Washington State has recently changed the legal requirements for primary residential parents (the parent with whom a child resides the majority of the time, sometimes called "custodial" parent) who wish to move and take their children with them. These requirements became effective on June 8, 2000, but may apply to orders entered before that date, so it is important to read this publication step by step if you are thinking about relocating with your child. Because the laws on relocation are complicated, you may want to consult an attorney before deciding whether to relocate. For specific instructions on how to fill out child relocation forms, please see the Office of the Administrator for the Courts' web site.
If you are planning to relocate with your child, and there is an existing court order that allows the other parent or a third party (like a grandparent) residential time or visitation with the child, you must give that person advance notice of your plan to move. If there is no existing court order, or the court order does not give anyone else the right to visit with the child, then the relocation statute does not apply to you. Once notice is given, if the non-residential (noncustodial) parent objects to the relocation of the child, s/he must file an objection within 30 days.
Since the relocation statute requires both the relocating parent and the non-relocating parent to do certain things, this publication is designed to address parents facing either situation. If you are not the parent of the relocating child, but wish to object to the relocation, please see Objections by Nonparents.
If you have an existing custody order (i.e. parenting plan, temporary parenting plan or other court order) regarding residential time or visitation with your child, then the statute most likely applies to you in whole or in part.
If your parenting plan or court order was entered after June 8, 2000, the statute fully applies.
If your parenting plan or court order was entered before June 8, 2000, and relocation is specifically addressed in that order, then the statute may apply only partially. If any part of your current court order issued before June 8, 2000 directly conflicts with the statute, then the statute will not be applied to the issues covered by the order, and you should follow what is written in your court order. If you are not sure whether the relocation statute applies, you should consult with an attorney.
If you do not have an existing order regarding residential time or visitation with your child, then the statute does not apply. You are free to move, but you should be mindful of custodial interference laws and UCCJA (jurisdiction) laws.
Custodial interference laws make it a crime to take or hide a child from the other parent with the intent to deny that parent access to the child, even if there are no court orders in place. It is a more serious crime if the child is moved from his or her usual state of residence. As long as you let the other parent know where you are going and how to reach you to arrange contact with the child, then you should not be at risk of being charged with criminal custodial interference. If, for safety reasons, you feel that you cannot tell the other parent where you are going, you should consult with an attorney before taking action.
The UCCJA is a law that controls which court has jurisdiction to make custody and visitation decisions about your child. It says that, in most cases, if a child is moved out of state, the old state continues to be the child's "home state" for six months after the move as long as one parent remains in the old state. Any court action within the first six months after relocation will probably need to take place in the previous state. So, if you don't have a custody or visitation order in place, and the other parent stays in Washington and files a court case, you will need to respond and be prepared to return to Washington.
If the proposed relocation is within the same school district in which the child currently resides, you must provide actual notice to every person entitled to residential time or visitation with your child, of your new address and telephone number and any new daycare provider or school. The notice may be in any form, including telling the other parent on the phone or in person, or by handing them a note. If you and the other parent have a lot of conflict, and you believe that s/he might not tell the truth about your having given notice, it would be a good idea to write a letter informing the other parent of the move. Keep a copy for your records. If you want to be extra careful, send the letter by certified mail or any form of mail that provides proof of delivery. No one may object to this type of relocation.
Relocation Outside of the Same School District
Notice Required
If you are the primary residential parent under the parenting plan or custody order and you would like to relocate your child outside of the school district in which the child currently resides, you must give notice of your intent to relocate to the nonrelocating parent and to every other person who is entitled to residential time or visitation with the child. A Sample Notice and Blank Notice are available at the end of this publication. You will need to download this publication in pdf format and print the forms.
Notice must be given through personal service (by a third party who signs a statement that s/he delivered the notice to the other parent) or by any form of mail that requires a return receipt, at least 60 days before the date of your intended move (but please note there are exceptions to this 60-day notice requirement, as discussed below).
Example: 60-day Notice - if you plan on moving on September 1st, then you must give notice to other parties on or before July 2d.
