Legal Question in Family Law in New York
custody new york
mom and grandma have joint custody with grandma having primary physical. since december 2006, ordered week on,week off. with february pretrial date as mom petitions for full custodial. in january, aprrox 1 month before court date, grandma leaves message on phone during her week stating ''i'm done you win etc. come over and pick up the kids their yours.'' mom does, informs court and law guardian. grandma has not asked for them back and has physically driven the kids belongings to mom's house. mom has been wanting to move out of state with the kids for a job opportunity she has been waiting on. can mom move now before the court date in feb and just return for the date or does she have to wait for the judge to make grandmas words ''official''. please advise of mom's rights as everybody is very impatient and anxious to move forward with their lives
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: custody new york
If the mother and grandmother truly had joint custody, the mother could move out of state. If I was the mother's attorney however, I would caution the mother not to move without a judge awarding physical custody to the mother so that the grandmother could not change her mind and petition the court stating that the mother removed the children permanently without permission of the physical custodial guardian.
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