No NO!
any notirized statements or agreements will not hold up in court. If you have cutody though the court and not the father then the biggest mistake you can make is allowing him to take the children out of state, I have heard so many horror stories about the outcome of parents making these kind of decition out side of the courts. If you want to allow the father to take the children for six months then you and the father need to file a petition to modifly the orignal custody order, you would have to give the father tempory custody, however I will tell you this even if you file a motion and do this that is the easy part, try to get the children back from out of state in the six months and your going to find yourself spending alot of money on lawyers. I will give you some good free legal advice the courts will determine custody for the children by the parent that has the children living with them for the past six months, meaning if you give your ex tempory custody for six months and allow him to leave state then what will happen is this, first your ex can in six months file for full custody being a resident in the state he is going to, you would be servered and have to appear in court. I don;t believe I have to say what happens next, you also have the promblm of your ex living with his parent(s) and that in itself will be a big influince of his decition making about the children. So I would think twice beforeallowing this to happen. What I would sujest for you is to call afew lawyers there are many that offer free consutation, they will tell you what can and may happen if you do this, if you have no lawyer contact legal aide they go by your income. Just be carefull not to make a decition that you will be sorry you made down the road, and do not do anything outsde of the court. Ihope after you consult with a lawyer you wll find more peace with whatever decition you have to make for the children. Good luck!

From your word choice,it appears you are still married. If so, the problem lies withthe fact that a parent can move with their children anywhere they please, as long as the purpose is not to secrete the child (ren) from the other parent. . It also appears you are planning to divorce. What your husband may have in mind is moving there, establishing residency, so he can file for divorce in that state, he will have "posession" of the children, he will be able to argue that the children as established there, they have extended family there, etc. and moving them back would not be in the best interest of the child(ren) becaus ethey will then be derpived of theri grandparents ( who have become very close to the children) and their father.
Your agreement does not have the force of law behind it because it is not part of a court case, and all he has to do is claim he signed that under duress, because otherwise, you would not allow the children to visit their grandparents, and he would argue that "things" have changed since he made that promise.. And, once in divorce court, the court will be the finder of fact, and the one making decisions based on th best interest of the chiildren. A "contract" without a basis in law, is only as good as the person's word is. The agreement you describe, does not have a legal basis, because the two of you have tried to "contract" the rights of your children "away". It is the child's right to a mother and or a father and what situation is in their best interest. "The best interest of the child" is a legal doctrine, not mererly the words, but hwat controlls the decision making for the court, and therefore , the parents. I do not see that agreement being enforced if the court doesn't agree that the children should be returned to you. Now, the court MAY come to that conclusion, that the children are returned to you, but not because of the agreement.

Since you didn't share the reason, that the children are going to go there, start school, and then come back to you and go to school there. all within six months. Frankly, unless there is some very compelling reason, this 6 months idea is not in the children's best interest. Further, if this becomes a contentious issue, the court may wonder about your ability to discern what is in the best interest of your children by allowing this escapade.

You should think long and hard, ubnless you are willing to move there so you can visit your children eaiser, and go to court there. If I knew what compelling reason he has for doing this, the facts may change my mind, but as it stands now, I smell a rat.

The reason for the move is mainly financial. We have been seperated for about 5 years (not legally seperated just have not lived together ) During this time we had worked out a 50/50 agreement where we both have the kids and it has been very friendly . The reason for the move is that he was recently laid off and he is moving with his parents to go back to school and save up some money . I have spoke to his parents about this and everyone agrees on our terms. The only reason I am thinking about letting them go is becasue my children have been begging me to let them go . Mostly becasue they spend summers with their Grandparents every year and they dont see it as much different. But I am struggling with all of this and really dont feel its wise to let them go . But if I do , I need a way to protect myself. Right now they attend school where their father is currently living , so either way they will have to switch schools. Its all a big mess.

All I can say, is that the "reason" is not compelling, and I would advise any client of mine, the same as I did you. all I see is a man lining up his excuses and "straw man" arguments to evade paying any child support.

Soory did not catch that you are married still, that does make a difference, but what will say is this if you are strugging with this and you do not feel its wise to let them go then I would say foolow your instinct. As I stated before is you allow the father to leave state with the children, you need to both file a petition with he cout for custody, if the father is going to be moving out of state for sim months then only one of you can get custody, your not going to be able to get joint custody if your in two different states, and once the father lives in the other state for six months he becomes a resident of the state. What yu need to do is talk with the father and instead of trying to just sign an agreemenrt that is not legal and binding decide what is in the best interest of the children, if their going to live with their dad for six months give him custody, and then stipulate the visitations and you can agree that he pays for the trips back and forth. You can ask for summers if they are residing in the other state. You both need to make a decition you cannot just uproot the children back and forth, if you the mother cannot afford to keep your children and that is the reason your wanting to send them with their father then you can chose to do that, but you would be eligiable for state benefits like food stamps and medical and the father would have to pay child support. So think about this. No one can convince you to keep the children we can only help you by giving you advice. I wish you luck!