CAN A PARENT TRAVEL OUTSIDE THE STATE FOR A VACATION WITH THE CHILD?

There is a specific Kansas statute that states that if you are going to be out of the state with a child for more than six months, you have to send notice. The reason why that statute is in place is that there is a federal law that defines what a home state is. It is called the Uniform Child Custody Jurisdiction Enforcement Act, or UCCJEA, which says that a state becomes the home state of a child based on a three-month interval. Once a child has resided in a state for three months, that state will effectively become the child’s home state.

Therefore, if you are going to be out of the state for more than ninety days, the court would require that notice. In addition, most parenting plans contemplated by parties and attorneys include provisions. For example, it is standard in all of the parenting plans I draft that there be a provision specifically covering that. Those provisions can be as specific or generic as the parties want and can agree upon.

For example, a very generic provision might be that if a parent plans to travel out of state or a specific distance and stay overnight with the child, it usually requires at least 7 days’ notice in advance of that trip. The other parent must be given the trip dates, the destination, and an emergency contact number. That is about as basic as those provisions can be. Possible changes could include the notice period or the time they have to be gone.

In mine, I usually keep it very fundamental. If you are going to be out of the general metropolitan area where you reside with the child for a night, the other parent has the right to know. Most of my clients would agree that it is very reasonable and appreciative to know where their child is resting their head at night. Most attorneys who practice see the validity in that, too. Even if one party might say, “Hey, I don’t think I have to tell the other parent if I’m going to go down to the Legends for a weekend and stay in a hotel,” most attorneys would be able to explain to those parties why a court likely would see it as valid as well.

However, you can get very specific with those provisions as well. In other words, you could take that same base provision and add on to it. Sometimes I have on there, “name of anybody that’ll be travelling, name of anybody where they’ll be staying at, in the residence.” In other words, not to say, “We’re going to be at this place,” but “We’re going to be at this place, staying with these people.” Sometimes, if it is going to be a long trip, I have had provisions that say, You need to give a brief itinerary of what you will be doing.” Say you are going to Europe and doing some backpacking; an itinerary of the general places you will be visiting would be requested.

You can get even more specific from there if you want, but no statute says you have to give any of that information to the other party. Typically, if you go before a judge and ask for it, you will at least get the basic provision stated at the outset. That is why it is usually one of the things continually negotiated in a parenting plan. It is the exact provisions and terms that can fluctuate from plan to plan. That is why much of it depends on how you define it.

Oftentimes, clients say, “Hey, look, I feel like I deserve a degree of privacy.” This is true; they all do because Kansas law says each party does have a right to lead their own, separate, independent life, free of interference or unwanted harassment by their ex. There are case laws that make this very clear. But you can see you have competing interests. As I try to ask my clients, “Don’t you want to know where your kid’s going to be laying their head down every night?” If you can express it well enough at a party, most people understand it. If we go into court and the other side asks for that generic information, such as where you’re going, the dates you’re going, and an emergency number, that’s about as reasonable and generic as it gets.