Today more than ever, we live in a mobile society. People get transferred to jobs in other states; people find new opportunities for life and love with new spouses after divorcing and those new spouses sometimes have lives and jobs a county, a state, or even a continent away from where you live now.  A couple that was divorced in Florida and shares children are not free to pick up and move with the children.  You may have had a settlement agreement that said nothing about whether you, the parent who spends most of the time with the children, can relocate outside of Miami-Dade, Broward or Palm Beach County. Or the agreement might have given some restriction as to whether relocation is permitted. But in October 2006, the Florida legislature enacted a new statute that changed the law in Florida on this important issue.

Both parents are considered to have equal rights when it comes to sharing the major life decisions that affect the children. That is the basis of our concept of “Shared Parental Responsibility”. Therefore, it only makes sense that one parent cannot simply move hundreds or thousands of miles away with the children without the consent of the other parent. After all, such a move will undoubtedly impact the other parent’s relationship with the children. How could it not? So it should come as no surprise to discover that this post-dissolution/post-paternity issue is a highly contested one. It’s very difficult for parents to agree on a compromise to this situation. One parent has a legitimate desire to move to take advantage of what is perceived to be an opportunity of a lifetime. The other parent has a legitimate desire not to lose the regular contact with the children that they had previously enjoyed and substitute in its place a schedule of longer contact periods sandwiched between long periods of separation.

If you were divorced (or have a settlement agreement related to a paternity action) prior to October 1, 2006, and your agreement has a relocation restriction, then you will continue to be governed by the restriction contained in that agreement. For example, your divorce was final in July 2006. Your agreement states that “neither party shall move their residence with the children outside of the tri-county area”. If you were living in Aventura at the time of your divorce, and you now want to move up to Palm Beach Gardens to take a great new job, you’re free to do so. You’re within Palm Beach County, which is within the restriction contained in your agreement. But if your agreement says nothing about a relocation restriction, you are now constrained by a 50-mile radius drawn around the residence where you lived at the time of the agreement/judgment. In the scenario above, you would be limited to moving no more than 50 miles north of Aventura, which would be substantially south of Palm Beach Gardens.

The new statute sets a 50-mile radius as the acceptable range within which you can relocate without consent of the other parent. If you wish to relocate outside that 50-mile radius, you must first send a document to the other parent, advising them of your intention to relocate. They have 30 days to file a written objection to your proposed relocation. If no objection is filed, you can relocate. If they file an objection, you have to file a Petition for Relocation with the Court. (Note: The legislative committee of the Family Law Section has proposed a bill for next year’s legislative session that would abolish the step of filing a Notice of Intent to Relocate with the other parent and the other parent filing an objection, and simply require the relocating parent to file a Petition for Relocation). Once the Petition for Relocation is filed, the other parent has 20 days to answer the petition. Assuming the Petition is contested, the case will proceed like any other family law matter, through a period of discovery and fact-finding, mediation and finally, trial.

There are many factors that will determine whether a relocation petition will be successful. The degree of involvement of the other parent (the one not seeking the relocation) is key to the petition’s success.  Parents who are not very involved in their children’s lives, who don’t exercise all of their time-sharing with their children, who don’t take their children to the doctor when they’re sick, or participate as much in the children’s activities, and parents who don’t pay their child support all set themselves up as losers in a relocation action. The relocating parent must also have a detailed plan for substitute time-sharing that will continue to foster a meaningful relationship with the non-relocating parent. The relocating parent will likely have to bear all of the transportation cost (unless the financial situation is heavily weighted in favor of the non-relocating parent). Of course, there needs to be a legitimate reason for the move. Generally, it needs to improve the relocating parents’ quality of life, and it needs to be in the best interest of the children. Of course, what is in the best interest of the parent with whom the children spend the bulk of their time is often in the best interest of the children as well.