[Solved] Enforcement or Amendment?

Sorry - didn't mean to post in this area. Could a moderator please move my post?

I'm not qualified to give legal advice, but I'll give you some food for thought.

It is my understanding that yes, you will have to try mediation first. No way around this one. I've seen cases of others here that were initially sceptical about mediation ( I would be too ), but then it turned out that it actually did work, so maybe give it a honest try, this would likely be the quickest way of getting things sorted out.

According to Families need fathers, only 1% of enforcement applications are granted . I have no idea where they got their data from. You might also want to read https://fnf.org.uk/news-events-2/press-releases/11-press-releases-2013-archive/96-130205 .

Regarding the things you want to add to the order:

Specifically the point on child maintenance being used for a specific purpose, while I totally agree that your proposal is sensible, I doubt very much that a court would grant this. Again, doesn't mean you shouldn't try, but I think your best chance to guarantee a savings account for when your child is older is to put the money into your own pension. You can contribute up to £40K/year (plus unused allowances from the past 3 years), and this reduces your child maintenance obligation a tiny bit.

You mention the order has been in place 3 years, i had an order in place just over 18mths and my ex stopped contact, i applied on a C79 to enforce order only to be told by court it had been too long and i should apply on a C100 to vary the order.

that in itself means MIAM assessemnt is required to be carried out before court will accept the application.

however, i have just had a hearing where the judge stated that the order had been broken regardless of how long it had been in place it had been broken and i was well within my rights to apply for enforcement (C79).

contact court explaining the order has been broken and ask to apply under enforecment applciation, see what they tell you.

regarding dates / times etc.. for contact, holidays etc... you need to stress to court that these have been broken, provide evidence of what days didn't happen and reasons why - if you have texts / emails then provide them as evidence to back you up.

in my case the court orders had set certain days/times but that overnights and holidays were left flexible words of the order were "other days / overnights as can be agreed between the parties"....she would never agree to any so had to apply to enforce.
as much as i wanted flexibility i now have no option but to ask for set dates...if they don't happen then it'd be back for enforcement - this in my case is a long way off again due to the ex.

Hi and welcome to the forum.

Taking into account everything you have said and given the mother is now indicating she is suspending contact, you need to apply for enforcement using a C79. You do not need to attempt mediation to make this application and the hearing should be listed within 4 weeks from receipt. Personally, I would advise using that hearing as an opportunity to say that in addition to wanting the court to enforce the order, you have not been able to agree any further contact arrangements as the mother refuses to communicate on the matter. If you have a decent judge, they are likely to consider a variation as well so that the order works. I have annotated below the other questions;

Now, whilst I want to amend enforce/amend many of the points above to be more specific with dates, I also want to add additional points to cover the following:

Ability to have my son for at least 7 nights in a row, once per year, so that I can take him on holiday. Plus access to his passport.
That's pretty bog standard in most orders

Be informed by the mother about parents evenings, school trips, sports days, school reports, school photos, etc.
Be involved with hospital/doctors/dentist appointments.
Most of that you should organise yourself via the school and doctor as I'm assuming you have Parental Responsibility

The mother has told my son that she is going to change his surname (it's currently mine) - so I want to ensure that this doesn't happen.
No point in asking about this. She cannot do it without your permission and she would have to apply to court. Court very rarely allows that to happen, and pretty much never if the father has contact with the child

To be given details on flights/hotels and an emergency contact number when my son is on holiday with his mother.
You could ask for that. Again - it's fairly bog standard in a lot of orders.

In the event of an important occasion, my son to be available - I will give minimum of 2 weeks notice.
Important events are a reasonable request and it might be good to say "notice to be within a time frame agreed between the parties"

If my son is too ill to see me, I want to be given the right to see my son and decide whether contact should go ahead or not (as his mother could be lying).
A judge won't go for that, but if this has happened a lot, you can let the court know that, and explain you now don't know whether to believe when he is ill.

My salary has also increased significantly and she is going to go from receiving £230/month to over £1,000/month in the coming months. My concern is that she will throw this money away on bags/shoes. I want the court to enforce her to pay at least half of the money into a savings account for my son. If we lived together, I would certainly not be spending this sort of money or changing my lifestyle - it would be saved!
Children and Finances are two separate issues in court and it's not something you can dictate anyway, as annoying as that might seem.

Whilst the original order needs to change fundamentally, there is also a new complication.

To complicate things, as of last weekend, the mother has stated that she is stopping all access once again, as I'm never there for him (I clearly am, when she lets me!). She has nothing to support her decision and is clearly breaching the order.

So, what do I do now? Do I apply for an enforcement order, or do I amend the existing order?

I assume enforcement order first, and when that's in place, apply to amend it?

Or could I do both at the same time - can't see options to do this on the relevant forms?
Just put the C79 in and you can put the rest on a Position Statement that you take with you on the day of the hearing.

My main concern is obviously timeframes and I don't want to go for 6 months without seeing my son, whilst the courts decide on what to do. What's the quickest win here?

Also, she'll never agree to mediation (I don't even have a way of contacting her anymore) - do I have to go down this route again?