Methods and apparatuses are provided that include handing over relays in wireless networks. Handover request messages for a relay and related user equipment (UE) can be grouped to lessen signaling requirements for handover. Moreover, identifiers can be communicated in the messages to optimize bearer establishment at a target base station to which the relay and related devices are handed over. Also, handover exception cases can occur, which can be handled by the relay and source and target base stations, such as bearer rejection at the target base station, handover failure for one or more devices or the relay, and/or the like. Further, handover of a relay can occur between base stations that house one or more network gateways for the relay, or where the gateways are centralized and accessible by the source and target base stations, where each scenario can include different exception handling.