Nevada Needs A New Standard For Parents Wanting To Move With Their Children Out Of The Country

It is beyond dispute that international relocation is fundamentally different from relocation within the United States. Except for moves to Mexico or Canada, an international relocation means travel to an entirely new continent, to a foreign culture, often with a foreign language, and always with a foreign system of laws. When a district court is considering a relocation of children to a different country, there are considerations that may not be as relevant as to a move within the United States. Given the great distance, the children’s immersion into a foreign culture and system of laws, the existing law in Nevada is an entirely inappropriate standard. This firm submits that the court should be required to consider additional issues involved in international relocation including but not limited to:
1. Is the visitation enforceable by Nevada court, i.e., is the destination country a signature to the Hague Convention?
2. Is the proposed contact financially sustainable over a long period?
3. Will the children be able to cope with the travel involved?
4. How will the children cope with being so far from the other parent?
5. Will the proposed visitation actually occur throughout the children’s minority? If it does not for financial, or other reasons, is that in the best interest of the children?