Move Away

If you have children and are subject to a Georgia child custody order, you can’t just move away from your children’s other parent. You need to make arrangements with the court to change your child custody and visitation arrangements. For example, we represented a client who was laid off from work and could only find a job overseas. As the other parent had been unable to hold a steady job over the course of years, we were able to prove that our client’s child would benefit from the move.

In other cases, we have been able to demonstrate moves would be beneficial when the other parent had a drug or alcohol addiction.

When moving away is not in the children’s best interest, we vigorously oppose petitions to allow parents to move away. Some parents think an opportunity elsewhere is in and of itself an appropriate reason to fundamentally alter their children’s relationships with their other parents. It is not. Some parents have even claimed they had no choice but to move away for a job opportunity when in fact they wished to move to join a new partner or spouse. In such cases, we have presented e-mail trails and messages left on Facebook or Match.com to judges to demonstrate the real motivation for the move. It is essential for the court to be given all the facts so it can determine how to protect the children’s rights.