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Good Afternoon,
Please are you able to assist?
After a lengthy 5-6 months after fighting for an amendment to a child arrangement order, it was finally honoured in court.
However, my ex-gf is still causing problems and issues and I'm just after a bit of advice.
The initial problems started when I paid for my daughters passport and took her to Spain. On return of the holiday, my ex stopped contact hence the need to take her back to court.
The court case generally ruled in my favour, increasing contact. However, I have now said to my ex that I want to take her away on holiday. She's downright refused (and can be evidenced on text messages)
The current child arrangement order states:
'The parties shall provide each other with written confirmation of all travel/accommodation arrangements in respect of holidays with the child outside of the United Kingdom at least two months in advance of such holiday'
Written confirmation a few weeks ago seemed extremely difficult as she has moved house and outright refused to tell me her address. However, I've now managed to ascertain where she lives.
Is the right approach to write to her officially stating the dates I want to take her, or do I write a letter referring to her refusal via text (enclosing the evidence) and requesting that she reconsiders her answer otherwise she is in breach of the CAO?
What I've also noticed is that there is a clause in the order that states my ex can take my daughter out of the UK for a period of one month as my daughter lives with my ex - am I right in thinking that she doesn't need my consent if she wants to take her on hols?
Thanks in advance 🙂
Hi There,
.
As the resident parent your ex can take daughter out of the country with needing to ask your permision, this isn't just a clause in your order, it's just the way it is, it's rubbish and not fair either.
.
I would start of by sending a letter stating the dates that you want to go away refering to the order, something like.......
.
As stated in our contact order, I am giving you the dates for my holiday with ??????
.
If she refuses then you would need to return back to court for an enforcement order.
.
GTTS
Hey GTTS
Thanks for the quick response.
If she refuses then I'll obviously take her back to court. Not ideal as I'd like to ideally deal with it informally but will take it to the next level if required.
Can I just ask - if we are to enforce this by way of a court hearing, can we do this as an emergency? Just wanna speed it through if we can. Would this situation warrant it to be dealt with as an emergency?
Hi
If you find her not agreeable, you can make an urgent application if it means you will miss the holiday.
Just so you are aware. Whilst it does state that resident parents can take a child away for up to 28 days without permission, if this breaches the court order, then they are not allowed to do this.
I have direct recent experience of this where the mother wanted to go for a month, the father refused, it went to court and the judge advised that this clause in orders is misleading as they can only do that if it doesn't mean breaching the schedule of the order.
Thank you all - extremely helpful.
What I am finding extremely confusing is that she has moved home and she outright refuses to give me her new home address. The pick ups/drop offs for my daughter are at my house or at her school so no need for me to go to her home.
How can I be expected to provide written confirmation if I have nowhere to write it to? Does a text message suffice in court as acceptable written confirmation?
Would I be able to make an urgent application to the court to take her on holiday on a week that falls on my contact week, albeit that I am outside of the 2 month notice as stipulated in the court order, given that she refuses to give me her address and therefore nowhere for me to serve the written confirmation to her?
She has also demanded that she is taking my daughter on holiday. This was through text. Just wanna be tactful on this one because she knows my home address - I don't know hers.
Verbal confirmation by her was given to me a few months ago where she refused to allow me to take my daughter on holiday - harder to evidence in a court? Another thing is is that she asked for her passport (I paid for it) and I stupidly handed it over. My own fault.
Sorry for all the questions!
Thanks again everyone!
I think text message confirmation would be proof enough, as you have no other means of contact now she has moved.
I would say for the same reason, i.e. no address, you can make an urgent application to court, it would be for a Specific Issue Order and is applied for with form C100. However, you would need her address for the papers to be served, unless you did it by hand at school, or paid an official server to do it for you.
As Yoda points out, if the holiday she wants to take your daughter on coincides with your contact dates, you can refuse her permission, as the court order supersedes the 28 day rule.
Perhaps you could write to her (handing the letter to her in person at the school gates), explaining that the only person to suffer is your child and that you should both be able to reach agreement about each other's holiday arrangements without having to return to court all the while....state that you don't want to refuse permission, but if she continues to obstruct your daughters time with you, you will have no other option but to return it to court.
As you paid for the passport, you should be able to keep it, handing it over when required. You can broach this in court, making mention of it in the application.
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