Divorce can be an earth-shattering event for children as well as for their parents. Parents and children alike often experience psychological and financial effects during and after a divorce. These difficulties can increase if one parent lives a long distance away from the children.
In the State of Oregon, moves that keep the parents and children within 60 miles of each other are not considered "long distance" and are allowed without court supervision. However, if a proposed move will require the children to travel more than 60 miles to see the other parent the court may get involved to assure that the harm that will occur to the children's relationship with the other parent is outweighed by the needs of the moving parent.
An experienced divorce lawyer is often required to first help the parents decide if the court will be needed to resolve the move away issue and then help resolve any dispute that may occur regarding changes to the parenting plan and a fair allocation of the costs of travel if a move will occur.
Accommodations for children when they are moved a long distance away from a parent can include longer parenting time blocks, scheduled telephone calls, e-mail accounts, video conferencing, age appropriate on-line chat and gaming, and many other ideas that may be individually tailored for each divorcing family's situation. It is your divorce attorney's job to help you weigh the positives and negatives of the various accommodations which may be reasonable and appropriate in a long distance parenting plan.
