In some cases, it may be necessary to move for your career. For instance, perhaps you are an executive who has recently been offered a position to be the CEO of a company in another state. You may be moving there permanently, or you may simply have to commute back and forth frequently in order to do your job. You could officer in the military and you may be sent overseas or to a different military base to serve in a new capacity.
After you get divorced or separate from your non-married partner with whom you share a child, you may be concerned that your busy lifestyle is going to impact your current child custody and parenting time options.
It is an important consideration
Frequently moving for work doesn’t mean that you won’t get to see your child, but it is something that the court may consider, in the event that you litigate a child custody matter instead of settling your differences with your child’s other parent out of court.
For example, courts generally want to create stability for children. They feel that it’s best for children to be in a familiar place, where they are generally near their school, their friends, their neighborhood, their extended family members and the like. So, if you and your ex are sharing custody in the same state and you have to move to another state, then your ex may be the one who becomes the primary caregiver. They may have parenting time the majority of the time, as a result of your new circumstances.
Modifying an agreement
Naturally, your job may also change significantly in the future. Just because your custody agreement has already been set up doesn’t mean it can’t be modified. There are steps that you can take to change the provisions. It’s just important to know what legal steps to take in to officially modify the agreement, rather than just changing the schedule yourself. You need that official agreement to be in place so that it can protect your rights as a parent – and your child’s right to stay involved with both you and your ex.
