[Solved] Help, Urgent. School, shared travel & Holidays?

Hi James,

If you mean your ex collect your child from yours following contact Im not sure as its usually the non resident parent who has to do all the running around.
Your ex may consent or you may need to go to mediation if she does not.

Regards collecting your child from school on a Friday I dont see a judge being disagreeable providing your ex consents.

As for providing additional money over and above usual maintanance that would be a decsion for you and your ex as maintanance is meant to be inclusive of everything.

It may be that you can gve and take if your ex is willing to comprimise, but you are not obliged to contribute to the child minding.

Regards,

Dave

DaveR has put it right...if you are paying maintenance, this should cover childminder in holiday times too! After all, if you didn't have contact, the child would be sent to the childminder and she would be paying anyway!

As for collection on contact, you could suggest perhaps meeting half way, but again, the non resident parent normally deals with collection.

I'm not getting why if your daughter is with you for a week why there would be child minding fees for that week. I would check with the childminder.

It is usual for the non resident parent to be able to pick their child up from school if they are able, so that shouldn't be a problem.

If the ex is mobile and available then you could request that pick ups are shared, whether it will happen is debatable! You could perhaps ask for a contribution towards the petrol costs if you have to do all the running about...my son gets a £5 contribution ordered by the court....however she doesn't a.ways give it to him!

Thanks for your all replies.

I completely agree if I pay maintenance I shouldn't have to pay but she argued in court last time for me to pay the childminder in the school hols for the time I have her. As a result I haven't had my daughter for any holiday time at all! She wouldn't even give me the childminders name or address and provided me with an invoice from her for £200, and wanted the cheque payable to her!!

As for picking up drop off I will obviously be picking her up from the school (hopefully) I just want her to pick our child up on the Sunday.

Mediation is absolutely out of the question, give her an inch she will take 10miles! Unfortunately I need all this in a court order :/

You are entitled to know where the childminder is! You can argue this in court, and the fact that you are not being allowed to pay the childminder directly! Although I doubt you should have to pay her when the child isn't in her care.

Court aren't usually interested in whether child maintenance is paid or not as it has no bearing on contact.....I feel however that as she has brought it to the table you can argue that you it covers everything, and that includes any childcare costs!

If you haven't attempted mediation then the court could postpone and order it! It is the expected first step. Agreement reached during mediation can be written into an order and rubber stamped in court, or by a solicitor.

I think I should know that too, she doesn't though. I don't get told where she goes on holiday abroad either - I'm told its not my business! Well my argument is I pay maintenance and she gets all the government backed social help etc etc... If I have to pay childminding I will never have my daughter as I can't afford £200 for a week and then be able to do anything with her in that week.

In respect to mediation, this is actually the second time I'm taking her back to court to add to the existing or replace the first order. As I mentioned she's bent the first order as much as possible and the legal adviser at the court advised me to go back and enforce the existing order for beaching it. The only reason I'm not doing that is because I need to formalize holiday agreements, and arrange for me to pick my daughter up at school and not later on at 6pm.

Would mediation still help.. my savoir in all these years has been my contact order, before that I rarely saw my daughter for months at a time.