[Solved] Taking children on holiday.

Thank you for your replies. My children stay overnight with me, my fiancée and her daughter every other Friday and Saturday and are very comfortable doing so. I’ve told them about the holiday and they have spoken positively about it. They haven’t expressed any concern.

Did your ex know/agree to the holiday before you booked It?

I asked her but she objected. The children were with us for the first weekend so I booked it anyway and asked if they could stay on the Sunday night but she said no. Think she’s expecting an argument so I’ll do what she wants this year then ask her about mediation when school starts in September. I’ve asked her about it before and she said I’d have to pay for it because ‘she hasn’t got a penny to scratch her [censored] with’. She can afford new sofa’s and carpets though. I guess it would be cheaper to pay for her to go to meditation than it would to pay for my half and then pay to go to court?

If she receives benefits she may be entitled to legal aid funding for mediation... problem solved!

I think the fact that she objected initially, might go against you this time, but I do think you will need to be a little firmer with her, she’s already in breach of the order and seems to think its ok to do so. Have you pointed that out to her?

We’ve had the court order for about 18 months and she’s breached it 7 or 8 times. I’ve e-mailed her each time and copied the court in but they don’t do anything. She called the police when I showed the children a video of her on YouTube from when she was at school aged 13 and has threatened to do so again twice, when I took my fiancée to her house to pick the children up and again a couple of months ago. I drop the children back at a neutral location now and asked if I could drop them back half an hour late one Sunday. She agreed but didn’t turn up. I rang her and she said she was at home but would meet me halfway. I said no but she drove halfway and rang me again saying she had been drinking and asked if I could ‘help her out’.
I wanted to see the children on Friday before they went away and the court order said they were supposed to stay with me. I pointed this out saying she told me she was taking the children away on Saturday but she said I couldn’t see them. The school have a copy of the court order but I don’t what would’ve happened if we would’ve both turned up to pick the children up. If I would’ve called the police she would’ve told the children I was trying to get her arrested.
Technically I haven’t agreed to her taking the children away. I said as long as I can pick them up on the Friday she could take them away. She works in child protection, ignores anything she doesn’t want to hear and thinks she is above the law. I don’t think she’s entitled to legal aid because of the equity in her house.