Instructions

As amended through January 31, 2024

Instructions

PARENTAL RELOCATION NOTICE

* IMPORTANT INFORMATION *

YOUR RIGHTS MAY BE BETTER PROTECTED WITH THE HELP OF AN ATTORNEY.

You may give notice of parental relocation without the assistance of an attorney, and represent yourself in Family Court, however, if the other parent objects to your relocation plans, or to your proposals to change the Parenting Plan to accommodate your relocation, your rights may be better protected with the help of an attorney.

The staffs of the Circuit Clerk's Office and the Family Court are prohibited by law from providing legal advice.

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Please notify the Circuit Clerk's Office in advance if you require any special arrangements to fully participate in court proceedings; for example, a language interpreter, hearing or visual aids, or accommodations for physical access.

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The Notice of Relocation form requires you to list your current address and telephone number, and the address and telephone number of the residence to which you plan to relocate. If you believe your safety, liberty, or health, or the safety, liberty, or health of your children would be put a risk by the disclosure of this information, you may file an affidavit to have the information withheld from all persons except court employees who require the information to carry out their duties. The affidavit you need to file is the Affidavit for Withholding Identifying Information. This affidavit form is not included with these materials. You can obtain the affidavit at the Circuit Clerk's Office. You can complete and file the affidavit in the Circuit Clerk's Office at any time, or you can ask the Family Court Judge to enter an order allowing you to withhold the information. If your identifying information is withheld, the other parties' court papers will be served through the Family Court, and not directly on you.

Instructions

You are required by law to give Notice of Relocation if:

1. You have parental responsibilities under a court ordered Parenting Plan. and

2. You plan to change your residence and you will live in the new location for more than 90 days.

If you are required to give notice, continue reading.

Information You Need To Know About The Notice of Relocation.

1. You must give the other parent notice of your planned move at least 60 days before you move. If you cannot provide at least 60 days notice, you must still give notice, and you must do so as soon as possible.

2. If you believe there is a reason you should not have to give the other parent notice of your planned relocation, you MUST ask the Family Court to relieve you of the requirement to give notice. A reasonable fear of harm to yourself or your child is one reason the court can relieve you of the requirement to give notice, but not the only reason. Only the Family Court can relieve you of the requirement to give notice.

3. The other parent has a right to challenge your relocation plans, and your proposals to change the Parenting Plan to accommodate your relocation.

4. If the other parent challenges your relocation plans, the court will hold a hearing.

5. At the hearing you will have to show you are relocating for a proper purpose, and you will have to show the location you are moving to is a reasonable choice considering the purpose of your relocation. Item 6 discusses the subject of what is a proper purpose for relocation.

6. The law of West Virginia gives us a list of proper purposes for the relocation of a parent who has responsibilities under a Parenting Plan. The items on this list are not necessarily the only proper purposes for which a parent may relocate, but if the purpose for which you want to relocate is not on the list, you have the burden of showing the court why your purpose for relocating in proper. These are the proper purposes listed in the law.

a. To be close to significant family members, or other supportive individuals.

b. For significant health reasons.

c. To protect yourself, your children, or another member of your household from significant risk of harm.

d. To pursue a significant employment or educational opportunity.

e. To be with your spouse who is established in the new location, or who is moving to the new location to pursue a significant employment or educational opportunity.

7. If you fail to give 60 days notice to the other parent, and there is no good reason for your failure, the court may determine your failure indicates your relocation is not in good faith, and may require you to pay the expenses and attorney's fees the other parent incurred to challenge your relocation.

8. If the other parent challenges your relocation, and you do not show your relocation is in good faith, for a proper purpose, and to a reasonable location, the court may modify your Parenting Plan. Such modifications may include a reallocation of primary custodial responsibility. In other words, if the children are living with you, the court may decide they should start living with the other parent.

The following steps explain how to prepare a Notice of Relocation, serve that notice on the other parent, and how to prepare for a hearing if the other parent challenges your relocation.

STEP 1.FILL OUT THE NOTICE FORM.

Read these instructions carefully, and write clearly when you fill out the form. If the instructions are not followed, or if the form is not properly completed, your case may be harmed, or delayed. It's best to read all of the instructions before you start filling out the form. You may want to make a couple of copies of the blank form before you start filling it out. You can use these spare copies to practice on, or if you make an error.

The information at the top of page 1 is called the "case style." Except for any changes of address or telephone number, the case style stays the same throughout your case, so you can simply copy the case style information from one of the orders or other documents in your case. Provide your current address and phone number unless you are filing the Affidavit for Withholding Identifying Information which is discussed in the introduction to these instructions. Fill in the address and phone number for the other parent. As these instructions explain later, you will need the other parent's current address to serve your Notice of Relocation.

After you have completed the case style, write the other parent's name after "NOTICE to:," and write your name after "From." Following the two paragraphs of bold type, there is a space for the address of the Family Court to which the other parent can send a challenge to your relocation. The court's address may already be filled in on your form, if it isn't, you must fill in the information. You can obtain this information from the Family Court, or the Circuit Clerk's Office.

