When the Custodial Parent Wants to Move

 Posted on July 17, 2019 in Family Law

As a noncustodial parent, you, unfortunately, do not have much say, or any legal say at all, about your child’s education, day to day activities, healthcare, or living arrangement. The custodial parent with sole legal custody has legal authority to make all of these decisions without the noncustodial parent’s input. As such, many noncustodial parents feel hopeless when they hear that the other parent wants to move out of the county or state, or country, with their child in tow.

The Custodial Parent Must Petition the Court for Permission to Move

Child relocation must be authorized by an Illinois judge before the custodial parent is allowed to move out of the county, state, or country. Even if the other parent has no custodial rights, the parent wishing to move must go to court to get permission before they move with their child. Without doing so, they could be charged with parental kidnapping and lose their custodial rights altogether.

What Is in the Child’s Best Interests?

Children raised by single mothers are more likely than children raised by both parents to:

• Have poor health
• Do poorly in school
• Have delayed or poorer social and emotional development
• Do worse in the labor market
• Be neglected due to the fact that nonbiological live-in boyfriends or girlfriends are less invested, connected, and protective towards unrelated children
• Be victims of abuse, often coming from live-in nonbiological boyfriends
• Drop out of school
• Not attend college
• Become a teen parent

Children raised by single fathers face similar, and potentially worse, risk factors. Knowing this, it may seem difficult to comprehend that a judge would rule in favor of effectively removing you from your child’s life. How could a move benefit your child? Fortunately, the burden of proof to show that a move is in the child’s best interest lies with the custodial parent. The custodial parent must be able to prove that a move will result in the child doing better than if the move didn’t happen. For example, a custodial parent may argue that there are better economic opportunities in a new city or state, or that the move will allow the child to be closer to relatives or grandparents that can help with childcare.

A DuPage County Child Custody Attorney Can Help Stop the Relocation

It may feel like your child is being ripped away from you, and this is the last straw that will inevitably ruin your relationship with your child for the foreseeable future. Most parents in this situation are understandably upset, to say the very least. However, as a noncustodial parent with visitation rights, you do have a say in whether the custodial parent is able to make this move or not. Call the skilled DuPage County child custody attorneys of the Law Office of Martoccio & Martoccio today at 630-920-8855 to schedule a free consultation and stop the move.

Sources:

https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/are-children-raised-with-absent-fathers-worse-off/

https://thembeforeus.com/biology-matters/