Legal Question in Family Law in Massachusetts
Hello. For the last three years, I have been having long-distance relationship with my first love. I currently reside in California, and he resides in Massachusetts, where he has sole custody of his 6-yr old son. We want to be together here in California, but there is the issue of the mother.
She is apparently sober at this point, but had a lot of trouble with the law and drugs in the past, hence not having custody. At times, he's had restraining orders against her. She is really a bad apple; and got away with stealing almost everything from their bank account and home, due to the fact that they were married and that stuff was considered half hers. I am able to remain very mature about the situation, and though I do not feel she is a great role model for him, she is his mother and I respect that. But, my boyfriend should be able to move on with his life, too. She put him through hell, and he wants to move on and start fresh.
As screwed up as I think she is, I would never presume to stand in the way of her relationship with the boy, but remaining in Massachusetts has become taxing for my partner; he works outdoors and wants to be in this mild climate with me, rather than my relocating there. And of course, our relationship is hard to maintain at this distance. Does he need permission from a judge to move? It seems MA has some antiquated laws that have really worked against him thus far.
I was thinking that they could split custody down the middle, or that she could have him in the summers. We both make enough money that transporting his son back to her a few times a year would not be an issue. My partner owns his own company, so it is not like he can get a job out here as a viable "excuse" to move. How can we make this move happen? What if we were to marry? What if he could provide a business proposal for relocating the business (contracting company) out here as a way to make better money? What if he gets a large, time-consuming project out here? Basically: what on earth can we do to get him out of New England? It seems unreasonable to me that if he has sole custody, he should not be allowed the freedom to go where he wants. After all she's put both of them through, it just doesn't seem fair. What can we do?
1 Answer from Attorneys
In order for your boyfriend to be able to move out of state with his son, he would have to petition the court for permission to permanently remove his son from the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Although the reason that your boyfriend is moving would be an important factor in a Judge's determination of whether or not the removal would be granted, there are several additional factors which need to be evaluated including but not limited to: the child's relationship with his mother; the effect the distance between the child and his mother would have on their relationship and what the mother's concerns are as far as the move.
Although joint "legal" custody is a possibility between your boyfriend and his ex, a joint "physical" custody arrangement would not be possible given the age of the child and the distance between the two Parties.
I believe it is very important that your boyfriend discusses his potential case with an attorney prior to filing the petition for removal. If he is interested in a free consultation he can contact me at 617-523-3200 or via email at [email protected].
Thank you,
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