Spartanburg Relocation Lawyer

If you are co-parenting your children with your ex and are planning a significant move as the primary custodial parent, it’s important to know you will need to obtain the court’s permission. The same is true if your children’s other parent serves in the primary custodial role and is planning a significant move.

Child custody decisions in South Carolina are always based on the children’s best interests. Because a move can disrupt their time with their other parent, the state must approve the move. Reach out to a Spartanburg relocation lawyer at Holland & Usry for the skilled legal guidance you need.

Your Current Child Custody Orders Stand

The parenting plan, or visitation schedule, that you and your children’s other parent have in place is legally binding. The specifics included are based on the state’s belief that children’s best interests are best served when they continue to have a close relationship with both parents. As a result, any move that is significant enough to affect the visitation schedule or any move out of state requires a child custody modification.

Working Out a New Mutually Agreeable Visitation Schedule

The best approach if you are planning a move is working with your ex to hammer out terms that you are both willing to sign off on. If you can reach a compromise that works for both of you, you will still need the court to make it official, but this generally isn’t a hurdle. If coming to an agreement is not an option, however, you will need to address the matter with the court.

Considering the Court’s Stance on Relocation in Spartanburg

Before the court will approve a move, it will take the primary best-interest factors, such as the following, into careful consideration:

• The potential advantages of the move for the children, such as if it is for a job that allows the parent more time with the kids, or if it broadens the scope of family support
• The potential to enhance the quality of life for the parent and their children, which means the move is not based on a whim
• The integrity of the moving parent’s motives and of the dissenting parent’s attempts to thwart the move, which highlights the importance of not basing the decision on spite
• The degree to which it is realistic to create a substitute visitation arrangement that continues to foster a close relationship between the children and their other parent

A Spartanburg relocation attorney has the skill and legal insight to help you demonstrate that the move you are proposing is in your children’s best interests. Conversely, if your ex is spearheading the move, they can help you demonstrate that it will prove detrimental to your relationship with your children.

Changes to Your Current Child Custody Order

Factors to consider in response to relocation include the modified visitation order and the responsibility for transportation after the move. The court will require reasonable visitation for the parent who is left behind, which often means receiving a longer stretch of time during school holidays, spring break, and the summer months.

If you are proposing the move, you may be required to pick up more of the slack in transportation. This could mean meeting your ex halfway for exchanges or even being fully responsible for the cost or effort. Discuss your options with a knowledgeable relocation lawyer in Spartanburg today.

An Experienced Spartanburg Relocation Attorney Can Help

A Spartanburg relocation lawyer at Holland & Usry is committed to helping you resolve your case favorably and with you and your children’s best interests intact. Please don’t wait to contact or call us for more information today.