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I am having some problems with seeing my son who lives with my ex and would like some advice please.
I have a court order with states i am to have my son for almost 2 weeks during the summer school holidays and that i am to see my son every 2 weeks on a sat outside school holidays but back in july his mum started changing the dates as she said he was busy on the dates that i was due to see him which i said was ok as cant stop him going to partys or things he does with his friends
so out of the 3 dates i had 2 were cancelled and 1 took place and i was due to take him away on holiday mid aug but i almost got to the pick up point in his town(had to travel 4 hours) i got a text to call his mum who told me that he did not want to go away on holiday so having him was cancelled again but i know he was so looking forward to going on holiday with us so find it hard to believe that he did not want to come.
so i chatted to his mum and i asked about having him for the weekend next weekend and she said i may be able to have him.
so for the past week i have be texting her to find out if i can have him next weekend so i can book travel but i have not had any replys to my texts and she also said she would give me dates for sept and oct and i am still waitting for them.
so how do i go from here? as she is going against the court order that was set up about 2 years ago and im stuck not knowing when im going to see him again.
have to give his mum credit as she does not mess around with contact but i am feeling that is what she is doing now for some reason.
Hi macc2011,
Sorry to hear you are experiencing these issues with access to your son. If I understand your post correctly you are not currently receiving legal advice from a solicitor ? If this is right then the Childrens Legal Centre can pop by and offer you some free legal advice on this matter.
I will ask them to pop by.
Gooner
Dear macc2011
If you have a contact order in place there should be a penal notice attached to it. This means if the order is breached you have the option to apply to the court for enforcement of the order. Initially we do suggest you try to negotiate with the mother as much as possible and you could also suggest mediation to her. For more information on mediation please contact National Family Mediation on 0300 4000 636.
In the event mediation is not successful you can make an application to the court for enforcement. If a penal notice is attached please use form C79. If there is no penal notice you would need to apply to the court on form C78 to have it attached then she would need to breach it once more in order for you to file the C79 at court to enforce the order.
The court can impose various penalties upon the mother for breaching an order. These may include a warning, a fine, community service or in exceptional circumstances imprisonment. The decision upon enforcement of the order will be up to the judge.
If you decide to apply to the court you can obtain the forms through www.justice.gov.uk .
If you have any questions please contact us on 0808 8020 008.
Yours Sincerely
Children’s Legal Centre
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