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Hello Dads,
My CAO was finalised in March; every other weekend Fri-Mon, Tuesday evenings and half all holidays with our 3.5yr old.
Ex has been super toxic (because she's angry she spent a fortune on lawyers and 'lost'), but other than that, the order had been adhered to for the most part.
But recently, things have gotten shaky..
1) As part of the CAO, indirect contact (video calls) have been stipulated on Sunday evenings (the weekend I don't have my daughter). She is still young and so I keep it brief, 15mins of nursery rhymes, counting, silliness, etc. My ex never acknowledges me on the call, is always lurking in the background (out of necessity I guess) and hangs up abruptly at the end of the call, as my daughter and I are saying goodbye. Then this week she messaged me to say that our daughter was 'losing interest' in the calls (not true) and they needed to be much shorter.
Is this a breach of the court order?
Additionally, is there a device (I thought Facebook had one called 'portal', that seems to have been discontinued) that would allow me to video call with my daughter without my ex having to be in the same room wrangling her? How do other Dads manage a video call with their 3/4yr olds?
2) There have been a couple of weekends in the past 4 months that I've missed contact (due to legitimate work reasons taking me out the area / country). The ex has point blank refused to reschedule the time, despite the CAO stipulating that 'best efforts' should be made to make up any time lost due to father's work.
So I suggested (threatened) that any weekends that I have to work, that my folks (in their 70s admittedly) will take her for the weekend instead. She has not replied to this suggestion. She is clearly holding out the overnights because her CMS money is based on overnights (the usual story) but can I threaten legal action if she refuses to let my parents have her for the weekend? Has anyone got experience of this?
I've been advised (correctly I think) that it'd be very unwise to go back to court so soon, and the magistrates would take very dim view, but obviously if the order needs to be enforced, there's a valid reason for doing so.
Thanks in advance!
Hi,
If court order does not state how long video call should be, then shorter call would not be breach. If order does not state she has to make up the time if father not available for work, then not a breach. Anything recorded in recitals is not enforceable.
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