Delaying Child Relocation Request Until He Reaches 5 Years of Age

In Sylvester v. Sylvester, 992 So. 2d 296 (Fla. 1st DCA 2008), the trial court granted the wife's relocation request but delayed relocation until the child reached five years of age and/or started kindergarten, finding that it was not in the best interest of the child to be immediately separated from the husband. At the time of the hearing the child was three years old. See 992 So. 2d at 296. The trial court determined that current relocation was not in the best interest of the child because it believed that the child needed more time to acclimate to the marital dissolution. Rather, the court found that the child would be emotionally and psychologically capable of handling a deferred relocation. See id. at 296-97. On appeal, the First District reversed the trial court's order, holding that the trial court erred in permitting relocation two years from the date of the hearing. Id. at 296.