Husband has primary physical custody/joint legal custody of 6 yo daughter (further referred to as my stepdaughter). Bio mother lives in CA, she filed divorce in 2001 and it was never finalized until last year Jan 2006. Bio Mom gave stepdaughter to us full time in May 2005 when our daughter was just one month old. Before that we would drive out to CA at least twice a month for 3 day weekends and also take stepdaughter with us back to AZ for two and three weeks at a time. Husband was paying her 700 month child support and making her car payment 350 from the time of their separation. Finally got that fixed with final decree last January in court and also awarded Primary physical custody of stepdaughter. Bio mom keeps moving, changing jobs, changing boyfriends. Better for stepdaughter to be with us, plus the sisters LOVE each other very much.
Now the question. We want to move. Far. Order for visitation just states "as agreed upon". Bio Mom does not pay support (can't keep a job) she sees daughter 3 times this year, 4 times last year (and only when we Bring daughter to her, once she didn't even show up) She basically lives the life of a single party girl, won't keep a job, moves every 6 months and changes boyfriends often. My husband has excellent opportunity in NY to take over Grandfather's 40+ year old business, and he will make enough for our family that I would finally be able to stay home with our girls (daughter age 2 and stepdaughter age 6)! But what do we do to move? Can we just move since we live out of State from mom already? We live in AZ. Mom lives in CA. Do we need to send some kind of notice to the California court of our wishes to relocate? Will they say we have to stay in AZ? Can mom make us stay in AZ even though she lives in CA and hardly sees daughter anyway? We don't mind sending stepdaugter to CA a couple times a year to see mom as long as she has a safe place to visit with her (sometimes questionable) Any advice? please help!

In some cases, a judge will issue orders preventing either parent from changing the residence of the children from a specified geographical area. Locally, it is not uncommon for a judge to restrain the parents from removing the residence of the children from what are referred to as "the seven Southern California counties." Such orders are common where both parents have a considerable amount of time with the children and removing them from the metropolitan area would be disruptive to the children and their development.

Over the last ten years, courts in California have been dealing with the right of a custodial parent to move with the children to another metropolitan area or out of state. The California State Supreme Court recently decided a case that settled this controversy. Under the new rule, the custodial parent generally has the right to decide where the children are to live, as long as he/she is not moving simply to deny the other parent access to the children.

Your case differs even from what was common before the State Supreme Court ruled, seeing that your husband and yourself were obvously granted permission to move from CA to AZ. You definately should go to the courthouse and file the necessary paperwork that you are moving just to meet any legal requirements that could arse in the future, but I do not believe there would be a problem. Mainly for two reasons, one: because the mother has little financial and emotional involvement and secondly, the move is to better the financial situation of the CP.

On a personal note, it sounds like your husband and yourself really stepped up for his daughter and I think that is great. Speaking from experience it is incredibly difficult to be a step parent in the beginning, but extremely rewarding. I think it is terrific your children get along and love each other. CA has a great probate court and works very hard at equality of men and woman in determination of the CP or NCP. Good luck with your move and hopefully your step daughter can easily adjust to her new school. I am assuming at six she is in first grade and her transition will be easy. I would almost bet that your move would not be a problem if the information you provided in your first paragrah is accurate. Good luck!

Thank you for your reply and information. I figured we would probably need to file something to let the California court know that we want to move. Our hopes are to leave late May after my stepdaughter finishes first grade (they end over here in May). This is just 4 months from now, so we want to make sure we do whatever we need to do at court first so we don't get "in trouble" later. Can we just draft up something like "petition to move from AZ to NY" or does it need to be an actual "motion to move" or what? Do we need to have it served on the bio mom? We can't mail it because she doesn't currently have a mailing address, or I guess we could mail it to her aunt's house in Costa Mesa... Will my husband likely have a hearing about our move, or could we just submit a motion to move and an order allowing the move that the judge can sign?

Does the court orders have anything in them concerning moves and notifications?

If there isn't anything, do a search of your state's laws and court rules to see if there is any statutes regarding this. Another option is for husband to get a quick 15 or 30 minute consult with a family law attorney. Usually the fee for a short consult is minimal. A good source is usually your local Bar association.

I was looking on the papers and they DO say under the joint legal custody part that parties are to notify one another when travelling out of state/out of country. It doesn't say anything specific about moving, but I'm sure we can't just move without letting the court know since we are planning to move 3x as far. You see, at the time of the final decree, we were already living out of state (AZ) anyway. Does CA still have jurisdiction even though child has lived here with us in AZ for almost 2 yrs? The divorce, custody, visitation was all done in Orange Co CA. We probably need to file this notice that we want to relocate with them? Do you think while we're at it my husband should ask for a more specific visitation schedule so that if we do get to move we can hold bio mom to visitations of my stepdaughter. Right now the order for visitation just states "as agreed" so to the bio mom that means "at your convenience", "whenever you find time", "whenever dad and stepmom bring child to CA for you and only if you feel like doing it", etc. Maybe we should have something more formal than "as agreed upon". But then my husband says she will never do it anyway. What would you do? Change it or leave as is? I'm afraid of the out of sight, out of mind thing for my stepdaughter. Can you believe her mom is so selfish. okay gonna cry...

I was looking on the papers and they DO say under the joint legal custody part that parties are to notify one another when travelling out of state/out of country. It doesn't say anything specific about moving, but I'm sure we can't just move without letting the court know since we are planning to move 3x as far. You see, at the time of the final decree, we were already living out of state (AZ) anyway. Does CA still have jurisdiction even though child has lived here with us in AZ for almost 2 yrs? The divorce, custody, visitation was all done in Orange Co CA. We probably need to file this notice that we want to relocate with them? Do you think while we're at it my husband should ask for a more specific visitation schedule so that if we do get to move we can hold bio mom to visitations of my stepdaughter. Right now the order for visitation just states "as agreed" so to the bio mom that means "at your convenience", "whenever you find time", "whenever dad and stepmom bring child to CA for you and only if you feel like doing it", etc. Maybe we should have something more formal than "as agreed upon". But then my husband says she will never do it anyway. What would you do? Change it or leave as is? I'm afraid of the out of sight, out of mind thing for my stepdaughter. Can you believe her mom is so selfish. okay gonna cry...

Yes, he'll need to file a motion asking for permission to move. Modifying the visitation order at the same time is an excellant idea. Visitation orders that read "as agreed" are always open to problems. This way he'll be able to get a court order with more specific visiation days/times and it'll be easier to understand and enforce.

yes, CA still has jurisdiction at this time. He can request a change of venue, but that really isn't a good idea because it can really delay getting the court's permission to move.

Thank you Xena. We will do that then. I think it would be a good idea to have the visitation outlined as well, this way she might visit her more consistently.