How to File a Notice of Intent to Relocate in Indiana

To file a Notice of Intent to Relocate in Indiana, you must submit a written notice containing specific statutory information to the court that issued your custody or parenting time order, then serve a copy on the other parent by registered or certified mail. The other parent then has 20 days to respond. The process is governed by Indiana Code Chapter 31-17-2.2, and skipping or botching a step can cost you custody leverage or get your move undone after the fact.¹

Who Has to File

Any party to a custody order or parenting time order who intends to change their primary residence must file the notice.² Custodial and noncustodial parents are both covered. If a court order governs your child’s living arrangements or visitation, the statute applies to you.

Three situations are carved out:

A prior court order already addressed relocation, including one that relieved you of the filing requirement.
The move will decrease the distance between you and the other parent.
The move increases the distance by no more than 20 miles and the child can stay in the same school.

Both conditions in the 20-mile carve-out have to be true. A 15-mile move that forces a school change still triggers the notice requirement.² And even when an exemption applies, the court keeps the power to modify custody, parenting time, or support in light of the move, so the other parent is not without recourse.

What the Notice Must Contain

Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-3 lays out exactly what belongs in the document. Treat it as a checklist, because missing items give the other parent grounds to argue noncompliance:

The physical address of the intended new residence, plus a mailing address if different.
All telephone numbers for the relocating parent.
The specific date of the intended move.
A brief statement of the reason for relocating, such as a job transfer or proximity to family support.
A statement of whether you believe the current parenting time or grandparent visitation schedule needs to change.
The required legal notices to the other parent: that they must file a response within 20 days, that they may petition to prevent the move, that they may request modification of custody or support, and that all existing orders remain in effect until a court changes them.

The statutory legal notices must appear verbatim, which is why most parents use the court-approved form rather than drafting from scratch.³ One point of confusion worth flagging: you do not have to propose a specific new visitation schedule in the notice. You only state whether you think the current one needs revising. Detailed scheduling comes later, if the case reaches a hearing.

Where to File and How to Serve

File the completed notice with the clerk of the court that issued your original custody or parenting time order.² If a single court did not issue both orders, file with the court that has jurisdiction over the custody or parenting time proceedings.

Serve the other parent with a copy by registered or certified mail. That creates a verifiable delivery record, which matters because the 20-day response clock starts the day the other parent receives the notice. File your proof of service with the court so there is no later dispute about when, or whether, the other parent was notified.

If Disclosure Would Put You or Your Child at Risk

If giving the other parent your new address or phone number would create a safety risk, ask the court for a protective order. The court can seal the address and contact information, keep those details in a secure location away from the main case file, waive parts of the notice requirement, or impose other protections.⁴

What Happens After You File

The non-relocating parent has 20 days from receipt to file a response.¹ They can accept the move with no changes, accept it but ask the court to adjust custody, parenting time, or support, or object outright and ask the court to block the relocation. Either of the latter two includes a request for a hearing. The response must also state whether the parties have already attempted mediation or another form of dispute resolution.

If the non-relocating parent files nothing within 20 days, you may move to the new residence.¹ There is no extension. A parent who ignores the notice forfeits the ability to block the move.

You can bypass the response process entirely if both parents sign a written agreement resolving custody, parenting time, visitation, and child support as they relate to the move. If the agreement changes child support, a completed child support worksheet has to be attached. That agreement gets filed with the court in place of a response.

If the Move Is Contested

When either parent requests a hearing, the court holds a full evidentiary proceeding to decide whether to allow the move and whether to modify any custody, parenting time, or support orders.¹

The burden runs in two stages. First, the relocating parent must show the move is made in good faith and for a legitimate reason. Indiana courts have treated this as a reachable standard; a genuine job opportunity or need for family support can satisfy it. If that burden is met, the non-relocating parent must then show the move is not in the child’s best interest. If neither parent carries their respective burden, the court resolves the question on the overall evidence.

While the case is pending, the court may issue a temporary order permitting or restraining the move. To temporarily permit the move, the court must find that proper notice was given and that there is sufficient evidence the relocation is in good faith.⁵

What the Court Weighs

Six statutory factors drive the court’s decision:²

The distance of the proposed move.
The hardship and expense the non-relocating parent would face in exercising parenting time or grandparent visitation.
Whether workable parenting time arrangements can preserve the child’s relationship with the non-relocating parent, taking each parent’s finances into account.
The relocating parent’s pattern of conduct regarding the other parent’s contact with the child. A history of interference with visitation weighs heavily against the relocating parent.
The reasons given for and against the move.
Any other factor relevant to the child’s best interest, which pulls in the broader custody factors from Indiana Code 31-17-2-8, including the child’s wishes (given greater weight at age 14 or older), the child’s adjustment to home, school, and community, and evidence of domestic violence.⁶

Mediation, Attorney’s Fees, and Your Existing Order

Before a full hearing, the court may order both parents into mediation or another form of dispute resolution, on its own motion or at either parent’s request.² Many Indiana courts push hard for mediation in relocation cases, since the alternative is a contested hearing where one parent loses ground. A written mediated agreement avoids the hearing entirely.

The court may also award reasonable attorney’s fees to either party.² A bad-faith objection to delay a legitimate move, or a move attempted without following the rules, can leave one side paying the other’s legal bills.

One last thing that catches relocating parents off guard: filing the notice does not suspend any existing order. All current custody, parenting time, grandparent visitation, and child support orders stay fully enforceable until a court formally modifies them.² Until a judge signs a new order, the old one binds you no matter how impractical the distance makes it.

1
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-5 – Response to Request for Relocation
2
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-1 – Notice of Intent to Move Residence
3
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-3 – Notice Information Requirements
4
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-4 – Risk or Harm in Disclosing Information
5
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2.2-6 – Temporary Order to Restrain or Permit Relocation
6
Indiana General Assembly. Indiana Code 31-17-2-8 – Custody Order