In my divorce settlement it states 'Neither party shall remove the minor children of the parties from this state for the purposes or permanently changing the residence of the child to a location outside North Carolina without the express written consent of the other party or with leave of court obtained prior to the removal of the child." Can this be overturned and if so should I be seeking legal help if I believe my ex is planning to relocate? She has primary physical custody and I have about 178 overnights a year. My son is 9 years old. I understand from previous replies that it is “very difficult” & “very hard to do” when it comes to removing the child from one parent and relocating. That to me is still not a 100% iron clad “NO”. I am really stressing over this and the possibility that she will have a chance to move away with our son. So should I be seeking legal help?
Thanks so much
She will have to file a motion to modify custody if she wishes to move and the move will affects your custodial time. If she moves without the court’s permission you can file an emergency motion seeking an order for your son’s return.
Thanks for the reply Eric. I understand she has to file for a motion and this will of course affect my custodial time. Are the chances high that my ex could in fact move to another state (very far away) even though I am very much involved with my childs life on a daily basis? I would of course not agree to a relocation motion by my ex. I guess what I’m looking for are statistics on how many of these cases are actually overturned when there is this provision in the divorce settlement. Just stressed about this…
Thanks,
I cannot give you a prediction as far as what the chances are of any certain outcome, or what the judge will do in any one case, however most judges take the view that a child’s best interest to have custodial time with both parents. Typically relocation cases are difficult because it can drastically reduce one parent’s time with the child.