Legal Question in Family Law in California

If they were never married then what exactly did he file? Do you know he is the father? There are only two ways to file for unmarried persons to get custody and visitation rights.

By the way, any custody order would probably reflect the actual custody arrangement the parties have and the court is not going to stop a parent from moving. But there maybe temporary orders until things are figured out by the court.

The best this guy can hope for is sharing travel expenses to come and visit in San Diego.

Mr. Kubler clearly has never had a move-away custody case in Northern California. About the only thing he says that is correct is that the court cannot order that your fiance not move. It is the policy of the State of California that both parents be involved in their childrens' lives as much as possible. San Francisco area courts take that very seriously. The courts have broad powers to establish custody and visitation orders to implement that policy. Without knowing the child's age or the details of the informal visitation the father has been having with the child, there is no way even to guess at what the court might order. The bottom line is that your fiance's best strategy is to go into mediation with a well thought out plan for how she will maintain, foster and encourage the child's relationship with his father after a move to San Diego, and an open mind toward working out an arrangement that works for her, the father and most importantly the child. Every family law judge I have ever appeared before opens the custody calendar with an admonition that they will never be able to order a better custody/visitation/parenting plan than the two parents acting in good faith and with the best interest of the child in mind. They then direct everyone to make a final effort at working out their own plan. If your fiance and the father try to do that, they can just file and agreed plan and never have to appear on that hearing calendar.

Yes Mr McCormick is right. Move away cases are one of the most difficult and heart wrenching for judges to resolve. The father is surely entitled to at least reasonable visitation and the state's preference is for both parent's to be involved in the child's life as much as possible. Moving away does not mean he loses visitation. Only saying if the father is trying to stop them from moving the mother certainly does not have to agree to that in mediation and if I was his lawyer I'd be asking about sharing traveling expenses so the Dad can come and visit often. I asked about paternity because the court needs some authority to act, albeit they choose to act in equity for these unmarried parents. Anyways like Mr. McCormick stated, and I've stated in my prior posts, come up with a plan and get on with your lives.