After divorce, moving out and relocating with kids can be sensitive and difficult. This has become more complex after the new amendments to family law on “how one parents may move with their kids after separation”.
New amendment to Divorce Act and the Family Law Act, effective from March 2021, gives an updates framework to separated parents about their legal rights and obligations in situations when a parent is relocating with their child to a different city, town, province or country.
According to newly amended laws, not every move with children of separated parents is considered a relocation. Relocation is a move that will result in a current parenting schedule no longer being possible to adhere to, given the new distance between the parents’ respective residences. If the move will have significant impact on the parenting schedule, than according to the new amendments, the moving parent is required to give at least 60 days’ notice of the move in a notice form required by the Courts, in which you will provide information about the move and how the parenting schedule could be changed such that the child’s relationship with the other parent is supported. There are exceptions to some of these requirements where there is fear for the parent’s or the child’s safety, should the other parent be made aware of their address.
The non-relocating parent, can object to the move, by serving court documents in response to the notice of relocation either to have the issue heard in Court and/or to fully put a stop to the move all together.
Once the objection is made, and the matter is before the Court, the Court will determine whether the parent can relocate with the child, based on the best interests of the child.
Alita Wolff at Wolff Legal Services, is working with both existing and potential new clients to assist parents seeking to relocate with their children or to respond to requests made for relocation