stepson's mother moving 2 hours away - can she?

[goodtimesroll]

Not sure if this is the correct board to be posting on....

My partner has a 3 year old from a previous relationship. His ex-wife has a new partner who lives 2 hours away and she is moving there. Can she do this without any consultation?

Thanks for any advice

Does your DP have parental rights?

Is their court ordered access?

Will the distance affect any contact orders that are in place?

Fundamentally if she is the main carer and their is no access plan in place then yes she can move. Your DP can apply to the courts for a prohibited steps order and ask that they decide if the move is in the child's best interest and they can stop it.

*there not their

Thank you very much for your reply. His child lives with his mother and access was always agreed between them - I would need him to check what was officially agreed when they divorced. Custody is joint. It will make contact logistically very difficult and probably less frequent.

He could apply for a prohibited steps order or change to the current shares residence order.

He can't stop his ex wife moving but can apply for an order stopping her from taking the son away/to have most of the residence with the ex having contact.

2 hours away isn't all that far, though which will lessen his chances in my view. If she agreed to do at least half of the travel, or all of it, it's unlikely that the court would grant an order so long as the child has roughly the same amount of time with his dad as at present.

Thank you for your post. I think she has offered to do part of the journey. It does seem far when such a little one is involved - thats a lot of time for them to spend stuck in cars. He wouldn't have as much time with his Dad as it would no longer be possible to have contact during the week or to look after on those last minute ad hoc occasions. We moved to be close to his child and it doesn't seem quite fair that she can now move so far especially as it doesn't seem to be in their child's best interests. Thank you for your help.

Yes they can move - my dsd moved with her mother from London to Edinburgh as mother was attending uni , post grad.

Sadly little we could do. DSD got used to flying by herself to see us.

Edinburgh! That makes my heart break for you.

It may not be that much of an issue...I am currently away to move 2 hours away from my EXH with our children. There will be no change to his access. Currently he has the kids EOW, with some adhoc babysitting if I have to be at evening meetings and such. But our agreed access is EOW which he will still have. Yes, it's a lot of time to spend in the car for them, but his time with ten won't actually be diminished. He normally takes them from 7ish on a Friday night till mid afternoon in a Sunday, he will still have them those times. Perhaps something similar would apply to your stepson and his dad?

It will definitely be an issue, my DP is devastated. At the moment he sees him during the week as well as at weekends which will not be possible if she moves so far away. It would reduce the, already short, time he has with his little one. And change the quality of it too, time spent in a car is not quality time with his child. In moving she will also be ensuring that in the future his Dad will not be able to be there for things like school plays, sports matches etc. It just doesn't seem quite right when she hasnt been with her new partner for very long. Thank you for your help.

He needs to get legal advice. He may be able to get longer access in school holidays to compensate. But I agree it will hard for him as time in the car is not quality time.