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Hi guys, im not going to bore you all with all of the details because there is too much to explain about my route through court. Basically, I managed to get a shared residency order, with me being the main carer for my 6 year old son. At the beginning of the order it contains a preamble and within this there was an agreement made between me and my ex partner stating that, she would not remove my son from his current school providing I meet the travel costs. I suggested to pay for travel costs as she was pleading poverty, saying that she couldn't afford bus travel and she was constantly threatening to remove my son from school. It states exactly in the preamble that, "the respondent (mother) shall not change (my son) school, providing that the applicant (father) meets the travel costs, TO and FROM school ONLY."
I pay for bus passes for both my ex partner and my son each month, costing me £75 per month, for 10 passes to be uploaded onto their travel cards. since 21st March 2013, my ex partner has been using her pass on the days that my son is in my care, therefore, she is misusing her pass and using it when she feels like it to go wherever she wants. I have online access to both my ex partner and my son's bus pass accounts so I can access all of the logs of when and where the passes have been used and so far my ex partner has used 8 passes when she should not have.
Like I said, this is part of the preamble and just want to know if she is in breach of the order as I have been told that the preamble isn't legally binding to the order. any advice on this matter would be greatly apprieciated.
Anything that is written into the order is legally binding, but the breach that you speak of is not sufficient to take any action on it in my opinion.
If you feel sufficiently aggrieved though you could write to her and let her know that you know she is misusing the bus pass and
remind her of the conditions of the bus pass being supplied, and ask her to adhere to these conditions.
It wouldn't hurt to keep copies of the logs, if she breaches the order continually then you have the evidence to hand 🙂
As NJ has said this isn't a huge breach in the order.
Plus although she is using the passes on days that your son is with you she will still be getting your son to school on the days she has him, so I would imagine she is paying for these days herself.
I think the judge wouldn't look at this as an issue if it went back to court, though as said keep hold of the logs as if things escalate in the future then it will all help.
GTTS
my ex has her step father taking my son to school and pick him up on some days that she has him and when i have looked at the logs there are days where my son never used his pass but she had used hers but never went anywhere near the school. sorry i didnt explain this earlier. there is also a part which has been written into the order stating that she has to sign any documents for me to gain a new passport for my son as she had cancled it out of spite. i have personally given her 2 passport forms, already filled out, for her to sign and hand back to me which on both occasions she has refused. this has been written into the actual order, not the preamble.
With regard to the bus passes, it is only a minor breach and if you went to court with that, the Court would not look well on it.
However if the fact that she has refused to sign the passport form is a breach. It may be better if you write to her initially and mention that it is part of the Order that she signs it.
I agree with the above - if you tried to go back to court, they have 2 choices, to continue the order as it is, or to say you don't have to pay the bus fare, in which case you are back at the position of her trying to move him from the school.
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