Minnesota workers can lose visitation due to job changes

On Behalf of | Nov 8, 2013 | Child Custody

We have all heard the horror stories about college grads looking for work throughout the state of Minnesota. Employment opportunities are down throughout the nation, leaving many parents scrambling to match their career goals with their child custody agreements. In some cases, families are apart because one parent can only find a position in another city or state, which can cause significant difficulty for visitation and other agreements. One East Coast woman is facing such a struggle after she lost custody of her child when she accepted a position at the only firm that would hire her.

The woman, who graduated in 2011 from law school, was unable to find work in the city in which she lived when she divorced her husband. It is important to note that only half of attorneys who graduated in 2012 were able to find work, and those in the 2011 graduating class also suffered career setbacks. In this case, the woman was sharing joint custody of her child with her husband, but a battle ensued when she attempted to move with the boy to another state.

Now, the woman’s job search is being evaluated because justices argue that she did not look hard enough for work in her hometown. As a result, the child’s father has been granted full custody of the boy, as the parents live about 230 miles apart.

The woman is left with a law degree that only got her a single job, along with a massive amount of debt – and now, no son. Even though this story may sound far-fetched, or even fairly uncommon, experts say that a growing number of attorneys and other professionals are suffering in child custody disputes because they must relocate for work. Parents of both genders are affected by these economic changes. Sadly, co-parenting agreements may increasingly fall victim to these unfortunate financial circumstances, as traditional visitation orders are less likely to fit the mobile modern family.

Source: 
abovethelaw.com, “Recent law grad loses custody of child after taking only job she was offered” Staci Zaretsky, Oct. 25, 2013