People going through a divorce often want to change other areas of their life as well. Moving out of the marital home is common, and some people will move much farther than that.
Either because they want a fresh start or because they cannot afford the cost of living in Hawaii on their own, your spouse may want to move to California or some other part of the continental United States after you divorce. That can be very problematic if the two of you have children together.
Relocations complicate custody matters
Sharing custody often involves frequent exchanges between parents, sometimes multiple times a week. That kind of arrangement obviously won’t work if your children have to travel back and forth between states on an airplane.
You likely don’t want to have to make a decision that will cut one parent mostly out of the children’s lives. Could split custody be a workable solution for your family in this situation?
How does split custody work?
To evaluate whether split custody is a viable solution for your potential interstate custody issues, you have to understand how split custody works. It involves each parent assuming primary custody over specific children in the family.
If you have two or more kids, each parent can assume primary custody of certain children in the family. Your family can then arrange occasional custody exchanges, such as during summer vacation or during the winter break from school. Both parents having time with all the children is important in this kind of arrangement, and so is the ability of the children to all spend time with one another.
Thinking creatively about different ways to manage shared custody can help you create solutions that minimize conflict for your family in an upcoming divorce.
