[Solved] Court making such decisions

Hi

A court would not make these type of decisions, no. They can, and often do, make orders for telephone contact between the child and the parent they're not with at the time though.

In respect of extra curricular activities - it's really up to the parent that the child is with on the day, to sort out what the child is doing. A court wouldn't over reach that and order one parent to take the child to an activity of the other's choosing.

Thanks Yoda. This is because I am a coach at the football team and their mother doesn't like this fact

I would say that a court would positively encourage (but not order, as Yoda says) that activity, it's good healthy activity for your child, as well as bonding.

Just had communication from the mother that she is going to start to get my kids transferred to another team which if this happens will interfere with when I have them as there is a clash of plans.

Can you have a quiet word with the coach of the other team once you find out where it is? I doubt they would appreciate the fact that they are being used in such a manner.

Hi actd, I have doe this yes and he says he doesnt want to get involved so i am taking that as he is leaving things as they are.

The courts can and do get involved in these decisions. There is case law to suggest they shouldn't really but they do.

Can you expand on that in your experience stepmum?

Hi stepmum

I've yet to see a judge make an order in that much detail without the involvement of barristers or solicitors to do this type of detailed negotiation in the waiting rooms and then put this as part of an order - as a rule, the courts simply do not want to know, unless it's a Specific Issue Application - and even then, they would be likely to be scathing about it. What they are more likely to say is that the parent with whom the child is with makes the decisions for their own time.

There are of course exceptions to every rule and I would be extremely interested to hear of your experience in detail.

If the children are already with one team and the mother wants to change it to prevent you having contact each weekend, she isn't putting the children's best interests first. In fact, if you are the coach you're children would also have some of their time with you reduced on your Saturdays together, whilst you were coaching. It's very petty of her.

What about a formal letter to the mother to state your position and to remind her that it would interfere with your children's time with you and as such isn't in the best interests of the children. It's important that the children aren't involved in parents issues in this way. If you have a court order in place for contact with your children, you could explain that you would be prepared to take it back to court to,get these issues resolved and the order varied; suggest mediation as a way forward.

If you don't have a court order in place, she can more or less do as she pleases, so it might be in your interests to get one in place anyway.

I am in agreement with Yoda, in as much as the courts would consider this something that you should be able to sort out between yourselves, but if that's not possible then there's nothing to stop you taking such action.

I too would be interested in stepmum providing us all with more information/specific case law which might help you.

All the best

I meant to add, about the issue with the mobile phone, do you only get to see your children fortnightly and would therefore like to have some indirect contact with them on the weeks that you don't see each other? Do you have a court order already in place?

Where there's a court order, a fortnightly schedule is usual, plus additional weekly mid week contact too, plus shared school holidays, Christmas and birthdays, so if you only have fortnightly contact, a court application to vary the existing order would be reasonable.

If you don't have a court order in place, and are having difficulty getting a good schedule of regular contact in place, then the right steps would be mediation and if that failed, an application to court..

If there's an order in place and you are only seeing them fortnightly, it would be reasonable to want to vary the order, to include more time with your children, on the weeks you don't see them.