One of the primary areas of concern that we see in clients who contact our office is in the area of international and interstate relocation. In order to understand the issue of relocation it’s important to get the legal context. Let me focus you for a moment on the United States law. Seventeen of the fifty states of the United States make it inappropriate to relocate without the express permission of the non-custodial parent. That means that there is an affirmative obligation, even if it’s a prejudgment case, that is no one is divorced, there is no pleading filed, you still have to get the express consent of the other parent, or an order of the court. Many people don’t realize that.

In the rest of the states, virtually all of them, there has to be a post-judgment -- in a post-judgment situation where there is already an order there has to be an application for relocation or specific notice given in a series of time frames from 60 days to 30 days indicating a desire to relocate.

If the parent does not consent then that matter has to be taken to court and the parent cannot relocate absent the approval of the court.

As you might imagine interstate relocations implicate even less of the huge issues associated with, with the problems of relocation as international cases do. Visitation agreements, the sharing of costs of visitation, child support issues, virtually all of the elements associated with parenting a child that are reduced in the form of a judgment would be subject to modification in the circumstance of a relocation.

Each of the states of the United States have their own test for the circumstances under which a parent can relocate. And so it is incredibly important that, particularly if it is an international relocation that there be a pre-relocation, as soon as that issue is known that that issue is -- is addressed, that there is a litigation strategy that is reviewed and that you receive an opinion on a couple of things.

First of all how that relocation is going to be accomplished in leaving the United States and if you’re going abroad how the, whatever agreements are made to facilitate the relocation, can be enforceable once the child is outside of the United States.

Those issues require expertise in the law not only in the United States but certainly the law overseas. Issues of international access that are implicated in relocation cases implicate, again, treaty law. The Hague Convention on the civil aspects of child abduction has a provision associated with the organization of rights of access. And the way that those access applications are dealt with by countries are very, very different.

So understanding what the rights and remedies would be for, if you will, a left behind parent who agrees to relocation and agrees to certain conditions for relocation, would be extraordinarily important in reaching a consent order or in going forward with litigation in the decision of whether or not to do that.

Most importantly at the time that a divorce is done it is important that if someone has a fact pattern in their lives that makes international relocation likely that the issue be dealt with at that point in time. Someone who doesn’t have a lot of experience in dealing with international litigation may not appreciate that certain protections, language, agreements, have to be preserved as part of the initial divorce agreement in order to preserve the rights of both parties in the event there is an international relocation.

It is far easier under most of our state law in the United States for example to be able to relocate if those issues and rights are preserved as part of an initial divorce negotiation, and as with most negotiation the time to be doing that is not when your employer has indicated you have 45 days to relocate or lose your job. The time to do it is by anticipating that there will be a relocation issue in your life and discussing with your spouse at the time that your divorce agreement, your custody agreement, your property agreement is being resolved what happens if, and when, that occurs.

Those are the kinds of skill sets that we bring to the table in addressing international enforcement issues, international access issues that occasioned by relocation and in providing solid advise to counsel both here and abroad in how to address elements of their decision making in addressing international relocation.