Custody modification nc vs. fl

[ncquestions]

Hi -

My husband and his ex-wife have joint custody, but she has primary physical custody. We live in NC, she lives in FL. Their son is almost 12 and she moved to FL when he was 2 when they separated. As time goes on my husband is trying to see his son more and more and his son wants to see him. Over the past 6 years his ex has been agreeable allowing him to visit here for 5-6 weeks in the summer even though the court order is only 3 weeks. They recently went through a child support hearing which triggered her to revert back to only 3 weeks starting this summer. We want to move to FL to be near them in order for my husband to have shared custody or 50/50 time spent with his son. We have a daughter who is very close to her brother and wants to see him more too. Right now jurisdiction is in NC because that is where they were living. Should we try to change venue to FL? Are the FL courts more open to Father's rights than NC? Is there a way to modify the order prior to moving to ensure we will be able to see him more? There is no violence or strained relationships. The time allowed was simply because we are so far away and his son was younger when the order was put in place.

[Attorney Howard Iken]

When both parents and the child live in Florida - jurisdiction may be moved to Florida.

As for time sharing, Florida appears to be moving in the direction of more co-parenting. Two and a half years ago we got rid of the "primary" and "secondary" parent terms. The current statutes seem to encourage more Father's rights.

Unfortunately, the whole thing comes down to which judge makes the decision. There is a dramatic difference between judges on how parenting is split.