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Hi there,
I currently have my son on a Interim Residency Order and we are due to return to the courts in December. I received this Interim order because my son was witnessing violence between his mother and her new partner.
My former partner and her new partner moved out of this town and moved 20 miles away to a new town, she still has contact with her son however this contact is every 2 weeks, this contact was agreed with solicitors and no contact orders were made in the courts.
I have asked her if I can move my son to my home town approximately 40 miles away from my current location and 50 miles away from her current location. This is because I have no support from friends or family in this town and I need support as my son is relying on me 100% of the time. She has not had overnight contact with her son since June. I informed her that I would still continue to bring her son back to this town in order for her to see him.
I have also requested that her new partner has no contact with my son and I have no reasons to doubt that this order will not be granted because of the serious nature of the attacks, Police report backs up my statement in court.
Her relationship with this man is not stable and in the 10 months they have been together she has left him 5 times but returned 5 times, she lied in courts about my son only being here for a few days until she got sorted but I have a screenshot that proved she left her son with me to return to and be in a relationship with him.
Anyway rather than rambling she told me she didnt mind me moving but she wanted her son this weekend 5th Nov I contacted my solicitor and he informed me to wait until the courts so i told her no she then told me i wasnt allowed to move.
I have spoke to my son about moving because hes only 4 and informed him about why and he seems happy about moving because it means he will be around his family and his cousins who range from 1 to 5 meaning his out of school activities will increase because he will do things with family.
So if i was to pack up my stuff and move but I still brought my son back to this town for contact what could she do, would the courts demand that I return, when i first started out in the courts i asked for a prohibited steps order to stop her from moving with my son and the courts said that the could not tell someone where to live, Would the same rule apply to myself.
Basically, you are correct - as long as you have a genuine reason for moving, as you obviously have, and you're not moving maliciously to prevent contact (which, since you have offered to bring your son back for contact, is not the case), then you can move wherever you want within the UK. You may need to be a little careful, since you have an interim order - the last thing you want is to introduce doubt into the mind of a judge about whether to grant a full order.
With respect to you offering to bring your som back for contact, I'd have a word with your solicitor about this - my personal view is that you shouldn't offer this up front, but be prepared to offer it in court if the judge asks about contact arrangements - that way if nothing is said, you don't have that in the court order. This would mean you are perfectly at liberty to bring him back for contact, but if something changes and you have concerns for your son's safety in future, you are not then in contempt of the court order by not bringing him back for contact - could save you going back to court in future to vary the contact order.
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