Pennsylvania relocation law and the 60 day notice

Pennsylvania has one of the most procedural relocation statutes in the country. Before you move a child anywhere that materially affects the other parent's time, you either get everyone's consent or you get a court order, and the way you ask is spelled out down to what the envelope has to be.

Skip the notice and the consequences are not limited to losing the argument. The statute gives the court five separate things it can do to you, including ordering the child back.

What counts as relocation in Pennsylvania?

Not a distance. Section 5322(a) defines relocation as a change in a residence of the child which significantly impairs the ability of a non-relocating party to exercise custodial rights.

That is a functional test, and it is unusual. Some states draw a line at 50 or 100 miles. Pennsylvania asks what the move does to the other parent's schedule. A move of twenty miles that turns a weeknight dinner into an impossibility can be a relocation. A move of two hundred miles where the other parent only sees the child for a summer month may not be.

The safe read: if you are not certain, treat it as a relocation and give the notice. Giving notice for a move that did not need one costs you sixty days. Not giving notice for one that did costs a great deal more.

Do you need permission to move with your child in Pennsylvania?

Yes. Section 5337(b) says no relocation shall occur unless every individual who has custody rights to the child consents to the proposed relocation, or the court approves it.

"Every individual who has custody rights" is broader than "the other parent." A grandparent or third party with a custody order is in that category too.

How does the Pennsylvania 60 day relocation notice work?

Section 5337(c) sets the method and the deadline. The party proposing the move notifies every other individual with custody rights, by certified mail, return receipt requested, no later than the 60th day before the date of the proposed relocation.

There is one narrow exception. If you did not know and could not reasonably have known about the move in time to give 60 days, and it is not reasonably possible to delay the move to comply, the notice goes out by the tenth day after you learned of it.

Eleven pieces of information have to travel with the notice:

1. The address of the intended new residence

2. The mailing address, if it differs

3. The names and ages of the people who live or intend to live in the new residence

4. The home telephone number of the new residence, if available

5. The name of the new school district and school

6. The date of the proposed relocation

7. The reasons for the proposed relocation

8. A proposal for a revised custody schedule

9. Anything else the relocating party thinks appropriate

10. A blank counter-affidavit the other party can use to object to the relocation and to the modification of the custody order

11. A warning that if the non-relocating party does not file an objection with the court within 30 days of receiving the notice, they are foreclosed from objecting to the relocation

If something on that list was unknown when you sent the notice and you learn it later, you have to pass it on promptly.

What happens if the other parent objects?

They file the counter-affidavit with the court, which is verified subject to the penalties for unsworn falsification, and they can seek a temporary or permanent order preventing the move. The counter-affidavit lets them say separately whether they object to the relocation, to modification of the custody order, or to both.

An objection triggers a hearing. Under section 5337(g), the court holds an expedited full hearing on the proposed relocation after a timely objection is filed and before the relocation occurs. The court may also order that hearing on its own motion. Only where the court finds exigent circumstances may it approve a relocation pending the hearing.

If the court approves the move it either modifies the existing custody order or establishes the terms of a new one, so an approved relocation always comes with a revised schedule.

What factors does a Pennsylvania court use to decide relocation?

Ten, under section 5337(h), with weighted consideration to the ones affecting the child's safety:

1. The nature, quality, extent of involvement and duration of the child's relationship with the relocating party, the non-relocating party, siblings and other significant people in the child's life

2. The child's age, developmental stage and needs, and the likely impact of the relocation on the child's physical, educational and emotional development, taking any special needs into account

3. Whether the relationship between the non-relocating party and the child can be preserved through a workable custody arrangement, considering the logistics and the parties' financial circumstances

4. The child's preference, given their age and maturity

5. Whether either party has an established pattern of conduct promoting or thwarting the child's relationship with the other party

6. Whether the relocation will enhance the general quality of life for the party seeking it, including financial or emotional benefit or educational opportunity

7. Whether the relocation will enhance the general quality of life for the child, on the same measures

8. The reasons and motivation of each party for seeking or opposing the relocation

9. Present and past abuse committed by a party or a member of the party's household, and whether there is a continued risk of harm to the child or an abused party

10. Any other factor affecting the best interest of the child

Factors 6 and 7 are separate on purpose. A move that is clearly better for you is not automatically better for the child, and the statute makes the court answer both questions.

These are additional to the custody factors, not a replacement for them. A relocation hearing usually revisits the whole custody arrangement, which the custody chapter covers.

Who has the burden of proof in a Pennsylvania relocation case?

The parent who wants to move. Section 5337(i) puts the burden of establishing that the relocation will serve the child's best interest on the party proposing it.

A second burden falls on both of you. Each party has to establish the integrity of their own motives, whether they are seeking the relocation or seeking to prevent it. A parent objecting to a move purely to punish the other one is carrying a burden they will fail.

What happens if you move without giving notice in Pennsylvania?

Section 5337(j) lets the court treat a failure to give reasonable notice as any or all of five things:

• A factor in deciding the relocation itself

• A factor in deciding whether the custody arrangement should be modified

• A basis for ordering the child returned to the non-relocating party

• Sufficient cause to order you to pay the objecting party's reasonable expenses and counsel fees

• A ground for contempt and sanctions

There is one mitigating provision. Under section 5337(k), the court considers whether the failure to give notice was caused in whole or in part by abuse.

And moving first buys you nothing. Section 5337(l) says that if a party relocates with the child before the expedited hearing, the court confers no presumption in favor of the relocation. The child being settled in a new school by the time the judge sees the case is explicitly not an argument.

What if the other parent agrees to the move?

You still have paperwork, and Pennsylvania is stricter here than most states. Under section 5337(e), where nobody objected, the relocating party has to file four things with the court before the move: an affidavit stating that notice went to everyone entitled to it, that the time to object has passed and nobody objected; proof of proper notice in the form of a return receipt with the addressee's signature and the full notice that was sent; a petition to confirm the relocation and modify any existing custody order; and a proposed order.

There is no version of an unopposed relocation where you simply go. If the counter-affidavit comes back saying the other parent objects to neither the move nor your proposed schedule, section 5337(f) lets the court approve that schedule and modify the order, and it also has to specify how either of you can change it later. If the counter-affidavit objects to either one, the court modifies the order only after a hearing on the terms.

Getting to that agreement is usually easier with a revised schedule already on the table, which is why item 8 on the notice list exists. Mediation is available in counties that run a program, though section 3901 lets the court order only an orientation session unless both parties consent to mediate, and the settlement chapter covers how agreed terms get turned into an order.

One more thing worth doing at the same time. A move changes travel costs and often changes overnights, and both feed straight into the child support calculation. Settling the schedule without settling the number leaves half the argument for later.