Child Relocation in Florida: How to File and Win Your Case

People move for all kinds of reasons — a new job, a new relationship, family, a fresh start. But when you have a child and a parenting plan, moving isn’t just a personal decision. It’s a legal one. And Florida’s relocation statute doesn’t give much wiggle room.

Over the years I’ve seen both sides of these cases. A parent who wants to move and genuinely believes it’s the right thing for their family. A parent left behind who’s terrified of losing their child to another state. And in almost every one of those cases, the outcome came down to whether the moving parent followed the right process — or didn’t. The law here is specific, the deadlines are strict, and the consequences of getting it wrong can follow a family for years.

This article walks through everything you need to know about § 61.13001, Florida Statutes — the parental relocation law — including what triggers it, how to file properly, what courts look at when deciding contested cases, and what happens when a parent moves without permission.

1. What Counts as Relocation Under Florida Law

The statute doesn’t kick in for every move. Two things both have to be true before § 61.13001 applies to your situation.

A few things about how this plays out that people often get wrong:

The 50-mile threshold is measured in a straight line, not by how long the drive is. A Florida appellate court confirmed this in Tucker v. Liebknecht, 86 So.3d 1240. So if you’re planning a move that’s 45 miles by highway but closer to 52 miles as the crow flies, you’re in statute territory whether you realized it or not.

Temporary stays don’t count. Going to stay with family for a few weeks while your mother recovers from surgery isn’t a relocation. Neither is a summer work assignment. The 60-consecutive-day threshold is what separates a move from an extended visit, and it excludes time spent traveling for the child’s vacation, education, or medical care.

One more thing worth flagging: the distance is measured from the residence listed in your most recent court order — not from wherever you happen to be living right now if that’s different. If you moved six months ago without updating your parenting plan, that could create an unexpected complication.

2. The Two Legal Paths: Agreement or Court Petition

Florida law gives you two legal ways to relocate with your child. Which one applies depends almost entirely on whether your co-parent is on board.

Path 1: Written Agreement With the Other Parent

If both parents agree, things can move relatively smoothly. You work out the details — the new time-sharing schedule, who pays for travel, how logistics change — put it in writing, and submit it to the court for approval. A judge still needs to sign off on it, even when there’s no dispute. An existing parenting plan can’t just be set aside by private agreement; it has to be formally modified through the court.

In genuinely uncontested situations, courts typically approve these agreements without requiring a hearing, as long as nothing in the arrangement raises concerns about the child’s welfare. Getting it done right the first time, with a properly drafted agreement, saves everyone from coming back later to fix it.

Path 2: File a Petition to Relocate

When your co-parent doesn’t consent — or when you simply want the protection of a court order regardless — you have to file a formal Petition to Relocate with the circuit court in Broward County.

The petition has specific statutory requirements under § 61.13001(3)(a). This isn’t a general motion or a letter to the judge explaining your reasons. It’s a formal pleading that must contain specific information spelled out in the statute. A petition that’s missing required elements can be treated as defective, and relocating based on a defective petition is treated the same as relocating without one. The petition must be personally served on your co-parent and on anyone else who has court-ordered time-sharing or visitation with your child.

3. What the Relocation Notice Must Contain

This is where a lot of relocation petitions run into problems. The statute tells you exactly what must be in the petition, and courts hold petitioners to those requirements. Missing even one element can expose you to the same consequences as if you had relocated without filing anything at all.

Under § 61.13001(3)(a), the petition must include all of the following:

• The new address of the intended residence, and the mailing address if it’s different.
• The home telephone number of the new residence, if you know it at the time of filing.
• The specific date you intend to move.
• A detailed statement of your reasons for the move — and if the relocation is tied to a job offer, a copy of that offer must be attached as an exhibit. A general statement that you want a fresh start or that opportunities are better elsewhere won’t cut it.
• A proposed revised time-sharing schedule that accounts for the new distance, plus a proposal for how transportation costs will be split.
• Notice to the other parent of their right to object within 20 days and what happens if they don’t.

4. How to Object to a Relocation Request

If you’re the parent being left behind and you don’t want that to happen, you have to move quickly and you have to do it correctly.

The one thing you cannot afford to do is nothing. If you’re served with a relocation petition and you ignore it, the court may enter an order granting the move based solely on the other parent’s filing. Silence is not a strategy here.

