QUESTION

If the mother decides to take away our parenting time, will a judge take away our parenting time and custody, when she is the one that chose to move?

Asked on Dec 05th, 2013 on Child Custody - Oregon
More details to this question:
My husband has joint custody and 50/50 parenting time with his daughter. The mom just moved 30 miles away from where we live. We are still taking care of her, getting her to school, etc. on our parenting time, which is a huge strain financially and logistically. We have been fighting over custody for two years and have recently settled. When the child lived closer to us, we would put her in volleyball, basketball, and softball because it was feasible. Now, with her 30 miles away, it is nearly impossible to get her to practices and games every day in addition to picking her up after school on our parenting time. We have decided with the time, cost and hassle it is with the distance we are only going to agree to participate in basketball, one sport a year. She has moved 32 times in the last 12 years and changed schools four times in the last 2 years.
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1 ANSWER

Family Law Attorney serving Redmond, OR at Oliver & Duncan
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The only way your husband and the child's mother could have joint custody with 50/50 parenting time is that they agreed to joint custody and equal parenting time which was then incorporated into the last judgment. Without an agreement for joint custody, an Oregon court can only grant sole custody to one parent based on the "best interest of the child" and then grant the other parent some amount of parenting time, usually under the Standard Parenting Plan used by the county in which the action was filed. After entry of a sole custody judgment, the only way you can modify that judgment is to show that there has been a "material change in circumstances." The changed circumstances can be something like "Father got busted for drunk driving and lost his driver's license for a year" or "Mom was injured in a car accident and is now partially paralyzed and cannot care for the Kids." On the other hand, the "changed circumstances" when there has been an award of joint custody can be as simple as "we no longer agree to joint custody and I want it to be changed to reflect the child's best interest." Normally, sharing joint custody with 50/50 parenting time is a bad idea when the parents' homes are separated and the child has to attend one school while splitting his or her residence between the two parents' homes. While the circumstances can vary widely, I would expect that if the child is attending a school near your home (where both parents used to live) but now has to spend half of his or her time at Mom's place 30 miles away, the Judge would probably award your husband sole custody with the child's Mom to get every other weekend plus a holiday schedule. Bottom line, your husband needs to consult with an attorney in the county where the judgment was entered to see what kind of approach to take.
Answered on Dec 12th, 2013 at 1:15 AM

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