Divorce Advice for Men | Fathers Rights Divorce | Child Custody

Question:

Per our child custody agreement, I have parenting time with my children the majority of the nights each week.

My ex-wife has full visitation rights. I am looking to move with my children to another state to be closer to family. Even though we have joint custody, my house is considered the children's primary residence.

Can I just inform her that I am moving out of state and leave or will a judge block me from moving?

By Julie Garrison

Special to DadsDivorce.com

Today’s divorced dads who have been awarded physical custody of their children have a heavy burden. They are pioneering a societal movement with little-to-no role modeling to fall back on.

Dads are similar to the suffragettes of the 1930s who campaigned for equality with men. This is exactly what dads are doing in today's societal and legal environment. They are fighting for the right to parent their own children.

These courageous dads are evolving into role models for future generations of men.

In 2010, the U.S. Department of Justice reported an average of 200,000 cases of parental kidnapping each year.

Maureen Dabbagh is a Virginia Supreme Court Family Mediator specializing in cross-border child custody disputes, who has been providing expert testimony on the issue of parental kidnapping since 1997.

Her own three-year-old daughter was abducted from the United States and taken to the Middle East by her ex-husband. Dabbagh had no communication with her daughter for 17 years until they were reunited in 2010.

Now, Dabbagh has just released a book call "Parental Kidnapping in America: An Historical and Cultural Analysis."

Question:

My ex-wife has primary child custody and I have visitation rights with my children.

Because of expensive child support and alimony payments, I have to have a roommate in order to help pay rent. My roommate is a woman who is a platonic friend, but I'm worried how a judge will view me living with a woman.

Can I lose child custody or my visitation rights because I live with a member of the opposite sex?

A collaboration between DadsDivorce.com and SingleDad.com, The Divorced Dads Guide is a series of videos featuring helpful parenting tips for single dads facing the unique challenges presented to them post-divorce.

First in this series of videos is "Exchanging The Kids." Listen to Matt Allen, editor of DadsDivorce.com, and Richard "RJ" Jaramillo, founder of SingleDad.com, discuss the do's and don'ts of child custody exchanges.

Future episodes will explore how divorced dads should deal with your ex-wife's new boyfriend and handling parenting time over the holidays.