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I have a Child Arrangement court order in place. I had to take my ex wife to court for Child Arrangements due to her stopping him from seeing me.
The Judge decided it was in my Son's best interest that he should see both parents and we were both given shared care (50/50) of our Son, which was great news for me.
This was from November 2015 till November 2016.
From November 2016 till June 2018 I moved to Portsmouth to carry out a course, as I am in the Armed Forces. I was home most weekends but away during the week (except school holiday times). This as well is reflected in the Court Order where the Judge gave me every other weekend and shared holiday times.
The Judge also stated in court that the Court Order is not set in Stone and can be changed via parent to parent.
I have now moved back to Plymouth in June 2018, but have found it hard to get any further child arrangements sorted out, as she keeps quoting the court order, more the second part of the weekends about, instead of the shared care, which it should be.
She is constantly changing her mind over any arrangements that were in place, and this makes it unfair to my son and myself.
She has also stated because she is the Primary Parent, that she has Primary parent authority, which I don't understand, as the Judge did say we both had equal parental responsibility.
I have gone to mediation recently, as a first step, but I believe that will not sort out anything.
Any help on this matter please
Hi there
Does the order state that the 50/50should resume once you completed the course?
In my opinion, regardless of the course arrangements, if the order states that your child lives with both of you, then the mother isn’t the primary parent (I dislike that terminology!)
If she is breaching the order as it is laid out, you can apply for enforcement, which means that mediation isn’t mandatory and you can apply back to court, without having to attend mediation first.
It might be worth taking your order to a solicitor and asking them to write to her formally, as a letter before action, to remind her what the order means, that you have equal standing as parents and that she is breaching the conditions of the order. That if arrangements aren’t put back in place as per the order, you will have no hesitation but to apply to the court for enforcement. It might be enough to get her to tow the line.
Best of luck
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