What if I Need to Move Out of Illinois with My Kids Before the Divorce Is Final?

Parental responsibilities and parenting time are often the most challenging aspects of divorce, which is stressful enough, to begin with. If you are in the process of divorce and you are facing a situation that requires you to move out of state with your children, you need the professional legal guidance of an experienced Illinois family law attorney on your side. Now is not the time to take a wait-and-see approach. 

Your Options

You are going through a divorce, which means your life as you know it is being upended in ways you may not have imagined at the outset. Sometimes, with all the flux, a move becomes necessary. Perhaps you have a better job opportunity, or you may be moving to seek the support of your extended family. If you believe a move out of state is in the best interests of you and your children, your options include either resolving the matter with your soon-to-be-ex or filing a Petition to Relocate with the court. Even if you and your divorcing spouse resolve the matter between yourselves, however, it’s essentialto make it official with the court. 

While Your Divorce Is Pending

You likely have temporary parenting time orders in place while your divorce is pending, and you will need to address the matter of your proposed move with the court sooner rather than later. What you should not do is move out of state and worry about the consequences after the fact. Filing a Petition to Relocate while your divorce is pending can make an already complicated matter that much more so, but if your need to move is imminent, it is best to address the matter head-on. 

Petition to Relocate

If your spouse is not in agreement about your proposed move, you’ll need to file a Petition to Relocate with the court. When it comes to matters that focus on children, the court is always guided by the best interests of those children, which means that the court will consider your move out of state from the perspective of how the move will affect your children and if it supports their best interests. The factors that the court is likely to focus on include:

• Why you are requesting the move
• The quality of each of your child’s relationships with each parent
• Your child’s educational opportunities in each location
• How parental responsibilities will be handled
• How parenting time will be shared
• The ties to extended family in both locations
• The children’s preferences on the matter (if they are old enough and mature enough to weigh in)
• The impact the move is likely to have on the children 

Discuss Your Parenting Time Concerns with an Experienced Illinois Family Law Attorney Today

Cameron H. Goodman at Goodman Law Firm is an accomplished Illinois family law attorney who has a wealth of experience helping his clients successfully resolve their complicated parenting time concerns, including those that involve moving out of state. For more information, please don’t hesitate to contact us today.