Custody Modified in Father’s Favor After Mother Sought to Relocate

The Oklahoma Law Behind This Result

After a decree is final, the parent asking to change custody generally must prove a permanent, substantial, and material change of conditions that directly affects the child’s best interests, and that because of that change the child would be substantially better off if custody were changed, the standard the Oklahoma Supreme Court set in Gibbons v. Gibbons, 1968 OK 77.

A proposed move by the custodial parent is not, by itself, that change; it is one fact in a larger record about where the child’s stability, schooling, and relationships actually are. When a relocation is more than 75 miles, 43 O.S. § 112.3 also governs the move itself, with notice to the other parent and a hearing on good faith and the child’s best interests if the other parent objects within 30 days.

Support follows custody. When primary custody changes, the guideline computation under 43 O.S. §§ 118A through 118I is redone with the parents in their new roles, and when the parents later share time equally, the parenting-time adjustment in § 118E applies once the parent with fewer overnights has at least 121 of them, with the largest reduction at an equal schedule.

A schedule that changes twice, as it did here, produces two different support numbers, each of which has to be put in an order to be enforceable.

What Fathers in a Similar Situation Should Know

A move is the moment to look at the whole custody arrangement rather than only the relocation question, and the evidence that supports a modification is the father’s own record of involvement. Our Tulsa relocation attorney page covers the notice and objection rules, the custody modification page covers the Gibbons standard, and the child support calculator guide shows how a change in overnights changes the number.