hi,new to this, i am after advice for a court order i have, which cost thounds to get, hence why i am after advice here. I have a shared holidays and weekend about court order in place for my son, all holidays are halved. When the holidays kick in the normal weekends about gets temporarily suspended, Easter holidays seem to be a problem for my ex, as she thinks she gets 12 nights and i get 7, as he finishes on the 24th of march, and doesn't go back till the 12th of april, i work this out to be 9 nights each. how would we resolve this as i have sent emails to her explaining that the weekends about get suspended at this point, and she telling me her solicitor agrees to what she is saying. How do i sort this out soon as i want to take my son away for Easter. Thanks.
If the order categorically states that all school holidays are a 50/50 split, with the usual weekend arrangement suspended for the duration of the holidays then she would be in clear breach.
There does need to be some flexibility between parents as the child gets older, for instance if either of you wishes to take your child on holiday during periods that encroach on the other parents time, but in these instances it should be discussed With good notice and extra time should be offered to make up for the missed contact.
Enforcing orders is quite a minefield and generally the courts would expect there to be several serious breaches before it would consider punitive action against the offending parent. With this one breach it wouldn't really be advisable to rush back to court, but at the same time, she needs to realise that she must stick to the order, otherwise these breaches are likely to continue.
Ask her for her solicitors name and contact details as you wish to correspond formally on this matter, with a view to further action....if she thinks you are going to escalate this she may back down!
I would then write to her solicitor and state that you have taken advice on this matter and if the order isnt adhered to in full she will be in breach of the order and if agreement can't be reached, that you will have no choice but to return to court for enforcement. Mention that you have already made plans for you and your son during the Easter holidays which can't easily be changed. If appropriate, you might like to consider saying that if she is willing to reimburse you for any financial loss and agree to the missed days being made up during the next school holiday you would consider it.
You could write this yourself or have a solicitor send a more formal letter, she may take this more seriously. Without a letter from her solicitor, you only have her word that her solictor agrees with her, she could be bluffing to get you to back off.
The other option is to invite her to mediation to try and reach agreement.
Best of luck