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Good morning all. I've applied for a child arrangement order for regularised contact (Im a LIP) and to ensure my child's name is remained unchanged. I had the FDHRA this week and the respondent submitted a C2 form seeking her own set of asks including that the child lives with her. Being an LIP i was ignorant of what this could mean, otherwise I would have pre-empted it in my original application by applying for shared residence (with child spending majority of the time with respondent).
There is a new date for a new FDHRA set and its been bumped up to a district judge.
Any advice on how I respond to her c2 form to ensure that I can get shared residence? Do I apply by completing a C2 to vary my original application, or can I merely respond to her application in my position statement and seek shared residence?
Thank you in advance
Hi there
What are you reservations about the mother being named as the parent your child lives with? It doesn't make much difference in the bigger picture, apart from the fact that she can take the child out of the country for up to a month without your permission, unless it interferes with any court ordered contact, in which case she would still need permission.
If it's important to you, you can counter apply for shared residence with a C2 form, or you can also respond to it in your position statement, explaining why you are unhappy and what you would like to happen. Your position statement must be brief and contain no attachments.
All the best
Thank you that is really helpful.
My reservations - I can see she is looking to have residence to exclude me and engineer me out of my son's life, which she is doing already. Its a subversive form of parental alienation of a 2 year old.
You suggest a C2 form seeking shared residence, or setting out why I'm not happy in my position statement. Which would be better?
I live in London and I sent the original application for the hearing to be heard in Manchester, but I realise that is not sustainable long term. She is obviously not attending court with the child so do you think I could ask the court to move the case somewhere more convenient more both of us requiring me to take less annual leave?
Thanks you again!
She can just as easily engineer exclusion even with a shared care agreement in place, shared care doesn't necessarily mean an equal split of time with each parent.
Because she has added a further application to the existing proceedings and raised the issue of residence, it would be perfectly acceptable to address it at the hearing and use your position statement to request a shared care agreement instead. that said both methods s of getting it addressed are acceptable, it's what you feel most comfortable with.
Cases are almost always heard at a family court that is nearest the parent with whom the child lives most of the time. If your ex lives in Manchaester, I doubt that any attempt to move it nearer to you would be successful.
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