If its been in the ground less than 2 years, it should be possible to dig it out, but you will have to take great care not to break the roots. The only way to do it is to loosen the soil around the plant about a foot away all round, working in and levering the fork as you go, but gently - stop when you feel resistance. Then remove loose soil carefully with a spade, as much as you can, to reveal the root system and where they're all going. You may need to get down on hands and knees and shove your hands and arms into the soil to grope around, particularly under the centre of the plant, to work out where to loosen more soil with the fork to get the roots out intact. I moved one last week which had been in 2 years - by the time I'd finished, I was filthy up to my armpits... Unfortunately, wearing gloves isn't much use,you can't feel where the roots are properly. Only thing that worries me slightly is that you say your tree is already 4.5 feet high, in two years - a small Acer such as A. palmatum dissectum shouldn't really be as tall as that so quickly, so you may have just an Acer palmatum, which do grow somewhat quicker and make much larger trees than dissectum varieties.

Acer palmatum and its varieties are not the easiest to move and transplant, so if you don't feel confident about the task, might be best to leave it where it is.

I reckon one month's time will still be too early. Leave it for the new people. Phil J

thankyou for your replies, i guess it would be easier and better for the tree to leave it here, will just have to treat myself to another one , Catherine