RELOCATING A CHILD IN PERTH

Following separation, one (or perhaps both) parents will need to find somewhere else to live. Sometimes, a separated parent will want to move with the children because of reasons to do with family support, a new relationship, stable accommodation or better work opportunities. This could involve moving to a different suburb, town, state or country.

Changing the place where a child lives is called a relocation decision. Relocation decisions are different to temporary changes in a child's living arrangements, such as taking children away on holidays.

Relocation decisions can have a big impact on the arrangements for children and their current routines. The further away a child is going to move, the harder it can become to encourage or maintain close relationships with the other parent, grandparents and other important relatives.

Part of parental responsibility is being able to make decisions about the children's living arrangements. If relocating will make it significantly harder for children to spend time with the other parent (or other important people), you will need to discuss the issue with them and try to reach an agreement.

There is not a set distance that the court applies; it is about the practical impact that relocating will have on the arrangements.

Before you move, you should also think about the flow-on effects that relocating might have on other aspects of the children's lives that involve shared parental responsibility, such as decisions about their education and who they spend time with. For example, even if you were allowed to move the children a short distance away to another suburb without consulting the other parent, you would need their agreement before you could change the children's schools to be closer to your new house.

Participating in family dispute resolution might be useful to help find new arrangements that would allow and encourage the children to maintain close relationships with the other parent, grandparents, and other relatives after they have moved.

If you cannot reach an agreement with the other parent, you can apply to the Family Court for parenting orders to decide where the children should live.

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