Hi all,
I have an absolute equal 50:50 share care arrangement.
Our child is about to start school.
Both mother and I made an application for schools separately.
The council deleted my school application saying it doesn’t matter one bit that it’s a 50:50 shared care arrangement, the mother gets child benefits and therefore is the primary day to day carer regardless of your Court Order.
Does anyone know if this is true? Do councils base their decision on school applications by who receives the child benefits.
Mother has picked a school which is a one hour drive from my home ie I will be driving 4 hours a day.
[censored] unfair!!
Hi there
It’s a pretty difficult position when there’s equal shared care, how do they determine which parent to go with, they’ve taken the route that is used by other government agencies, but whether that’s official procedure, I can’t answer.
If you live an hours drive from one another there was always going to be a problem once the child starts school. What did you expect would happen? It would have been better to negotiate with each other and choose a school half way between. It’s a long journey for your child an too.
Well, I included three schools the mother picked and three of mine so my application was joint.
Then after the deadline of submissions, she submitted her own with only her schools.... without telling me till after it was sent, pitching all of them them as far away from my house as possible.
That’s pretty deceitful... as you had reached agreement on the list of schools, which she subsequently changed without consulting you. In those circumstances you could apply for an urgent application for a Specific Issue Order. There are no guarantees of success, but as you have a shared care arrangement, Any important decisions about your child should be made jointly.
As I said before, this was always going to be a problem waiting to happen once your child reached school age and is possibly one of the reasons, courts don’t tend to grant shared care where there is distance between the child’s two homes.
All the best
Thanks Mojo, irony is the judge ordered her to relocate within 30 mins of me about 5 miles...
In case it helps anyone else in this position , the ground to appeal
Is:
Distance from the school
1.13 Admission authorities must clearly set out how distance from home to the school will be measured, making clear how the ‘home’ address will be determined and the point in the school from which all distances are measured. This should include provision for cases where parents have shared responsibility for a child following the breakdown of their relationship and the child lives for part of the week with each parent.
That’s really helpful, thanks!
Does it state that she must relocate in the order? If not you can always order a transcript of the hearing, which should be an accurate record of what was said at the hearing.
I’m assuming you have set the wheels in motion for an appeal... best of luck with it and please do keep us posted.