A relocation case study where siblings would be split up in event of a move.
Mary and Sal reached a difficult point in their negotiation when they started to talk about the idea of moving. Mary had met and was dating a man who lived three hundred miles away and had his own business at that location. Mary was a professional and knew that if she established a permanent relationship with her new boyfriend, she would be able to start a practice where he lived. Sal realized that he could not move and understood that if Mary left with their two children aged ten and fifteen, he would be cut off from them for long periods of time.
The couple discussed this at length and decided to talk to the children about how they would feel if Mary chose to get married and move. Their fifteen year old made it very clear that he would want to be with his father while their ten year old daughter stated that she would want to be with her mother.
Sal and Mary decided that in the event that Mary moved more than fifty miles away, the custody of the children would be split with their son staying with Sal and their daughter going with her mother. Suitable visitation and access schedules were also set up and, in this way, the parents resolved the issue.
Splitting siblings is something that is done infrequently and sometimes can have negative results for one or more of the children. However, when a situation develops where one parent is forced by necessity to move a great distance then unusual and not totally desirable solutions may have to be sought.