Legal Question in Family Law in California

It depends on whether there are existing custody orders yet or not. If there is a shared custody order and you want to file for sole custody, you cannot relocate first without violating the existing order. If there are no orders at all, yes, you can relocate before filing. Just bear in mind, however, that if you move to another California county, you will have to wait four months to file, and if you move out of California, all the jurisdictions I know of require you to be resident of that state for six months before filing.

You may wish to check with the prosecutor to see if you can extend the restraining order to 10 years once the new law takes effect January 2012.