The notice must include the following information:
an address at which another person may serve his or her notice of an objection to relocation during the 30-day period for an objection (see Objections below)
a brief statement of the specific reasons for the intended relocation of the child;
a notice to the nonrelocating parent that if he or she objects, that objection must be filed with the court and served on the relocating person within 30 days or the relocation will be permitted and the residential schedule may be modified. This notice of objection rights must appear in the following words, or it will not be accepted and the notice will be considered improper:
THE RELOCATION OF THE CHILD WILL BE PERMITTED AND THE PROPOSED RESIDENTIAL SCHEDULE MAY BE CONFIRMED UNLESS, WITHIN 30 DAYS, YOU FILE A PETITION AND MOTION WITH THE COURT TO BLOCK THE RELOCATION OR OBJECT TO THE PROPOSED REVISED RESIDENTIAL SCHEDULE AND SERVE THE PETITION AND MOTION ON THE PERSON PROPOSING THE RELOCATION AND ALL OTHER PERSONS ENTITLED BY COURT ORDER TO RESIDENTIAL TIME OR VISITATION WITH THE CHILDREN.
If available, the following information must also be included in the notice:
the specific street address of the new location, or at least the city and state;
the new mailing address if different from the street address;
the new home telephone number;
the name and address of the child's new school and day care facility, if applicable;
the date of the intended relocation of the child;
a proposal, in the form of a proposed parenting plan, for a revised schedule of residential time and/or visitation with the child, if any.
If this information is not known at the time of notice, you have the duty to update the information to all parties as it is received.
Example: You give relocation notice on July 1st that you are intending to move to another city but you do not have the exact new address at the time of notice, so it is not included. On July 15th you obtain a new address. You must write a letter to the court and to every other person entitled to residential time or visitation telling them what the new address will be. This shows the court that you are following the statute in "good faith," which will help when the court is deciding whether to allow the relocation.
Exceptions to 60-day Notice Requirement (in emergencies or where there are domestic violence or health and safety issues)
If you would like to relocate the child and you do not have 60 days in which to give notice prior to the move, you must give notice within 5 days after you actually know you are relocating, and you must be prepared to show that you could not reasonably have known about the relocation in time to give 60 days' notice, and that you cannot reasonably delay the relocation.
Example: On November 1st you get a notice that the military is transferring you to a new location on November 30th. You must give notice by November 6th.
In addition, the following situations affect the timing and information that a relocating party is required to give in the Notice as outlined above:
1) If the reason you are relocating is that you are entering a domestic violence shelter due to danger imposed by another person, you may delay notice for 21 days. Additionally, the shelter is not required to disclose any confidential information about itself;
Example: If you enter a DV shelter on July 1st, notice does not need to be given until July 27th (21 days plus the 5 days discussed above), and the confidential address does not need to be included.
2) If you are participating in the Address Confidentiality Program or have a court order permitting you to withhold specific information, that information does not need to be included in the notice as outlined above;
3) If you are relocating to avoid a clear, immediate, and unreasonable risk to your health or safety or the health or safety of the child, notice may delayed by 21 days (plus five days discussed above); this is the same as if you were going to be moving to a DV shelter.
If you believe that your health or safety or the health or safety of your child would be put at risk by releasing certain information required in the notice, you may request an ex parte hearing with the court to have that part of the notice waived. An ex parte hearing means that you have a hearing without giving the other person any notice of that hearing, and usually the hearing is the same day it is requested. After this hearing, the court may waive some or all of the required notice information (that means you don't have to give the notice) or provide some other type of relief that meets the needs of you and your children.
Where Should I File My Notice?
To avoid any delay or confusion, you should file your notice in the same county where you were divorced, or where the custody order was filed, if possible. If you file your notice in a different county, your current custody order will have to be registered as a foreign order in that county, and be assigned a new case number for that county.
Failure to Give Notice
The failure to give the proper notice of relocation is grounds for sanctions by the court, including contempt, if applicable. That means that if you move without giving any notice, or if you move after giving an improper notice, the court may impose penalties on you, including ordering you to return to Washington and ordering you to pay the other person's attorney's fees and costs. If you are found in contempt, the court could order jail time, fines or some other type of punishment. Most importantly, if you are found in contempt more than once in a three-year period, the court can use that as grounds to change your parenting plan or court order so that your child does not live with you.
