If you share legal custody over your child, that means you and their other parent must discuss and agree on any major life decisions for your child before executing them. This may entail which religion your child will be taught, which medical care your child will be treated with, and namely, which school your child will attend. You may have already settled on your child’s education, but as each school year passes by, you may realize that this is not the best opportunity you can offer them. If this is your current predicament, please read on to discover how to change your child’s school while being governed by a joint legal custody arrangement, and how a seasoned Long Island child relocation lawyer at the Law Offices of Jay D. Raxenberg, P.C., can help your child’s best interests be seen.

How can I change my child’s school if I have joint legal custody?

To reiterate, changing your child’s school requires mutual consent of both you and your child’s other parent under a joint legal custody arrangement. Therefore, your first attempt may be initiating an open dialogue with your child’s other parent about your concerns and gauging whether they can see your side of things. 

If there are still on the fence about it, so to speak, you may offer to take this discussion to mediation sessions, which a neutral, third-party mediator would monitor and assist in. If an agreement still cannot be reached here, your last line of defense may be to file a petition with the New York State family court that handled your initial child custody case. 

How do I prove that changing my child’s school is in their best interests?

When you get the New York State family court involved, you may request that a judge decide on which school your child should attend. Or, you may take it one step forward and petition for final decision-making authority on educational matters within your existing joint legal custody arrangement, so that you may pick your child’s school. 

Either way, you must prove that such a transfer would work in your child’s best interests, rather than just serving your personal preferences. And also, that the potential benefits may outweigh the possible disruptions in their routine and established lifestyle. With that, legitimate explanations for this may include the following:

  • Your child’s emotional and social well-being, or physical safety, is being threatened at their current school. 
  • The school of interest has stronger academic programs and more diverse extracurricular activities for your child to choose from. 
  • The school of interest has smaller class sizes and better support services to aid your child’s special educational needs.
  • The school of interest would be a shorter commute from both your and their other parent’s primary residences. 

All of this to say, before you make any major life decisions for yourself or your child, please consult with a competent Long Island child custody lawyer from the Law Offices of Jay D. Raxenberg, P.C. Your first consultation with us is complimentary, so there should be no hesitation in picking up the phone to schedule yours today.