Father’s Petition to Relocate to North Carolina Properly Denied

The Second Department determined Family Court had properly denied father’s petition for permission to relocate to North Carolina.  A prior consent order had awarded joint legal custody with primary physical custody to the father.  The father, who is in the military, was transferred from West Point to Fort Bragg in North Carolina.  The court explained the applicable (relocation) considerations as follows:

“Relocation may be allowed if the custodial parent demonstrates, by a preponderance of the evidence, that the proposed move is in the child’s best interests”…. When evaluating whether a proposed move is in the child’s best interest, “the factors to be considered include, but are not limited to, each parent’s reasons for seeking or opposing the move, the quality of the relationships between the children and each parent, the impact of the move on the quantity and quality of the children’s future contact with the noncustodial parent, the degree to which the lives of the custodial parent and the children may be enhanced economically, emotionally, and educationally by the move, and the feasibility of preserving the relationship between the noncustodial parent and the children through suitable visitation arrangements” … . Although a multitude of factors may be considered, “ the impact of the move on the relationship between the child and the noncustodial parent will remain a central concern’”…. Matter of Hirtz v Hirtz, 2013 NY Slip Op 05457, 2nd Dept 7-24-13