Q: Help!! Need clarification of custodial living distance after remarriage.

A: Im not sure where the 50 / 85 mile radius issue is coming from, but beware of taking advice from friends.

Some states actual do have a radius requirement for relocation purposes with children in their custody and parenting time plan statutes - New Jersey does not and there is nothing in our law that says that 20 miles, 50 miles, or 85 miles is okay or not ok.

So, unless you and your former partner agreed to the use of a radius in your agreement, there is no radius term that is applicable to your move..... which brings us to the change in the law in New Jersey governing relocation with children inside or outside of our state.

For the past 20 years, there was a different legal standard applied by the court if the primary custodial parent wanted to move out of New Jersey with the children than the legal standard applied if she wanted to relocate to a different community inside of New Jersey, even if the relocation inside of New Jersey would be a greater distance away then the move outside of the state. That setting changed as a result of the New Jersey Appellate Division’s decision in A.J. v. R.J. Now, all relocation issues (regardless of whether the requested move is inside or outside of NJ) are addressed by the court using the same standard – the “best interest of the child” standard.

In A.J. v R.J., the parties had 2 children and Mom was the primary custodial parent and lived and worked in Elizabeth and Dad lived in Union and worked in NYC and he had the children with him every other weekend and one midweek overnight. In March 2018, after mom remarried, she decided to move from Elizabeth to Mount Holly because of her new husband’s employment setting. Dad filed an application with the court for sanctions against mom for the move and to compel her to return to the area with the children and the trial court agreed with dad directed mom to return to Elizabeth with the children “or else” the trial court would transfer physical custody of the children to dad.

Mom appealed the trial courts ruling, saying that the trial court was applying the wrong legal standard to her relocation. The appellate court agreed with mom and now there is only 1 legal standard applicable to a relocation proceeding, regardless of whether the relocation is in state or out of state - the “best interest” standard.

The Appellate Division held that the trial court’s ruling was flawed since it applied the old Baures v Baures standard in its relocation analysis rather than the “best interest” standard. The appellate court pointed out that the old Baures v Baures legal standard for relocation claims was thrown out by the 2017 NJ Supreme Court’s ruling in Bisbing v. Bisbing.

So, regardless of whether a primary custodial parent is planning an in state or an out of state move with the children, the court is now required to focus on the various factors set forth in the court rules governing the best interest standard for the children in determining whether to permit the move to occur.