New Divorce Relocation Case for 2014
By Kevin Hand, Bucks County Divorce Lawyer: A new case for 2014 regarding relocation after a custody agreement.
The case is K.E.S. v. M.E.K., Memorandum Decision, No. 1309 MDA 2013 (Pa. Super. January 22, 2014). Mundy, J. The decision is from the Superior Court of Pennsylvania. As a Bucks County Divorce lawyer, I know that relocation is a big issue. This can happen for a variety of reasons, including new relationships, opportunities, and jobs. In addition, we live in the tri-state area and moving to another state, city, or county is a lot easier than a divorce in Nebraska.
In the instant case, the court addresses what factors should be considered, when there is a currently a custody agreement in effect, which acknowledged and approved the relocation of Father to Florida, but Father now seeks relocation of the children through a Petition to Modify Custody.
In determining whether or not Father would be permitted to relocate the children to Florida, the trial court only applied the sixteen custody factors as prescribed by 23 Pa.C.S.A. §5328(a) and determined that the best interest of the children would be served by awarding Father primary physical custody of the children and permitting their relocation to Florida. In the court’s analysis, the ten relocation factors were never considered. Mother appealed arguing that the ten relocation factors prescribed by 23 Pa.C.S.A. §5337(h) should have been applied in this making this determination.
The Superior Court held that the trial court committed an error of law by failing to evaluate the ten relocation factors. The court remanded the matter to the trial court to consider the §5337(h) relocation factors in conjunction with the §5328(a) best interest factors when reaching its custody decision.
