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Hi all,
I am the fiancee of a very loving devoted dad who were unfortunatly married and conceived a child.
To cut a long story short, we have shared residency and a contact order in place. The contact order does not specify any times but just nights when who should have the child.
On xmas eve it was our night to have the child but his ex wife got the child to ring up his dad and tell him that he didn't want to stay with us that night (although the last time we spoke to the child he was fine and not too bothered where he stayed, he is 11) so therefore the contact order has now been broken.
What can we do now? Firstly she shouldn't be involving the child in to these matters and was told in court not do this by the judge, obviously she has taken no notice. Secondly what can we do about the contact order being broken by her?
Hi Fed Up
Hi welcome to Dad Talk, I hope this forum can be a great help to you. Firstly I hope you and your partner are coping
ok, sorry to hear the pain that the other half is putting him through.
In terms of the legal side of things we have a great team that would be able to advise you in your very situation.
Hope the advice you receive is a blessing in the future.
JJ
Hi Fedup,
While we're waiting I thought I would post a few words.
I am not certain if this is helpful, but I searched posts and found this one which looked helpful:
... it is best to be clear about this at the time the order is written and to check this carefully. The terms of the order can be varied if both parties agree, and it is advisable to be open to flexibility at times. If orders of the court are broken this is contempt of court and the offender can be taken back to court but also need to bear in mind there is no one actually enforcing the order. It is up to the adults to make sure it works.
https://www.dadtalk.co.uk/forum/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=319&p=1146&hilit=+contact+broken#p1146
So it looks like you could think about going back to court but the bottom line looks like you and your ex need to make it work.
If you were at court I guess you could get them to remind her not to involve the children in these things...
Lets see what the experts say.
Dear FedUp,
If the contact order has been broken then you do have the option of applying to court for enforcement of this order.
How you would go about this would depend on the order that your partner has. If the order has a penal notice attached to it, then he is able to apply immediately for enforcement. If the order does not have a penal notice attached then your partner would be required to apply to have this attached, and the mother would then have to breach the order again before enforcement can be applied for.
In order to make either of these applications, you are able to download the relevant forms (C78 to attach a penal notice and C79 for enforcement) from www.hmcs.gov.uk and also the guidance on enforcing a court order is available in form CB5.
If your order already has a penal notice attached and you apply for enforcement, the court will hear all the facts that you raise and will decide whether or not to penalise the mother for the breach.
The more often the mother has breached the order, the more serious the court will take this matter.
The mother can attempt to argue that the child did not wish to have this contact session, however the mother is not able to override the court order, and if this was the case she should have applied to court for a variation of the order, rather than breaching it.
At 11 years old the court can seek and consider the child’s opinion, but this is not the overriding factor, and the court will still decide based on what is thought best for the child in question.
It is advisable that you keep a record of all events that take place as this is something that may be able to be used to support any application you make.
We hope that this information is useful to you. Should you require further advice please contact us on 0808 8020 008 and an advisor will be happy to help.
Kind Regards
Children’s Legal Centre
hi , i dont know if any one can give me any advice i took my ex gf to court to gain a contact order for my daughter who is 7 im ment to get my daughter every sunday 10am until 1pm i havent been given my daughter for any contact for 9 weeks again my ex just doesnt show up with her i wait every sunday for 45 mins to collect my child from the pick up and drop off points but she never brings her even though she told the solicitors on thursday that my daughter will be made ready for our contact again she wasnt .
i have a penaly notice on the court papers but am losing hope of ever getting any where if i go back to court and get an enforced order how will another bit of paper make her have my child ready for me on sundays as it costs so much i dont know how much more i can take or afford please help
Hi
You will need to go back to court to get this enforced, but I'd have a quick search through Yoji's posts as he's given information on this before. However, if you show your intention to go back to court, then it's just possible that your ex may take you more seriously and start to comply with the order - at the moment, she's getting away with not complying with no comeback.
Hello my name is Aaron I have 2 children and had gone through the prossecc of getting a court order. My ex continul fails to make my kids avalible to me. I'm about to go to court today just wondered if there was anything I should say. She apparently was safeguard them because my son went back with stinging nettle stings after playing outside my caravan.
Hi Aaron,
What are you going Court for? Contact order or enforcement?
If you are at Court you can always raise this on the day with the judge and request he or she note it down that contact has been withheld.
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