Moving A Minor Child Out Of State: Agreement vs. Contest
The purpose of this blog is to inform the reader as to the procedure and law regarding moving a minor child out of state after a divorce has been concluded in Palatine, Arlington Heights, Rolling Meadows and all other areas of Illinois.
A. Removal by Agreement vs. Removal by Contest in Court
II. Removal by Contest in Court
i. When the parties cannot agree as to the removal of a minor child then the court shall after a hearing determine whether the child should be removed. The section that controls removal when there is no agreement as to same is Section 609.2(g).
ii. This Section states that, “the court shall modify the parenting plan or allocation judgment in accordance with the child’s best interests. The Court shall consider the following factors”
1. “The circumstances and reasons for the intended relocation” In most instances the court interprets this factor to be whether there is an economic motive for the move. In the past, the courts paid close attention to whether the parent seeking the relocation had a financial incentive for the move. In most instances, if mother and child were moving from Illinois to Texas because mother had a job transfer, the Court’s would most likely approve the move with father having extended visitation time with the child on holidays and during the summer.
2. “The reasons, if any, why a parent is objection to the intended relocation." In this situation, the parent who is not moving would have standing to object, if he or she had a comprehensive visitation and or parenting allocation plan; and, that parent regularly exercised that parenting time. That parent would argue that he or she was fully invested in the child and would see the child regularly.
In the next blog we will take a look at the rest of the factors that the court can consider when determining whether the minor child can be removed from the jurisdiction of Illinois.
