Q: Dad and I have geographic restriction, he's leaving out of state and told me yes to moving with kids
We both don't want to go to court to modify our divorce but both agreed to sign a notarized contract saying its lifted and he approves of the move with also knowing my exact where about with kids. Is this something we can do ourselves or do we need to get attorney involved to write up contract and I personally file through clerk office myself?
A:
A geographic restriction in a divorce decree is a COURT ORDER. The parties cannot modify a court order by agreement--even a written one. The agreement might be enough to prevent the most dire consequences of a subsequent motion for contempt or enforcement between the spouses, but there are various other issues that theoretically can arise later. For instance, school enrollment, possible future welfare or gov't benefits, etc.
Modifying a divorce decree by agreement through a motion to modify is cheap, easy, and solves all those future problems. It most likely would cost you more for an attorney to assist in drafting a written agreement that adequately protects both spouses than it would to do a simple modification to remove the geographic restriction.
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