I've Given Notice, When May I Move?
The best thing to do is wait until 60 days have passed after giving notice before you relocate, unless you fall under one of the exceptions listed above under Exceptions to 60-day Notice Requirement. In general, you may not move the child during the first 30 days without a court order. If no objection is filed within 30 days, the law permits the relocation and you may go ahead and move. If an objection IS filed, you should probably wait until the judge has made a final decision about that objection, or until you obtain an order from the court allowing you to relocate on a temporary basis (see discussion below on Temporary Orders).
Technically, the person who objects to the relocation must set a hearing within 15 days using a motion to restrain you from moving if s/he wants to stop you from moving temporarily before the court makes its final decision. But even if the objecting person does not ask for a restraining order to prevent you from relocating, you should think carefully about moving before a final decision is made for several reasons. If you are not able to follow the existing parenting plan after you move, then you run a very serious risk of being found in contempt (see above). Even if you could follow the parenting plan, you run a risk that the judge would think it was in "bad faith" to move after the other parent objected. You also run a risk of having to move your children twice if the court's final order does not allow you to permanently relocate the children.
If you have been given notice of a proposed relocation within the same school district, you may not object to the relocation. However, you may still modify the parenting plan if the relocation makes it necessary to make changes to residential time or visitation or to other provisions of the parenting plan, such as who provides transportation or where you meet to transfer the child.
If you have received notice of a proposed relocation outside of the current school district and you do not want your child to move, you must file an objection within 30 days of receiving that notice. The statute requires that each court develop a standard form for use in filing a relocation objection, so you may request this from your county's court. A form is also available statewide from the Administrative Office of the Courts. The objection form is form number WPF DRPSCU.07.0700. A Sample Form and Blank Form is available. Download this publication in pdf format and print the forms. The objection is made by filing an objection form with the court and by serving the objection on the relocating parent and on all other persons who are entitled to residential time or visitation with the child. Service may be accomplished by personal service (when a third person hands the objection to the opposing party or an adult living at their residence and is willing to sign a declaration saying that s/he served the person), or by any form of mail that requires a return receipt.
The objection may also be in the form of either 1) a petition for modification of the parenting plan pursuant to relocation or 2) some other court proceeding, such as a motion for a temporary order, that would provide adequate grounds for relief. A letter to the judge or to the relocating party is not enough to satisfy the objection requirement. You must use one of the methods in this paragraph or the standard objection form noted above.
Keep in mind that the court cannot stop the adult from moving. Therefore, if you file an objection to prevent the child from moving, you must be prepared to have the child live with you, and to prove to the court that it would be in the child's best interest for that to happen.
If you do not object to the child moving, but you object to the new parenting plan that has been proposed by the relocating person, you should object to that parenting plan using the same process described above.
Where Should I File My Objection?
To avoid any delay or confusion, you should file your objection in the county where the notice of relocation was filed (if you know), or in the same county where you were divorced, or where the custody order was filed. If you file your objection in a different county from where the order was entered, you will have to register the order as a foreign order in that county, and be assigned a new case number for that county. If you live in a county different from where the old order was entered, and different from the county where the child lives, you should not file it in your own county. You need to file the objection either where the old order was entered or where the child lives.
Failure to Object
If you do not object within 30 days of receiving notice to relocate, the relocation will be permitted. Residential time or visitation will be modified as requested in the proposed parenting plan that was served with the notice.
Whether or not an objection is filed, the nonrelocating parent may still move to modify the custody order or parenting plan. This may be done within the first 30 days after receiving notice, or after the 30 days have passed. You may simply agree with the proposed parenting plan that came with the notice, or you may ask for different provisions for residential time or visitation pursuant to relocation.
Example: You do not object to your child moving 35 miles away, but you want to request additional overnight visits, or change midweek visits to weekend visits. You may agree to the relocation, but ask the court to modify the existing parenting plan or court order to include your changes.
