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Hey Guys,
Excuse the punt in the title, & also im hoping im posting in the right place, basicly i need a bit of advice.
My names Rick and Im 21 years old, and current have a 19month old daughter, Me and my daughters mom split up roughly 5-6months ago it was a rough relationship and i thought it would of been better to walk away insted of my daughter being brought up in a tough relationship, but since then my Ex has stopped me seeing my daughter, i fount a solicitor he made contact with my Ex and she then got a solicitor about 3weeks of contact went on through the solicitors and nothing came of it and my Ex then start ignoring her solicitors calls / letters, so i tried to resolve this via direct contact with my Ex, it then took 5months before my Ex actualy let me see my daughter which Led Us till Monday just gone where i had my daughter for 5 hours (which i loved) then i Had my daughter again on the wednesday for another 5hours, and then again i had Her from 9am on friday until 3pm today (saturday) but since returning my daughter my Ex has stated that i can only have my daughter from 6pm on a friday until 11am on saturday... and when my daughters bed time is at 7pm i felt this was a bit harsh, but my Ex has clearly stated that if i complain about this she will move away i wont see my daughter again 🙁 of course i dont want this to happen.
So im just basicly after a bit of advice if anyone has been through this or something simular and can recomend what i can do as i dont really want to go back to solicitors and have it take another 4-5months to see my daughter again 🙁 Any help Advice or words of wisdom will be greatly appriciated.
Many thanks for reading
Rick.
Hi Rick.
There's obviously still some communication between you and your ex, so you should be looking at mediation - there's a reasonable chance that this might succeed.
Hi Rick,
actd is right the first step is to try and negotiate with your ex - mediation is the best way if things are strained. The contact number for National Family Mediation is 01392 271610.
I will ask Children's Legal Centre to pop by and give you some advice.
Gooner
Dear Rick2011,
Thank you for contacting the Children’s Legal Centre, we apologise for the delay in responding to your query.
As you have a solicitor we are only able to give you very basic advice, as it is always best to go back to your solicitor as they would give you the best options for you in your situation as they are more familiar with all the circumstances of your case.
If there are no court orders in place then the resident parent, in this case the mother, has the ability to control all contact until the child is of an age to decide for themselves (absolutely at 16 years old) or until a court order is put into place. This is because the right to contact belongs to a child, not a parent, and so until a child can decide for themselves it is for the resident parent or court to decide what is best for the child.
If you are not happy with what the mother is allowing you then you are able to firstly attempt to negotiate with her and suggest mediation to try and reach an agreement. The number for National Family Mediation has been provided above.
Should mediation be unsuccessful or the mother refuses to attend then you are able to make an application to court for a contact order. This would state the days and times that you are to have contact with your daughter, and the mother would be legally bound to comply with this.
The courts are generally very much in favour of granting contact with parents when it is safe to do so, although the amount of contact would depend on the individual situation.
If these options are something that you would be interested in you can discuss these with your solicitor, or you can make an application to court yourself without a solicitor.
With regards to the mother moving from the area with your daughter, the resident parent does have the ability to move wherever they wish within the United Kingdom and does not require the consent of the other parent to take the child. The mother should still attempt to allow reasonable contact but if she does not or you are not happy with the contact she is allowing you then your options would be the same as the above.
If you were unhappy with the mother moving, you could attempt to apply to court to prevent this, but the court are usually very reluctant to do this if the mother has a genuine reason to move, and would normally only become involved if the mother were doing this purely to prevent contact.
We hope this information is useful to you, should you require further advice we would advise you speak with your solicitor.
Kind Regards
Children’s Legal Centre
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