5. The 11 Factors Courts Weigh in Contested Cases

When a relocation is contested, there’s no presumption for or against the move — no automatic advantage to either side. The court has to work through a specific list of factors under § 61.13001(7)(a)-(k), and Florida appellate courts have reversed trial court decisions that skipped factors or applied them without adequate evidentiary support. Every factor gets considered. Here’s what each one actually means in practice.

• 1 Nature and Quality of the Child’s Relationships This one looks at the depth and consistency of the child’s relationship with each parent, with siblings, and with extended family like grandparents and close relatives. Courts aren’t just asking who the child loves — they’re asking who has been showing up. Who takes the child to school, to doctor appointments, to practice. A parent who has been actively involved day-to-day is in a stronger position on this factor than one who has maintained a more distant relationship.
• 2 Age, Stage of Development, and the Child’s Specific Needs A two-year-old and a sixteen-year-old are going to experience a relocation very differently, and courts recognize that. For younger children, stability and the consistency of daily routines matter enormously. Older children have established friendships, school ties, and activities that would be disrupted. And any special needs — medical, educational, therapeutic — that are being well-served in the current location weigh heavily against a move that might not replicate that support.
• 3 Whether the Non-Relocating Parent’s Relationship Can Be Preserved The court looks at whether a revised time-sharing arrangement is actually workable — not just on paper, but in reality. Can the non-relocating parent realistically afford the travel? Is the proposed schedule one both parents are genuinely likely to follow through on? A relocating parent who presents a generous revised schedule but then historically has had trouble complying with court orders is going to face skepticism on this factor.
• 4 The Child’s Preference Florida law requires the court to consider what the child wants, but it tempers that with a frank assessment of the child’s age and maturity. A fifteen-year-old who clearly articulates why they want to stay or go carries real weight. A six-year-old’s preference is noted but given much less. Courts are also alert to situations where a child’s preference has been shaped — consciously or not — by one parent’s influence.
• 5 Whether the Move Will Genuinely Improve Quality of Life This is often the heart of what a relocating parent argues — better schools, closer to family, a new job, lower cost of living, a safer neighborhood. All of that gets weighed, but the focus has to be on what improves life for the child, not just for the parent or the parent’s new partner. A move that’s primarily about the adult’s happiness, with only secondary benefits to the child, is a weaker case than one where the child’s circumstances meaningfully improve.
• 6 The Relocating Parent’s Reasons Courts want to know the real reason for the move. A concrete job offer with a significant income increase reads very differently than a vague desire for a change of scenery. And if there’s any indication that the relocation is primarily aimed at making life harder for the other parent — reducing their time, moving them further from the child — courts take that seriously. Bad-faith motivation can sink an otherwise reasonable relocation petition.
• 7 The Objecting Parent’s Reasons The non-relocating parent’s objection also gets scrutinized. Is the opposition genuinely about the child’s welfare and maintaining a meaningful relationship? Or is it rooted in a desire to control the other parent, prevent them from moving on, or avoid a child support recalculation? A parent who objects but has minimal current involvement in the child’s life is going to have a harder time than one who can demonstrate consistent, active participation.
• 8 Current Employment and Economic Circumstances If a parent is relocating for a specific job — with an offer letter and a defined salary — that’s meaningful evidence. If the move is based on a general belief that opportunities are better elsewhere, that’s much harder to prove. Courts also look at the financial circumstances of both parents when assessing things like travel costs for the revised time-sharing schedule and whether the proposed arrangement is economically sustainable.
• 9 Career Opportunities Available to the Objecting Parent This factor asks whether the objecting parent would have comparable opportunities if they chose to follow the child to the new location. It’s not a requirement that the non-relocating parent move — but if they realistically could and maintain a good situation, that cuts against the argument that the child’s relationship with them would be devastated by the relocation.
• 10 History of Substance Abuse or Domestic Violence If either parent has a history of substance abuse or domestic violence as defined in § 741.28, the court weighs the severity of that history and whether any rehabilitation has been successful. A move that removes a child from a parent with an unresolved history of abuse may be viewed more favorably. Conversely, a relocating parent with such a history faces additional scrutiny regardless of the other factors.
• 11 Any Other Factor Affecting the Child’s Best Interest The statute also includes a catch-all — any other factor bearing on the child’s best interest, including those listed in § 61.13. This gives courts the flexibility to consider circumstances that don’t fit neatly into the other ten categories. Every family’s situation is different, and this provision ensures the court isn’t forced to ignore something genuinely important just because it doesn’t appear on the main list.

