In most divorces the custodial parent, usually the mother, has the right to move the children hundreds or even thousands of miles away from the noncustodial father, harming or sometimes destroying the crucial bonds between fathers and their children, and there is usually little that noncustodial fathers can do about it.

Since the 1996 California Burgess decision, in which move-away mom Wendy Burgess was successfully represented by feminist attorney Gloria Allred, California custodial parents have had the presumptive right to move. In Re: Marriage of LaMusga, a move-away case currently before the California Supreme Court in which a mother seeks to move her two children 500 miles away from their loving father, may change that.

Over 100 feminist groups have filed Amicus Curiae briefs supporting the mother and her attempt to move in LaMusga. Garrett C. Dailey, the lead attorney representing the father before the California Supreme Court in LaMusga, and Patti Diroff of the Children's Rights Council discussed the case and its impact on fathers' rights.

To learn more about move-aways, see Glenn's columns New Study, Case May Help California Children of Divorce Retain Bonds with Both Parents (Pasadena Star-News &Affiliated Papers, 6/5/03) and No Virtue in 'Virtual Visitation' (Boston Globe, 7/12/02). The latter column was co-authored by Dianna Thompson, Executive Director of the American Coalition for Fathers and Children.