A mother had brought a Family Court case seeking to relocate to Florida. She wanted to bring her child with her to Florida. The father had opposed this application. The mother lost her application in the Family Court. She thereafter appealed the denial of allowing her to relocate to Florida.
The Appeals Court Decision
The Appeals Court also denied the mother’s request to relocate and affirmed the prior decision of the Family Court. The Appeals Court took note the record did not show the mother’s plan to relocate was a real plan. The record was insufficient to establish the child’s best interests would be served by allowing the mother and the parties’ child to move to Florida.
The Mother’s Circumstances
The mother was unemployed. She had no family members or extended family in Florida. There was no information as to her having a job in Florida, what town she wished to live in and where the child would go to school. The mother claimed the father would be able to visit the child in Florida. However, the father’s work schedule and personal life were likely to prevent him from having any significant contact with his child if the mother was able to move with the child to Florida. It was also unlikely the child would be able to come back to New York to spend substantial time visiting with the father.
The mother claimed her financial and economic situation would greatly improve if she relocated to Florida. However, she did not show even if she received economic benefit, the parties’ child would benefit from this relocation.
Conclusion
If one parent seeks to relocate and the relocation has a negative impact on the other parent, the relocating parent must present a very detailed case as to how the relocation will benefit the child of the parties.
Elliot S. Schlissel is a father’s rights lawyer representing fathers in custody, relocation, visitation, support proceedings throughout the Metropolitan New York area. He can be reached for consultation at 800-344-6431 or e-mailed at Elliot@sdnylaw.com.

Acting Supreme Court Justice Stacey Bennett sitting in Nassau County had a case before her in 2013 where a father filed an emergency proceeding seeking to 

A father brought a proceeding in Queens County Family Court. The case was assigned to Judge John Hunt. The father requested his obligations to pay child support be terminated. He claimed that the child had been constructively emancipated. He further claimed the mother had been involved in parental interference that prevented him from maintaining a relationship with his daughter.
Fathers seeking to terminate child support payments must make a detailed evidentiary presentation to courts. Judges are very hesitant to eliminate child support payments without very strong evidentiary presentations.
A wife had brought an application seeking child support about a year after the
the wife’s application for child support.
Life is not static. Sometimes a custodial parent has to move or relocate. The move or relocation can be related to employment, other relationships or the need for a family support structure to help him or her with the children. Under normal circumstances a relocation can be an aggravating experience. However, custody issues and the impact the relocation will have on the non-residential custodial parent complicate the issues of moving outside the locality where the other parent resides. The custodial parent cannot simply move with the children. This would be a violation of the other parent’s rights to visit with and spend time with the children. So what do you when you are the custodial parent and you need to move?






