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Wednesday, June 21, 2006

Ind. Law - "New law zeroes in on moving, custody"

A story by Bryan Corbin in the Evansville Courier& Press this week reports that:

Beginning July 1, divorced parents who have custody of their children won't be able to pull up stakes and leave town legally, without notifying their ex-spouses first.

A new state law that takes effect that day requires custodial or noncustodial parents who relocate to first give 90 days notice to the other parent and to the court. If they don't, then the judge could change custody arrangements.

The new law is described as an attempt to make Indiana's system more fair to noncustodial and custodial parents alike.

"You could put notice on the doorstep on the way out of town, and you would have satisfied the old statute. It was not a good way to give notice to the other parent of relocation," said Jeffrey Bercovitz, director of juvenile and family law at the Indiana Judicial Center.

The new law also requires the moving parent to provide a specific reason for the move and a proposal for revised custody and parenting time. If the other parent opposes it, then he or she would have 60 days to object and request a restraining order to prevent the child from being relocated.

If one parent objects, the judge would hold a hearing. Potentially the judge could modify the custody, parenting time, child support or grandparent visitation, the law says.

Significantly, the new law puts the burden of proof on the relocating parent to show that the move is in the child's best interest. If that burden is met, then it is up to the nonrelocating parent to demonstrate why the child-relocation proposal shouldn't be granted. If no objection is filed, then the child can relocate. * * *

Until now, Indiana required just 10 days notice if one divorced or single parent was relocating - and only for moves out of state or of more than 100 miles or more.

That led to scenarios where custodial parents could abruptly move and re-enroll their child in a distant school district. By the time the noncustodial parent found out and objected in court, the judge might find it too disruptive to force the child to move again.

"The reality is, with a 10-day notice, the child is already gone; it's already accomplished," said Judge Robert Aylsworth of Warrick Superior Court 2. "It's very difficult to undo once it's already done."

The old law allowed parents who moved to take unfair advantage of congested court calendars using 11th-hour notices, Vonderahe said. "That's exactly an issue that the current statute unexpectedly created, and the revised statute should stop that," he said.

A sidebar leads to quotes from the new law.

The new law is SEA 40, now cited as PL 50-2006. The relocation provisions are found beginning on p. 2, where a new chapter on relocation, IC 31-17-2.2, is added to the Indiana Code. Here is the digest to the entire bill:

Relocation issues in family law matters. Requires an individual who has or is seeking custody of or parenting time with a child and who intends to relocate to: (1) provide notification by registered or certified mail not later than 90 days before the individual intends to move to an individual who has or is seeking custody of, parenting time with, or grandparent visitation with the child; and (2) provide specific information in the notice unless providing the information would create a significant risk of substantial harm to the individual or the child. Provides that a court may consider the intent to relocate a child in an initial custody hearing. Provides that: (1) not later than 60 days after a nonrelocating parent receives the notice, the nonrelocating parent may file a motion with the court to prevent the relocation of a child; (2) if the nonrelocating parent fails to file a motion with the court, the individual may relocate; (3) upon request of either party, the court shall hold a full evidentiary hearing; and (4) the relocating individual has the burden of proof that the relocation is made in good faith and for a legitimate purpose. Establishes: (1) additional factors the court may consider in determining whether to modify the custody, parenting time, grandparent visitation, or child support orders in actions concerning relocation; and (2) factors the court may consider in granting or denying a petition to prevent relocation of a child. Requires a grandparent seeking visitation rights to file a petition in a circuit, superior, or probate court. (Current law requires a grandparent to file in a circuit or superior court.) Repeals provisions concerning notice of the relocation of a child in child custody matters. (The introduced version of this bill was prepared by the child custody and support advisory committee.)

Posted by Marcia Oddi on June 21, 2006 06:28 AM
Posted to Indiana Law