House Co-Sponsorship Memoranda

Sometimes parties in shared custody arrangement must move for work or other reasons.  Court cases regarding what happens when a party needs to move and wants to exercise some or all of their custodial time in another location, called relocation cases, end up in our family courts.  These can be very complex cases which place a significant burden on the non-relocating party to initiate.   

 

Under current law in Pennsylvania, the party intending to relocate is required to notify any other individual who has custody rights to a child of their intent to relocate and the onus is then on the non-relocating party to object to the proposed relocation. If one party objects, then a hearing is held to rule on the relocation and any modification to a custody schedule caused by the relocation. However, this process places an unnecessary strain on the party who is not relocating. 

 

For this reason, we will be introducing legislation that would no longer require the non-relocating party to file a petition objecting the relocation. Instead, a notice would be sent to the party who is not relocating, providing them with an opportunity to object to the relocation. If no objection is received by the deadline, it is presumed the party does not object. Additionally, our legislation would streamline the process by making video and telephone conferencing available for pretrial conferencing.  

 

This legislation would assist in placing the burden of petitioning for relocation on the party seeking relocation, as opposed to the party who is not relocating. Please join us in co-sponsoring this legislation to create a fairer process for relocation and child custody.