In a case before Judge Bernard Chenj, in the Family Court, Suffolk County, a mother recently sought to relocate to Florida with the parties’ two young children. She had made a previous application to the court before a different Family Court Judge. That application for the same relocation relief was denied.
Children’s Best Interest
The mother requested to relocate to be with her boyfriend. In her petition, she claimed it was in the children’s best interest that they be relocated to Florida. The court, after examining the mother’s claim, came to a conclusion that the mother did not show an “unanticipated change in circumstances” because her employment situation in Florida was inferior to her current employment in New York. The court “had serious reservations about to the mother’s true reason for moving to Florida.”
The court also held that there were no educational opportunities the children would receive by moving to Florida. The court made a ruling, based on the preponderance of the evidence, that it would not be in the children’s best interest to move to Florida. This would have an impact by destroying the father’s relationship with the children. Due to the parties’ financial circumstances, a travel program between New York and Florida concerning the children’s visitation would not work. Therefore, the court denied if the mother’s request to relocate the children to Florida.
About Elliot S. Schlissel
