KS to OH residential flip-flop-f***-up =HELP!

[Living Lightly]

One year ago my 16 y.o. son chose to live w/ his dad in KS ( I live in OH). I did not fight and relinquished residential guardian status as we have joint custody. Now, he has decided to return home since my ex is getting a divorce from his current wife. The problem is that the ex is proposing an " under the table" deal where we leave the legalities out of it and just keep it "friendly"... Funny,not much over the 10 years since our divorce, on his part, has been "friendly" ... Whereby he will write me a notarized letter giving me permission to enroll our son in school here. "DUH!!!", right? (Child support aside, since I already told the ex that I would let it go for the short time left... and he's looking at 4 MORE kids now!!) Well, the problem is that since I live 1,300 miles from the courthouse, and am looking for work, I can't exactly afford the time / money to run back and forth for 2-3 court appointments to change residency MUCH LESS manage a lawyer out there to do it FOR me! Any sage advice out there for how best to handle this while keeping my head above water and my butt out of the fire?!!

[tbyte]

The school may not accept a notarized letter. Public schools, at least, are publicly funded and may require that the child's residential parent have established residency in their area.
What exactly is your desired outcome?

[Living Lightly]

My desired outcome is to, as peaceably as possible, regain residential custodianship of our son ( since that is HIS desire @ the age of 16 ) without having to trek ANOTHER 2,000 mile round trip to court in KS. I just wondered if anyone had an idea of if / how this might be handled via phone or mail through the court. I have since spoken to the presiding judge's assistant and found out that there are SOME possibilities available, but they hinge on my ex being agreeable to keeping all the previous terms the same. However, he likes to be a paranoid "victim" who thrives on chaos and drama; "agreeable" is not one of his strong suits!

[tbyte]

I would advise you against any "friendly" agreements, which you and I both know are bound to backfire or fall apart.
I would advise you against fighting anything in court, as you and I both know that it would take a year or more to resolve, at great expense, and by then the child would be almost emancipated anyway.
So, anything you and your ex can agree upon should be drawn up by an attorney and presented as a modification to the court.

[Living Lightly]

That's also what the judge's secretary recommended to me, so I guess I'll proceed that way and hope the ex agrees. Thanx for the input and advice, tbyte!