6. Burden of Proof: Who Must Prove What

Under § 61.13001(8), the burden of proof in a contested relocation case works in two stages, and understanding this matters whether you’re the one trying to move or the one trying to stop it.

The relocating parent goes first. They have to prove — by a preponderance of the evidence, meaning more likely than not — that the relocation is in the child’s best interest. That’s an affirmative obligation, not just a showing that the move makes sense for them personally. Testimony that a new city offers better opportunities, or that a new spouse has a good job there, isn’t enough on its own. The evidence has to connect to the child’s actual welfare across the 11 factors above.

If the relocating parent clears that first hurdle, the burden flips to the non-relocating parent, who then has to show by a preponderance of the evidence that the move is not in the child’s best interest. It’s a shifting structure, and where the case ends up often depends on how thoroughly each side has built their evidentiary record before walking into the courtroom.

One more thing to know: there is no presumption for or against relocation under Florida law, even if the proposed move would dramatically change the existing time-sharing arrangement. Every case starts at zero.

7. What Happens if You Relocate Without Court Approval

I’ve seen parents do this. They’re ready to move, they’re frustrated with the process, they believe the move is clearly the right thing — so they go. And it almost always makes things worse.

Moving more than 50 miles with your child without the other parent’s written agreement or a court order isn’t a procedural shortcut. It’s a violation of your parenting plan and a violation of § 61.13001. The consequences the statute spells out in § 61.13001(3)(e) are real:

• You can be held in contempt of court
• The court can order you to bring the child back
• The unauthorized move can be used against you as a factor when the court later considers whether to permit the relocation
• It can be used as grounds to modify the parenting plan — not in your favor
• You may be ordered to pay the other parent’s attorney’s fees and expenses incurred because of the improper move
• You may be ordered to cover the other parent’s travel costs to maintain access to the child during the dispute

Beyond the statute, judges remember. A parent who moved first and asked permission later starts the hearing with a credibility problem that’s hard to overcome, no matter how strong the underlying case for relocation might otherwise be.

8. What to Do if Your Ex Relocates Without Permission

Call an attorney. Today, not next week.

The longer a child is settled into a new school, a new neighborhood, new routines — the harder it becomes for a court to justify the disruption of moving them back, even if the original relocation was improper. Courts don’t like rewarding parents who move without permission, but they also don’t like uprooting children who have been somewhere for six months and are doing fine. Time works against you here.

Your attorney can file an emergency motion asking the court to compel the return of the child. Florida courts have real authority here — they can hold the relocating parent in contempt, order the child returned, and award you attorney’s fees and travel costs caused by the unauthorized move. What they need from you is to act promptly and to document everything: when you found out, what you were told, any communications with your co-parent about the move.

Do not go get the child yourself. Do not involve law enforcement without a court order. Self-help in these situations — even if it feels completely justified — can expose you to criminal liability and will undermine your position when you get in front of the judge.

9. Does the Statute Apply When the Move Is Involuntary?

This comes up more often than you might expect — a parent facing a job transfer they can’t decline, a military deployment, an immigration situation. The question is whether the relocation statute still applies when the parent didn’t choose to move. Under Florida law, the answer is yes.

What does change is the weight courts give to the reason for the move. A parent relocating because of a military deployment or an unavoidable job transfer is in a meaningfully different position than one who is simply choosing to leave. But the process doesn’t change. You still have to follow the statute — get the other parent’s agreement in writing or file a proper petition — before you go.

10. Working With a Florida Child Relocation Lawyer

Relocation cases are genuinely hard. They require building a real evidentiary record — not just coming to court and explaining why the move makes sense, but documenting it. Employment offers. School research. Proposed time-sharing schedules that are actually workable. Financial analysis showing how travel costs will be managed. Evidence of your involvement in your child’s daily life. These cases are won or lost long before the hearing date.

The same is true on the other side. If you’re opposing a relocation, the time to start building your case is the moment you’re served — not the week before the hearing.

Larry Schott has been handling child relocation and custody cases in Broward County for over 30 years. He’s represented parents on both sides of these disputes, and he understands what courts in South Florida actually look for when they evaluate these petitions. If you’re facing a relocation issue — whether you’re planning a move, fighting one, or dealing with a co-parent who has already left — call for a free consultation and let’s talk through where you stand.

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