"How Do I Refer....?" I: Re-Locating Parents

Ten Posts directed to trusted advisors, addressing issues of referring "clients with issues", to whom G.S.L.O. can provide ingenuity and practicality in advice and assistance:  


  I of X:

HOW DO I REFER A PARENT WHO WANTS TO RELOCATE WITH A CHILD?

Recent news stories about the ongoing Kelly Rutherford litigation  have brought parental relocation issues to the public attention again, but haven't provided much enlightenment as to what's really going on.   Interstate and international mobility continues to expand, demanding that such issues be resolved more frequently, as the "global economy" becomes more truly global.

Parental relocation custody issues are among the most difficult we handle, since there is often only a "least bad" solution for the child, and since reaching that solution can, unless handled carefully, be extraordinarily expensive and time-consuming.  As the Rutherford litigation makes clear,unless a relocation issue is addressed optimally, in advance, parents can spend thousands of dollars, and months, if not years, of time,  fighting over which court, in which state or country, will hear the custody issue, before any court even begins the process of actually making custody orders, and can so escalate  and raise the stakes as to make consensual resolution vastly more difficult.

That delay and expense can work irreversible harm.  Unlike ordering the  payment of money, a court simply has no way to order one parent to give the other parent back "lost" or "missed" parenting time, "with interest".

The rules applied by courts in parental relocation cases are complex, and vary widely state-by-state, and both the rules for determining custody, and the rules for determining custody jurisdiction vary even more widely internationally.     We have more than forty years of combined experience in and familiarity with relocation issues.  We tap the wisdom of "coordinating counsel" in the destination state or country, relying on close relationships with accomplished family law attorneys in 46 states*, and in a dozen countries, for that input.   

Contact us to learn how our application of "Ingenuity When It Matters, and Practicality When It Counts" can provide critical advance advise, counsel and assistance.

*We fall down on the Dakotas, and Wyoming, but we know four in Alaska!