advance notice of his or her intention to move outside of pitt county, nc. Husband and wife acknowledge that it is the wifes intention to move with the parties minor child from pitt county, nc. neither party shall travel with the minor child outside the united states.”
Do i have any recourse at all. First, can i keep her from moving period. my contention is that all i ever knew was she wanted to move an hour away. If i cant keep her from moving, do i have any options. my argument is this! she did not give ample notice. she just said im leaving the state. my second argument is that if she can move, the only why she should be allow to do that, is if she keeps my visitation in tact. i think that she should have to bring child to me from six hours away and have him dropped off at the court ordered times. i should not have to drive have way because she decided to move. basically, she would be taking my weekend and when you minus the driving time, shrinking it down to a little over a day. i think that not bringing him to me would be a breech of the agreement and give me a course of action. Please help. do i have leg to stand on with any of this.