I have a 6 yr old son whom the courts recently[12/07] ordered physical custody with me(father), and mother to have visitation EveryOther week-end; from 10:00am to 6:00 pm Sat & 10:00am to 6:00pm Sunday. We share legal custody. Before that we had shared custody with no clear schedule. My question is regarding how to go about moving from the bay-area Ca. to the tampa bay area Fl. The reason for the move is because of several things, one is other family who live in Florida already, another is because of a job offer to work at the v.a. hospital there, another is there we have the opportunity to own a home, where here we just rent. While these are a few of the main reasons we want to move, while were living here now my sons mother does not work, she doesn't have her own home-she has always used her moms home address, she has had 6 or 7 different boyfriends since we split up in 2002/3, and my son is her 3rd kid all by different fathers. My son is my only child, my fiancée I have been with for the past 5 yrs steady, we've maintained our own place for the past 4 yrs,[although we rent- but its still ours.]
So I talked to a lawyer and they said that moving away would not likely be possible, said we would have to pay the courts for a move away evaluation costing roughly 1500.00-2000.00 dollars, if granted- probabally all travel costs Id be responsible to pay, etc...
I would want to modify our orders for school year with me, summer vacation w/mom, split winter& spring break.. also id pay 1/2 sons travel for those times.would this be reasonable? I am also not currently receiving child support.
I felt this particular lawyer was kind of trying to talk us out of our wanting to move. I do think they had made some good points that helped to open our eyes to other aspects of moving, and also helped to add more confusion to an already very confusing issue... :confused:
ANY USEFUL OR PERTINENT INFO IS GREATLY APPREACIATED!!

Unless you can get the mom to approve the move and a new custody agreement your out of luck. Another thing to consider is how much risk you would be placing your child under if your not near. You stated things that lead to believe her judgement is clouded at best on certain matters. Are you willing to risk releasing your child to this woman for weeks maybe months at a time where your not around to watch over them ?
And her not paying child support has nothing to do with visitation. Again you would have a tough time getting this done. There are many agencies in the bay area that will assist in collection of child support and if she isn't working then she is getting her money somewhere and they will find out. For now it might be best to wait until such a time as mom disappears completely before trying to attempt this.

California Courts: Self-Help Center
Useful link for you :