Many visiting parents are concerned with the distance that their child will actually live from them and whether they will truly have the ability to exercise their periods of possession. So to address that concern, what the courts have imposed is what we call a geographic restriction, and what a geographic restriction is, is limitations that the court puts on where the child can primarily live. And the purpose of that is to keep the child as close to both parents as possible and to ensure that the visiting parent is able to actually exercise their periods of possession and have that ability. A typical geographic restriction is focused on a county, and it's surrounding counties. So an example of this would be Harris County or a contiguous county to Harris County, Texas.
So what that would mean is that that child could live in Harris County or any county that surrounds or borders Harris County. So make sure that if you're the visiting parent that you address and request that a geographic restriction be included in your final decree of divorce or your final order in your suit affecting the parent child relationship.
