NYC / Mother relocating 2 hours away

[belvezet1]

I live in New York city.

I have shared legal custody of my 12-year old son. Both the mother and I live in Queens, NY within 10 minutes of each other. I have quite a bit of access to him: I see him Mondays, Tuesdays after school from 3-6PM, every other Thursday, 3 weekends out of 4 (from Friday at 3PM, to Monday morning), 1/2 of summer break, and 3/4 of school breaks during the year. I pay $50 of child support. The mother's salary is 25% more than mine. The mother is planning to move 30 miles away, but because of NY traffic, commuting time one way from her new location to my place would be about 1.5 - 2 hours. I've told her that her moving would severely curtail my time with my son and prevent me from attending any school events.

Other perhaps relevant information:
- I have 3-month twins with my current wife.
- My son's mother is remarried and has a 4-yr old from that marriage.
- Back in 2006, I moved from Queens to New Jersey, and because of the move I lost the previous custodial arrangement where I had my son every other week (50/50)
- The mother works in law enforcement and works 10-hours days. Her commuting time from the new proposed residence would be at least an hour to 1.5 hours.
- When asked, my son wants to live with his mother (because he doesn't see much of her as it is, because he's promised a pool, a bigger room, and mainly because he is more unsupervised with at her place bc of the long hours that she works.

What are my chances of stopping her, and if she decides to move of obtaining physical custody of my son.

Thanks for any advice.

 

[Michael Wechsler]

Child custody makes for complicated matters. Relocation as well as most matters involve the "best interests of the child standard." If the ex-wife is not moving out of New York City, I'd say that your chances are probably very low, although opinions might vary and the details can change the outcome. Moving out of the jurisdiction is a whole other story - such as moving out of the state to New Jersey. The fact that it is less convenient then your current location is almost certainly not a good argument if you can't show a clear inconvenience, e.g. that she moves 130 miles away. If you've got a car, you'd be hard pressed to impress a judge that this should present a serious problem more than an imposition upon your scheduling that is clearly not affecting what is probably more important for the child. The pool, bigger room and other perks can be seen as a positive change for the child. I'd say that the entire matter might have a chance if you can show why the move is not in the best interests of the child as opposed to primarily your interests.