A child’s domicile (where a child lives) is a guardianship issue. Relocating a child from city to city, from New Zealand to another country and even from one side of Auckland to the other is a decision that should be made jointly with your child’s other parent.
Where one parent wishes to relocate a child and the other parent will not consent to the parent wishing to relocate may then need to consider bringing an application under the Care of Children Act 2004 to allow relocation of the child. The applying parent will need to convince the Family Court that the move will be in the best interests of the child. This can be particularly difficult where the child has regular contact with the other parent which will become lessened by the move.
The Courts will consider a number of factors when making this decision. Sometimes a longer-term strategy is required for success. Come to talk to us about how to make your application for relocation more likely to succeed.