Most of the remaining items on the notice form are self-explanatory, but the following paragraphs have some important information about some of the items.

Item 7. This is where you explain the purpose of your relocation. If necessary, review the earlier explanation of proper purposes for relocating, because completing item 7 correctly is very important. If item 7 doesn't provide enough space for you to explain the purpose of your relocation, use an additional sheet of paper, label it with your name, and "More Information on Item 7," and attach it to your notice form.

Item 8. In this item, you propose how the Parenting Plan should be changed to accommodate your relocation. Review your Parenting Plan and think about how it will have to change if you relocate, then explain those changes in item 8. If you need more room, use a properly labeled additional sheet of paper.

Item 9. This item is a bit difficult to understand, but the law requires it to be included in the notice. Think about how the other parent could reasonably accommodate the Parenting Plan changes you have proposed in item 8. If you can't figure out what to write in item 9, just write "I don't have any such information at this time." If the other parent challenges your relocation, this subject is one of the things the court will discuss at the hearing, so you may want to continue to think about item 9 if you need to prepare for a hearing.

After you have completed the first two pages of the Notice, sign and date it on page 3. You now have two more parts of the Notice to complete, the Verification, and the Certificate of Service, both of which appear on page 3. You must sign the Verification before a Notary Public. Deputy Circuit Clerks can also attest your signature on the Verification. The Certificate of Service will verify that you mailed your Petition to the other parent. Decide when you are going to mail the Notice, and fill out the Certificate of Service with that date and the name and address information for the other parent. When you are finished with the Notice, you should have a completed, signed, dated Notice that includes a Verification signed before an authorized official, and a completed Certificate of Service. The next thing you need to do is make two copies of the Notice, including the Verification and Certificate of Service. You will mail one copy to the other parent, and keep one copy for yourself. You are now ready to mail a copy of the Notice to the other parent, and file the original in the Circuit Clerk's Office. These things are discussed in Step 2.

STEP 2. MAIL A COPY OF THE NOTICE TO THE OTHER PARENT.

FILE THE ORIGINAL IN THE CIRCUIT CLERK'S OFFICE.

Mail a copy of your Notice to the other parent by first class mail, then go to the Circuit Clerk's Office and file the original. There is no fee for filing the Notice. What happens next depends on whether you and / or the other parent request a hearing on your relocation. Hearings are discussed in Step 3.

STEP 3.HEARINGS ON RELOCATION.

You and the other parent both have a right to ask for a hearing on your relocation.

If you want a hearing, send the Family Court a written request. Include a copy of your Notice. Make sure the copy includes the completed Certificate of Service that shows you mailed a copy of the Notice to the other parent. If you need to proceed quickly with your relocation, ask for an expedited hearing.

The other parent can request a hearing, whether or not you request one. That's why the law required you to give the other parent notice of your relocation plans, so he or she can decide whether to challenge those plans in court.

If a hearing is requested by either of you, the Family Court will set a date and time for the hearing, and notify each of you by order. Step 4 explains how to prepare for a hearing.

STEP 4.PREPARING FOR A HEARING.

At a hearing, you will need to prove your relocation is in good faith, for a proper purpose, and to a location that is reasonable to achieve the purpose of your move. You also should be prepared to propose specific ways in which the custodial responsibilities under the current court ordered Parenting Plan should be changed as a result of your relocation. You also may need to show how the other parent can reasonably accommodate the Parenting Plan changes you are proposing. How you will present your case, and what you will need to prove will depend on the particular nature of your relocation plans, the changes you are proposing in the Parenting Plan, and the other parent's response to your plans and proposals. Here are some tips to help you prepare for a hearing.

Allow plenty of time to prepare.

Make a plan for how you will present your case. Generally speaking, you can prove things you need to prove by your testimony, by the testimony of other witnesses, and by documents or records. List the things you want to prove, and for each thing you want to prove, list how you will prove it, by witness testimony, or a document, for example.

Make sure you have requested all necessary witness subpoenas. If you know you will need a witness to testify at the hearing, and you're not certain the witness will voluntarily show up, you will need to subpoena that witness. Witness subpoenas are handled through the Circuit Clerk's Office. To obtain a witness subpoena, you need to provide the Deputy Circuit Clerk with the name and address of the witness, and pay a Clerk's fee of 50¢ per subpoena, and a service fee of $20 per subpoena, unless your fees have been waived. You should request witness subpoenas at least 10 days before the hearing. If you cannot afford to pay the subpoena fees, read the last paragraph in Step 2.

Step 5 explains what happens after the hearing.

STEP 5.WHAT HAPPENS AFTER THE HEARING?

The Family Court Judge will consider the evidence presented at the hearing, and make a decision. That decision will be written down in an Order, and copies will be sent to the parties.