Moving Your Kids To A New School When Splitting Up

Posted by WaltersGilbreath on August 28th, 2014

When a couple with children splits up, a common problem is: where do the kids get enrolled in school? If the parents are just living down the road from each other in the same school district, then this is a non-issue.

But a much more frequent situation is where the parents end up living in different school districts. This means that the kids could end up changing schools suddenly.

Courts look on a sudden change in the kids school as a bad thing, and will do what they can to avoid it. Often times, primary custody will be awarded to the parent who remains in the school district. This is because the primary goal of Courts is usually to minimize disruption to the children. Courts will usually try to keep kids in the same home and school.

This causes people to act oddly sometimes. For example, in a family where the mom is stay at home and the dad works, and they live in an expensive house, the Mom will often try to stay in the home. This maximizes her chances of getting custody, even though there is no way that she can afford to live there in the long term. It would make more sense for her to move to a cheaper place.

Parents also sometimes use a separation as an excuse to move far away from the other parent. Sometimes the motivation is to get distance, sometimes it is to be closer to family, sometimes just to spite the other side. But getting up and moving the kids out of their school and into a new school is a bad idea in most cases.

There are several law firms handling child custody cases ongoing right now where a mother has moved the kids out of the house and into a new school. In these cases the mother probably would have won custody. But now that they have moved, they have probably lost custody. They have shown a disregard for the best interests of their children, and instead are focused on what they think they need.

The lesson is the same here as it always is: put your kids first. If splitting up is in their best interests, fine. But be sure to minimize the upheaval that comes with that by trying to keep their lives as unchanged as possible, at least in the short term.

In the long term it is fine for kids to change schools and even move. That happens all the time in our society, and actually can be a positive. Just be patient when splitting up, not only for your kids, but also for the sake of your custody case.

About The Company:

Walters Gilbreath is a law firm based in Austin, Texas.  The law firm specializes in family law, which covers Divorce, Child Custody, Property Division, Alimony, and more. Walters Gilbreath let you get on with your life in the best emotional, financial and legal shape possible. Walters Gilbreath represents clients and is always prepared to go to the lengths necessary to maximize a client’s chances of victory.