Things have been smooth for quite a while now. I have no issues with XH. He’s reliable, shows up on time, pays child support, and doesn’t involve himself in parenting decisions. Son is 4.5 and finally appears settled and happy with the visitation routine/schedule (80/20 me/XH).
However. After vanishing from our marriage (from D-Day to permanently moved out in 4 days, zero hoovering in 3+ years since) he’s now vanishing as a parent. He told me he intends to move out of state for at least a year. He didn’t say when, where or why. Just that more details were to come.
Legally, this will effectively void our parenting order (none of our states are within driving distance of each other that would allow for continuation of our current schedule). In his words, “I would love to make arrangements to see Son during this time whenever it suits”. I am happy to facilitate visits whenever he’s in town and it suits our schedule; my solicitor advised that I’m not obliged to put Son on a plane.
I’ve been turning over how to handle this in a way that does the least amount of damage to my son. My philosophy this far has been age-appropriate honesty and it works well. So e.g. “Dad moved to x state for a while and you’ll see him whenever he comes back to y state” and leave it at that unless he asks more questions.
I wouldn’t be surprised if XH settles down wherever he is going and doesn’t come back. In which case it would be the beginning of the end of his involvement in Son’s life because it doesn’t sound like XH is interested in maintaining regular visits.
It’s funny because kml predicted this would happen a couple of years ago and I didn’t believe it! Yet here we are. Just wanted to come back to let you know you were right kml 😂
