05 Oct Divorcing With Children And Living In Separate School Districts
A hot issue in divorce is where the parents live and where will the children attend school. This matters becomes especially complicated when the parents live in two separate school districts. Let’s review a few aspects of going through a divorce and what to do about school districts.
The key issue in this type of child custody/family law situation is the domicile of the parents. A domicile simply means where the parent lives. A child’s domicile is normally that of the parent. After a divorce or legal separation, the domicile of the child is that of the parent with whom the child lives.
When life was simpler, it was much easier to determine the school district of enrollment for the child, and a divorce did not complicate this issue. “Back in the day” in most divorce cases, child custody was not an issue. The mother was the primary custodial parent. Moreover, the time spent with the other parent was clearly labeled as visitation time. In the new millennium, there has been an explosion of joint custody and of customized living arrangements. Nothing is as “black and white” as it was in the past. In the today’s world, every legal issue is a blurred set of facts and law, and that includes child custody.
To complicate matters even further the cost of educating a child in a local township is approximately $10,000 per year. The local school boards are under a tremendous amount of pressure to save money. Additionally, if a school system has too many “illegal” students, then this may create a budget crunch. We all know that the principals and the teachers don’t get raises if there is a budget crunch. Therefore, the local school boards really scrutinize whether a child is truly a resident of the township. As a result of the explosion of customized living arrangements, the local school boards, and the courts often have to wrestle with the issue of a domicile for a child who comes from a divorced family.
The bottom line is that educating a child has become tremendously expensive in New Jersey. Many school districts perform “door checks” and “park and wait” surveillance of homes to determine whether children actually reside at their stated home address. The bottom line is if your child(ren) switches school districts then you must have your legal paperwork in line.
Get Help With A New Jersey Divorce and Childs School District
Perhaps you are dealing with complicated child custody issues. Mr. Jeffrey M. Bloom is a family law attorney serving the West New York. Jeffrey Bloom is someone with incredible credentials and years of experience in family law. Give The Law Offices of Jeffrey M. Bloom a call at (855) 208-3650.
