Impact of Custodial Parent's Relocation

Americans have traditionally been a highly mobile people. In an era in which issues related to the custody of minor children are focal points in a substantial number of divorce proceedings, the ramifications of such a tradition of mobility can create a number of complex problems when the custodial parent, the former spouse to whom the court in a divorce proceeding has given custody of the minor children of the parties, chooses to relocate from one jurisdiction to another, or merely to a place within the same state that is a substantial distance away from the place of the marital residence. Courts are often called upon to resolve disputes between the parties over the questions of custody and visitation that are implicated by such choices.

Child Support Recovery Act

The Child Support Recovery Act, well known as the "deadbeat-dad" law, makes it a federal crime to flee a state in order to avoid paying child support arrearages. The law applies to any parent who owes more than $5,000 in back child support payments or who has failed to pay on the arrearage due for more than one year.