Q: Can my ex & kid move 60 miles away from her current residence, establish residence there, and then keep moving further?
I am the non-custodial parent, living in Portland (3 nights a week with our daughter) and my ex lives in Happy Valley (4 nights a week with our daughter). Happy Valley is 13 miles south of my residence in Portland. Can she move my child to Albany (which is technically 62.5 miles from Happy Valley, as the crow flies (2.5 miles over our 60-mile restriction but apparently her lawyer says it's ok (?)). That's the first question. The second question is this: After moving 75 miles away (from my residence in Portland) to her mother's house in Albany, could she then do it again? In other words, claim residency in Albany by say, receiving some mail with her name on it, and then move to Newport, OR (112 miles from Portland, as the crow flies)? Because her boyfriend just accepted a job In Newport. She literally intends to A. move from Happy Valley to Albany for the summer, then move to Newport, OR before the school starts. Is this legal? Can I stop it somehow?
A:
If I were you I would file with the court some type of motion, probably asking the court to give you custody if the mother moves. That will get the issue back into court so you and the mother can go to mediation and get some clarification as to what custody and parenting time are going to be like going forward. A court can't stop the mother from moving but the court can stop the mother from moving with your child. A court is going to look at whether the reasons for moving benefit the child more then they hurt the relationship of the child with the non-custodial parent. Courts don't like it when the custodial parent moves and breaks up the ability for the non-custodial parent to be in the child's life if there isn't a really really good reason for the court to go along with the move and the reason has to be a benefit to the child, not a convenience to the custodial parent.
As for mom using one move to leap frog to another move - that depends how your parenting time order is worded so you should clarify what that means when you go back to court. Your motion for custody could contain an alternative motion to amend the parenting time plan.
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