Good evening,
I would be extremely grateful if you could please advise me which of the two applications from the subject heading that I should apply for let alone both for maximum impact but not to waste Court time / fees.
Background information:
The existing court order has not been honoured on a regular basis by the mother of my children recently I.e., I have only seen my children one weekend in five instead of alternate weekends. Additionally, I have one shared care midweek night with my children but wish to increase this to two nights resulting in an overall 50% - equal amount of shared care all year round (already have half of all school holidays). All holidays are being controlled and manipulated to ensure maximum advantage to her.
In summary, should I apply for an enforcement order then apply for a variation order? Do I still have to attend mediation even though I have an existing court order for variation (although my ex will either not attend or attend alone saying that we are unsuitable for mediation).
Your advice/support is greatly appreciated.
Thank you.
Kindest regards,
RunDMcK
I would say that your first objective would be to get the existing order enforced - there seems little point in going for a variation if the existing order isn't being adhered to.
Hi,
I am only talking from my current partners experience, but it seemed as though not much happened to enforce the order. His ex refused contact various times throughout the year and for the whole summer holidays where he should have extra time. So he applied for an enforcement and also wanted to vary the order.
They completely dismissed it because he was still getting to see his daughter even though it wasn't as per the order. They were happy to see that the mother had reinstated contact in time for the hearing (which the enforcement order probably prompted).
A solicitor advised that during the enforcement hearing you can ask to vary the order rather than enforcing it but it is up to the judges discretion . My partner asked to vary the order instead of enforcing it but the judge said that he would have to apply for C100 and dismissed the enforcement as contact still took place.
Maybe others have had different experience but that was my partners experience and there were no true actions during the enforcement to 'scare' her not to refuse contact again and the very next week after the enforcement hearing she refused contact again.
I think the courts (on the very first enforcement) will only order the parent to allow contact again but never truly enforce the order through 'punishment' because it will always have a knock on effect to the child and that is not the childs best interest. I.E a penalty fine would mean the parent would have less money to support the child which has a knock on effect to the child etc.
So from my partners experience I would say going straight for the C100 to vary the order and just mention that she has refused contact multiple times. Having said that, I do not think there's a right or wrong way to go about this, as i said my partner went for enforcement and is now going for variation.
You will still have to attend mediation for C100 to vary the order, regardless whether you know your ex will not attend.
Good luck
I would make the application for enforcement and ask the court to accept a verbal application for variation at the first hearing (you can put this in a position statement that you hand in on the day).
A lot of orders don't end up being enforced as it often becomes apparent at court that the order needs variation rather than enforcing.
I would say, in your case, as with a lot of others - the end goal here is getting the contact reinstated and a variation of the order.
Send in your C79 and prepare a position statement for the first hearing is my advice. Best of luck
I agree with Yodas assessment, plus if you make an enforcement application, mediation isn't a pre requirement beforehand.
As has been said, enforcement applications often morph into a variation but set out at the beginning that's what you require. It might be that you can ask the judge to include a condition that should the new order be breached, any future enforcement applications would carry a penalty.
All the best
Hi there if anybody could help me I have had a court order in place for 14 months
The ex has been playing up since i got it
A few weeks ago I was denied contact with my child
She said He Stopped it because I put my child at risk driving 40 minutes with an infection in my eye
So she stopped all contact
On the weekend in question. I asked my girlfriend to write in the contact book stating I had an infection so was unable to put my reading glasses on to write it
My eyelid was a little bit sore and slight swelling
But I had no problem driving whatsoever
Obviously she has exaggerated things. And I believe she has breached the contact order. She's refusing all contact and says the only contact I can have is at the contact centre fully supervised. I have had to refuse this due to the cost over the past 4 years. Can anybody give me any advice on this. Do I have a good strong case that she has breached it
Thank you
Hi there
If you only wear glasses for reading and not for driving, then I would write to her formally and request that contact is resumed immediately, as per the order, and that failure to do so would be a breach of the order, for which you will seek enforcement through the courts.
I would reassure her that it was a minor problem and didn’t effect your ability to drive, explain that your eyesight is now back to normal and it would be in the child’s best interests to resume contact immediately.
Give her 7 days to respond otherwise you will have no alternative but to return to court to ask for the order to be enforced.
To be honest, enforcement applications rarely result in penalties for the parent in breach, but if she is refusing to restart contact you’re left with no other portion, aside from mediation to try and sort it out.
Best of luck