Court Determination of an Objection
If the nonrelocating parent objects to relocation, then it is up to the court to decide whether to allow the child to relocate anyway. The court will allow the relocation unless the person making the objection can provide evidence showing that the negative effect of the relocation outweighs the benefit of the relocation to the child and the relocating parent. The court will consider the following factors in making this decision:
the relative strength, nature, quality, extent of involvement and stability of the child's relationship with each parent, siblings and other significant persons in the child's life;
prior agreements of the parties;
whether disrupting the contact between the child and the person with whom the child resides a majority of the time would be more detrimental to the child than disrupting contact between the child and the person objecting to the relocation;
whether either parent or a person entitled to residential time with the child is subject to limitations under RCW 26.09.191;
the reasons of each person for seeking or opposing relocation and the good faith of each of the parties in requesting or objecting to the relocation;
the age, developmental stage, and needs of the child, and the likely impact the relocation or prevention of relocation will have on the child's physical, educational, and emotional development, taking into consideration any special needs of the child;
the quality of life, resources and opportunities available to the child and to the relocating parent in the current and proposed locations;
the availability of alternative arrangements to foster and continue the child's relationship with and access to the nonrelocating parent;
the alternatives to relocation and whether it is feasible and desirable for the other party to relocate also; and
the financial impact and logistics of the relocation or its prevention.
Factors Not to Be Considered
In deciding whether to allow relocation, the court SHOULD NOT consider:
whether the person seeking to relocate will give up the relocation and stay if the child is not permitted to relocate; or
whether the person objecting to the relocation will actually relocate him- or herself, along with the child, if the child is permitted to relocate.
This means that the court should not ask you about either of these things, nor should it ask you to provide evidence of either of these things when making a relocation determination. But after the court decides whether the child will be allowed to move, if there are any modifications to the parenting plan that still need to be made, the court may consider such evidence.
Expiration of Objection Period
If the non-relocating parent does not object within 30 days from receiving notice, the period for objection expires, and the relocation is automatically granted. After the 30-day period expires, either parent may go to ex parte court (see explanation above) and request that the revised proposed parenting plan submitted with the notice be signed as a court order. Although it is not necessary to have the revised proposed parenting plan signed as an order, it may be difficult to enforce in the future if it has not been signed as an order.
A court may not prevent relocation when the only objection is from a nonparent UNLESS that nonparent is entitled to residential time or visitation under court order, AND that person has served as the primary residential care provider to the child for a substantial period of time during the 36 months (3 years) prior to the intended relocation.
Temporary Orders
If you have objected to relocation, and you are waiting for a hearing, you may ask the court for a temporary order restraining relocation of the child, or ordering the return of a child if relocation has already occurred. These forms are available statewide from the Administrative Office of the Courts web site. The form numbers are WPF DRPSCU 07.0800 and WPF DRPSCU 07.0850. You may also download this publication in pdf format and print the forms. The court will grant the order if it finds:
the required notice was not provided in a timely manner and this negatively affected you; or
the relocation of the child has occurred without agreement of the parties, court order or the required notice; or
after examining evidence presented by both parties, it is likely that the court would not grant relocation of the child in a final order.
Note: If you do not request a temporary order restraining relocation and set a hearing on that request within 15 days after filing your objection, the other parent may be able to relocate on a temporary basis before the court makes its final order.
If you have given notice of intended relocation, you may ask the court to grant a temporary order approving the intended relocation. This form is available statewide at the Administrative Office of the Courts web site.
The court will grant the order, pending a final hearing, if it finds:
the required notice was issued in a timely manner or there is sufficient reason to enter a temporary order in the absence of compliance with notice requirements; AND
after examining evidence presented by both parties, it is likely that the court would approve the intended relocation of the child.
Note: In some limited circumstances, a relocating parent may be able to obtain an ex parte order allowing relocation before the 30 days have passed. It is unclear under what circumstances courts will grant such orders. The necessary forms are WPF DRPSCU 07.0800 and WPF DRPSCU 07.0830 and are available on the Administrative Office of the Courts web site or you may download this publication in pdf format and print the forms.
This publication provides general information concerning your rights and responsibilities. It is not intended as a substitute for specific legal advice. This information is current as of the date of its printing, November 2002.
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