Parenting After Relocation: How Divorced Parents Can Stay Connected Across State Lines
Making Long-Distance Co-Parenting Work After Divorce: Tips for Relocating Parents
In today’s mobile world, it’s not uncommon for one parent to relocate after a divorce—whether for work, family, or personal reasons. While relocation can present challenges, it doesn’t have to disrupt the bond between parent and child. Courts understand this reality and work to create parenting plans that reflect the new distance while still promoting meaningful contact.
When a parent moves out of state, parenting time is adjusted, not eliminated. Daily or weekly visits may no longer be possible, but alternatives like extended summer breaks, long weekends, and holiday travel are commonly used to ensure regular contact. Courts may award the non-custodial parent longer, uninterrupted stretches of parenting time during the summer or winter holidays to compensate for missed routine visits.
Modern conveniences have made long-distance co-parenting more practical than ever. Affordable air travel, frequent flyer miles, and flexible remote work arrangements make it easier for parents to travel or host their children. Instead of impersonal hotel rooms, services like Airbnb allow parents to rent homes that provide a more comforting and natural environment for visits—helping preserve routines and strengthen the parent-child relationship.
Relocation requires flexibility and thoughtful planning, but with today’s tools and a cooperative mindset, parents can maintain close and meaningful relationships with their children—even across great distances.
