Hi, I was wondering if there was anyone here with advice and/or experience with the situation that my son is facing at the moment?
I have two kids (15m and 12f) and they both have residency with me. Over the past year or so they have been growing distant from their mother and her partner and have started refusing the usual visits (despite my best efforts and encouragements).
Yesterday my son sent a message to his mother asking if he could collect his Nintendo Switch that he had for Christmas and she informed him that she had given it to her nephew, he was polite but obviously upset and now wants to get ALL of his belongings from his mother's (Playstation, games etc) but she is flatly refusing and has told him nothing is leaving their house. As a minor, where does he stand legally on this? Is there anything that he can do?
There is also an issue where his step-dad 'borrowed' his birthday and Christmas money (£120) that he had been saving up and is refusing to return that also and that was over 2 years ago.
I have always been fair and accommodating with their mother, supporting her and putting up a 'united front' when it comes to parenting, but today I fear that I am no longer able to support her with her deteriorating behaviour and the hurt that she is causing the kids.
She has not been paying maintenance for many years now after she claimed to not be able to afford it, so I let it slide as, at the time, she was having an input and having them stay on a regular basis. Now I am considering having to get the payments started again if I am going to have to replace all the items that she will not allow them to have back.
I have tried searching the web for an answer, with no luck, so any advice for my son would be gratefully received.
Thank you.
Hi,
You could have a chat with police on the non emergency 101 number, and see what they think.
Don't think a child can claim through small claims court. You could try claw back the value and money by going through Child Maintenance service. Costs £20 to apply. Would be worth doing if your ex is working.
Hi Bill337,
thank you. I may enquire on his behalf, I have told him that I will work on replacing everything that he has lost, but it will take quite some time. I think he just wants his stuff back.
My ex owns her own business and is doing pretty well as far as I know, so I really should get the maintenance payments started again, but that's a whole lot of hornets nest I don't want to kick.
Legally, I would say you probably don't have much to go on as you stand, and to get personal items handed over, you'd probably have to return to court which is expensive, time consuming and a lot of hassle you don't want.
I assume you have been managing without maintenance payments until now, so I would say you have two choices:
1. Tell her that unless she returns ALL of the items within the next 30 days, you will open a case with CMS for regular maintenance
2. As you have wondered above, forget the items and open the case and use the money to replace everything that has been left behind.
Since he is old enough, I would actually ask your son which of these he would prefer, so he feels he has some involvement in the process, which will give him back some of the control he probably feels he has lost.
