Court Affirms Divorced Mother’s Right to Relocate

An appeals court has overturned a Ventura County Superior Court ruling that prohibited a divorced Simi Valley woman from moving to the Sacramento area because it would have prevented her 4-year-old son from visiting his father.

Sandra Nyland, 28, turned to the 2nd District Court of Appeal after Superior Court Judge William Peck ruled that she would lose custody of her son if she accepted a job transfer offered by her employer, Security Pacific Bank.

Peck said the transfer would not be a career enhancement for Nyland--whose local job was eliminated after the merger of Bank of America and Security Pacific--to accept the clerical position in Rancho Cordova, which pays $17,849.

Peck’s ruling, in which he called Nyland’s position a “scut job,” outraged women’s rights activists, who say Dean Nyland’s vocation is no more important than that of his ex-wife.

Nyland, who has three years seniority with the bank and a benefits package that includes health insurance for her son, said the move was in her best financial interest.

Dean Nyland lives in Simi Valley and owns an automotive transmission shop in Sepulveda.

The appeals court ruling, issued earlier this week, allows Nyland to stay in Rancho Cordova, where she has been living since accepting the new position last month.

She will retain custody of the child, Dean Jr., pending an as-yet-unscheduled final hearing in Superior Court on whether it is in the child’s best interest to remain with his mother. A court-appointed psychologist has already ruled that the child is best off with her.

Meanwhile, to comply with the current custody agreement, Nyland plans to accompany Dean Jr. on a weekly shuttle flight from Sacramento to Burbank so he can visit his father in Simi Valley, said her lawyer, Don Adams.

Adams said he was pleased with the appellate court ruling, which is based on a precedent-setting 1990 case in which the same court held that lower courts cannot force parents to choose between resettling in another town and retaining custody of their children.

In the 1990 case, Pamela Theroux, formerly of Ventura, was ordered by a Superior Court judge to return to Ventura County from Alameda County, where she had moved.

“I think the appellate court was attempting to say that this case must still be good law,” Adams said, adding that Peck’s arguments about Nyland’s career were unwarranted.

“I know what the judge was trying to say, but no matter what he believes, Ms. Nyland has a career path she is following,” Adams said.

“Who knows, she may ultimately be the president of the Bank of America. She has to start somewhere.”

A legal expert said the appellate court was right to overturn Peck’s ruling.

“It is not within the court’s power to order people where they can or cannot live,” said John Davidson, an American Civil Liberties Union lawyer who deals with women’s rights issues.

“The court issued an order that was an abuse of discretion,” Davidson said. The decision “constitutionally infringed on the mother’s right to travel and put her in a position where she was . . . unable to support herself.”

Davidson said he has noticed a number of cases recently in which courts have put restrictions on where mothers can live based on custody rights. “I have yet to hear of a case where a court told a father not to move,” he said.

Jamie Cox-Nowland, coordinator for the Ventura-Oxnard chapter of the National Organization for Women, said she was not surprised that a Ventura County judge had ruled that Nyland would lose custody of her son if she relocated.

“We are aware that there are some judges who have gender bias” on the bench in Ventura County. “Unfortunately, judges like that continue to be appointed,” Cox-Nowland said.

A representative of the Los Angeles NOW chapter who was familiar with Theroux’s case said Peck’s ruling was reflective of the judiciary’s opinion of women.

“The attitude that the judge didn’t think the job was good enough to go to indicates that the judiciary will continue in its attempts to tell women what to do with their lives, and that is appalling,” Los Angeles NOW President Tammy Bruce said.

Cox-Nowland added: “It is unacceptable that the court would not give this woman a chance to improve her standing in life.”

Dean Nyland’s attorney did not return repeated phone calls Wednesday.