A Columbus Ohio Family Law Attorney article on Moving or Relocation.

This article is the second in a series about moving and how it relates to Ohio child custody, shared parenting and visitation.  To read the other articles in this series, see

Part 1, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5

In situations where court ordered parenting time has been established, and the residential parent wants to move, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3019.051(G)(1), the other parent is entitled to notice of the move and, if requested or ordered by the court, a hearing.  These notice provisions apply REGARDLESS of whether the non-residential or non-moving parent contests the move.

A parent has a fundamental right to live where he or she wants to live, BUT they do not have a fundamental right to permanently relocate the child in violation of  the Ohio Revised Code or the parties’ court order.

Depending on the language of your court order and/or the language in the Local Rules of the court who issued the order, simply moving a certain distance away MAY automatically trigger a change in the ,custody, shared parenting, school placement parent, parenting time or other provisions of  your parenting order.

Ohio Revised Code 3109.04(F)(1)(j) specifically requires a court to consider whether either parent has established a residence, or is planning to establish a residence, outside this state when determining the best interest of the child.

In addition, pursuant to Ohio Revised Code 3109.04(F)(2) when determining whether shared parenting is still in the best interest of the child the court must consider,

• The geographic proximity of the parents to each other, as the proximity relates to the practical considerations of shared parenting;

Ohio Revised Code 3019.051 requires a court to consider

• The geographical location of the residence of each parent and the distance between those residences, and if the person is not a parent, the geographical location of that person’s residence and the distance between that person’s residence and the child’s residence;
• Whether either parent has established a residence or is planning to establish a residence outside this state;

Sometimes parents want to move for legitimate reasons, and sometimes they want to move to thwart the other parent’s access to the child.  Regardless of the reason for the move, if the move creates additional distance between the child and the other parent, the move IS going to have an impact on the parenting time of the non-moving parent.  The question is, how much of an impact, and does the non-moving parent object?

If the non-moving parent believes that the impact upon their parenting time and relationship with the child is significant, he or she may wish to modify custody, shared parenting,  or the school placement parent in a shared parenting plan.  At a minimum, the parties will need to consider whether a new parenting time schedule is appropriate.

DISCLAIMER