Thank you for joining me. My name is LaSheena Williams, and I am a Maryland family law attorney. My firm helps our clients take control of out-of-control domestic situations. Today we will be discussing custody battles and long-distance relationships.
Long Distance Custody Concerns
In the United States, you are not obligated to stay in one state or one city for any given period. However, the fact that you can travel freely throughout the United States can impact a custody agreement or a custody order. It’s important for you to understand that. It’s important for you to understand your options when deciding to move out of the state of Maryland and what you can do to preserve your contact with your child. The same goes if your co-parent decides to move out of the state of Maryland with your child. What are your options? What can you do to make sure you’re preserving your relationship? It’s important to consider these things as far in advance as possible when it comes to that potential situation of someone moving so that you are not left blindsided and not capable of seeing your child for months at a time.
Mediation
The first thing that you should consider is mediation. If you know your partner is planning to move and they want access, instead of waiting for someone to file, I think it’s important for you to try to see if you can mediate regarding changing your custody agreement. Especially, if you have a very intertwined custody schedule, such as a week on week off schedule or schedule where you have multiple days of overnights during the week with your child and your co-parent has a similar schedule. Obviously, if your co-parent moves to California or North Dakota, you having two days during the week and every other weekend is not going to work. So, you both need to talk about this and figure out what schedule you want and if you can reach an agreement about what that schedule will be. So, it’s important to note that you have that option and that you can formally work this out before anyone moves so that you know what you’re doing, and you have a plan of action moving forward.
Developing a Parenting Agreement
In situations where your co-parent has moved across the country or even to Delaware which isn’t even that far, it’s important for you to have a Parenting Agreement prepared. If you’ve never had a Parenting Agreement and you’ve just informally been doing an access schedule, now is the time to get everything in writing. How are you going to define the Christmas holiday? How are you going to address spring break? Whose school calendar are you going to use to determine what breaks you have you need to flesh these issues out? And you need to define these periods so that you both are on the same page about when the transitions will occur, where the transitions will occur, how much time you both will get, and what information you might be entitled to, based on where the co-parent is staying. You really need to flesh this out, regardless of whether you have a mediation and you can come to terms there. You need to know what the plan of action is that your kid is, not left confused and so that you’re not left in a position where you don’t know what’s going on.
Modifying a Custody Order
If for some reason, you and your co-parent aren’t able to reach an agreement or if you’re not able to mediate, it’s very, very important that once you find out that your co-parent is moving out of state or once you know that you’re moving out of state that you file for a modification of a custody order if you have one in place. it will help the court get this issue addressed regardless of whether you or your co-parent are able to agree on terms. That way you will know what the course of action is moving forward, and you’ll be able to make plans for your future.
If you have any questions about child custody modification or child custody establishment when a co-parent lives a great distance from you and your child, contact the Law Office of LaSheena M. Williams at (301) 778 – 9950 or leave an online request for a consultation.
