I live in Illinois and so does my sons father and I was wondering I am the custodial parent and my sons father all he does is pay child support he has to vistation or custody by law what do I have to do to move to Texas with my fiance and son where is it legal? Do I have to go through the courts or what? Somebody plz help!!!!!!!!!! :confused:

I live in Illinois and so does my sons father and I was wondering I am the custodial parent and my sons father all he does is pay child support he has to vistation or custody by law what do I have to do to move to Texas with my fiance and son where is it legal? Do I have to go through the courts or what? Somebody plz help!!!!!!!!!! :confused:

Do you mean he has no visitation or custody rights by order of the court? Or, does he have no rights because he has never petitioned in court for visitation and/or custody? It makes a difference.

he has never petitioned rights or the courts have never given him rights they say all he does is pay child support as of right now i have the say so if he sees him or not there is nothing by law stating he has to see him or visit him

he has never petitioned rights or the courts have never given him rights they say all he does is pay child support as of right now i have the say so if he sees him or not there is nothing by law stating he has to see him or visit him

Okay, well you can move, but you need to be aware that if you do and he decides he isn't happy with your decision, he can file suit in the court to force you to bring the child back to Il. The court will not ALWAYS grant his wishes, but they often do. You have some options, here.

Go ahead and move and hope he doesn't file in court (for at least 6 months--180 days) to try to force you to bring the child back and for custody/visitation. After you have lived in TX for 6 months, you have established TX residency and have the right for TX to hear your case.

File for legal custody/visitation before you move. Be aware that you will need to address the guidelines and protocol for moving out of state. It is not guaranteed that the court will allow you to have a provision that you can move out of state, or out of the county, for that matter.

Treat this as if you already have legal custody. Send him a certified, return reciept letter stating your intentions at least 30 days before the move. If during those 30 days, he does nothing, you can go ahead and move. His innaction basically states his consent to the move. Be sure to make a copy of the letter and keep the return reciept for proof that he had notice.

You also need to know that many times, when a parent moves the child a significant distance away from the other parent, the moving parent can be made to be responsible for all travel costs.


Only you know how he is likely to react, so make the best, least aggravational (to him) decision you can. If he is not feeling provoked, it tends to go much more smoothly. I would also OFFER to pay all travel costs if and when he is ever granted visitation. If he does not want to go through the courts (bad idea) you should still offer to pay the travel costs for when he is going to see the child.

My sons father rarely sees him anyways he wasn't in his life for the first 8 1/2 months and then came back left and came back and left then now when he sees him it is only once or twice a month for a couple of hours but his grandparents(my sons) I let them see him every other weekend they would pay to take me to court they have the money the reason for the move is my fiances dad is going to put him to work for a career down there and also he is going to own half of his dads company we are planning to move after i graduate from college which is either december or january the states attorney told me that he would have to take me to court for visitation but i will not allow right now for my son to go to his real dads house because his real dad is violent, has a behavior disorder, and does drugs or did don't talk to him he never helped me out when i needed it and was willing to sign over his rights to me until i got with my boyfriend now but i go to court next month and i am going to tell them i am planning on moving there and he will be there when i say something but im moving for a better life for myself, my fiance, and son and my unborn daughter. i don't have the money to pay for his travel but i told my mom that if my sons grandparents and father wants to see him ill be coming to visit several times during the year and they can come down and spend a couple weeks with him its just that i want to move there for a better life because there are more job opportunities down there for myself and fiance then there is here in illinois

my sons father has not been in his life since he was about 6 weeks old and now wants visitation and he sees him every other weekend for a couple hours but don't want son up at his house because he is violent and tried to kill my mom when i was with him and pregnant with our son need some advice on how to keep him from getting son over night says he thinks it will be in sons best interest for his father in his life and for emotional support but was never there before and my son has been calling my fiance dad since he was 3 1/2 months old