A child custody order can turn on many issues, including those related to a parent’s home location. If the parents can’t work out a custody agreement, a judge will decide the case based on the child’s best interests. A judge has broad discretion over making this determination, and location may be a factor that can help or hurt your effort to be awarded the type of custody you seek.

Location issues usually arise if there’s a dispute over who will have primary physical custody (where the child will live most of the time). Under state statute:

• It’s New Jersey public policy that minor children should, ideally, frequently and continuously have contact with both parents after they separate or dissolved their marriage
• The child should live either solely with one parent or with each parent based on the child’s and parents’ needs
• Factors a judge needs to consider include the child’s needs, the quality and continuity of their education, the proximity of the parents’ homes, and the quantity and quality of the time the parent spends with the child before or after the parents separate

A judge may add factors not specified in the statute.

Why Does Where I Live Matter?

Your location (and related issues), as compared to where the other parent lives, can negatively affect your custody request in several ways:

• Your home isn’t stable because of financial reasons
• You may share living space with others with whom you don’t have a good relationship. There may be open disputes or violence. Those you live with may have psychological disorders, abuse substances, or engage in crime
• Where you live isn’t big enough given how many reside there. A judge may not be comfortable with a home given the sexes and ages of fellow residents, especially if your child shares a bedroom
• You live in an area that doesn’t serve your child well. The school system isn’t as good (this can be a more significant issue if your child has special needs), the crime rate is high, and the quality of your housing suffers
• Your child has a chronic medical or psychological condition or disability that requires specialized care, and it’s not available or difficult to access where you live
• Your home is a long distance from your child’s support network of the other parent, friends, and extended family members
• You want your child to live outside New Jersey, and the other parent objects, and/or your child is mature enough to voice an opinion and doesn’t want to go
• The other parent claims it’s in the child’s best interest if they’re raised in a given religion and suitable religious organizations or institutions aren’t in your area

As lawyers and judges say, child custody issues are fact sensitive.

How Can I Prevent This From Being a Problem or Make My Location More Appealing to a Judge?

When you think about these issues, look at your situation like a judge would. Be as neutral and objective as possible. A judge will look at your child’s need for various things and see which location will better meet them. They will consider your custody dispute without the emotions you and the other parent feel.

Pull back your feelings and look at your location as if you’re the judge:

• What problems might the other parent claim or that the judge may see?
• What can you do to eliminate those problems?
• What changes will address them?
• If this isn’t actually a problem, but only one invented by the other parent or perceived by the judge, how can you show this is not something that should concern the judge?

Think about where you live. What facts show it’s in your child’s best interests to live there? How will living with you benefit your child more than living with the other parent?

Does your child have experience with this location or have feelings about living there? If they’re mature enough, the judge may interview them privately. Their opinion may carry a lot of weight with a judge.

Kingston Law Group: Get the Help You Need from the Lawyers You Trust

If you have any questions about child custody or parenting time, call the Central Jersey law offices of the Kingston Law Group at 609-683-7400, or contact us online for a near-term reduced fee initial consultation. We will listen to your side of the story, explain how the law may apply in your case, and talk about how to obtain the best outcome. We will present optimal choices to protect your legal rights and interests and those of your child(ren). Call or write us today. You will be glad you did.