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Can a Custodial Parent Be Forbidden to Relocate?

By Kimberli J. Reagin
March 04, 2004

Parents in Georgia may need to reconsider moving out of state, or they could risk losing custody of their children. The Nov. 10, 2003 decision by the Supreme Court of Georgia in Bodne v. Bodne, 588 S.E.2d 728 (2003) (Benham, J., dissenting) has overruled or otherwise affected nearly 100 years of child custody law, and it has rescinded the well-established presumption that custodial parents have a prima facie right to retain custody.

Bodne v. Bodne

In Bodne, the parties, Rachel Ann Bodne and Dr. David Bodne, divorced in 1999. The divorce decree provided them joint legal custody of the parties' two minor children and granted primary physical custody of the children to their father. The parties agreed to share the children equal amounts of time, and they anticipated alternating time with the children every 2 weeks. In 2001, Dr. Bodne remarried, and he informed his ex-wife that he planned to move with the children from Georgia to Alabama. Dr. Bodne filed a petition to modify Rachel Ann Bodne's visitation in contemplation of his upcoming move. She filed a counterclaim in which she opposed the move and sought primary physical custody of the children. The trial court awarded primary physical custody to Rachel Ann Bodne, and Dr. Bodne appealed.

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