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Hi,
Been looking through the website and I must say there is some really good material on here so hopefully I will be able to get some help with my issue.
My EX Wife moved 125 miles away with my kids, so I took her to court to help with travelling.
The court ruled in my favour but she has never done any of the travelling the court order states.
She is supposed to meet me half way on a Friday so I can collect my kids but she has never done this. The court order has been there for a couple of years now and to collect my kids and drop them off it is a 500 mile round trip.
My EX refuses to either offer any finacial help for the cost of petrol or to meet me. In my eyes I pay way over the odds in child maintenance through the CSA, she has 2 jobs, lives with someone who has a very good wage, they run 2 cars but yet she still says she can not afford it.
I am thinking of taking her back to court for breaching the court order but I'm worried about the costs involved.
If I represent myself and take her back will it still cost me even though she is the one breaching the court order?
Can anyone suggest anything I can do as she is saying if I don't see my kids for 52 nights or more she will go back to the csa and get more money from me. I can't afford the amount of petrol to travel over 1000 miles a month to get my kids and if she goes back to csa I definatly won't be able to afford it. I pay about £160 in petrol already. I'm really at a loss with her now as it's like talking to a brick wall and all she can do is bad mouth me and blatanly knows she is breaching the court order. She has even taken the 2nd job to coincide with having to meet me.
Any help or suggestions woud be great. Thanks in advance.
Shaun
Hi Shaun,
Welcome to the forums, hopefully we can be of assistance.
Its very commendable you doing such a massive trip to see your children. It sounds a difficult situation to be in.
If you are wanting to have the Order enforced, you will first need to fill out a C78 Warning Notice to be attached to the current Order. This preceeds enforcement.
If a Warning Notice were to be attached, if you have been making these journeys solo over the last couple of years. A Court may question why you are bringing it back to Court now. Your ex could still contest this Warning given that she now works. Even if as you say its a deliberate job to avoid the drop off, a Court is unlikely to rule in the favour. Have you ever considered having the Order made so that one party collects (you) and the other party travels to bring them home (your ex). If you've already had awarded 50% of the travel, you could argue that in so doing this, you are in effect guaranteeing her being responsible for the other element of the travel.
Also do you have any texts or emails to confirm the CSA statements about 52nights?
Hi Yoji,
Thanks for your response.
The reason why it has taken so long to take it back to court is due to me and my ex coming to an agreement she would would not go back to the CSA if I did all the driving as I could only afford to see my kids once a month. Therefore being under the 52 nights.
I did this for about a year and then she went against her word and went back to the CSA and backdated my payments. Currently appealling this with the CSA and have my MP involved who has also written to them. Still waiting on a response 3 months later.
Where you say the court is unlikely to rule in favour, is this in my favour or my ex.
As for your suggestion about getting the 50% travel, unfortunatley it's not 50%. The court stated I needed to take them all the way back on a Sunday and she only needs to meet me on Friday. I have tried so many times to get her to help but she continues to point out, she has no money and works.
If I was to try and take this back to court do you know whether I would incur any costs?
Yes to the text messages, I have saved all of them. The ones where she offered to not go to the CSA if I did all the driving, the ones where she is threatening to go back to the CSA if I don't see my kids for the 52 nights. I have spoke to the CSA about this one and they said if I keep a diary of the times I have them and also any messages where she is not letting me have them then I should be OK. I was actually quite shocked as the person I spoke to was helpful. First time for everything I guess.
Just to add a bit for the costs....
My Ex just breached my contact order with my little boy, i've not applied for enforcement but have spoken with the court office manager to discuss my options and costs. they've kindly sent me through the forms and information on how to fill them in and told me it'll be a £200 fee to apply.
I'm absolutely disgusted that i have to find the money to pay to take her make to court when SHE has breached the contact order that was made because of her actions and proven false in court allegations!
Thanks for the info and that's shocking Dad-i-d.
I can't understand how different family law is to other laws. We get the bad end of the stick every time and all we want to do is see our kids.
I hope you can get the money together and take her back to court and get her to start following it.
I can't see why WE have to pay for someone else breaking the law. If it was the other way round and lets say for example she had an order stating not to go near her, all she would have to do is call the police and we would be back in court in a flash for breaking, but the police would just laugh at a contact order and say sort it out yourselves.
So much for equality eh.
I'm seeing my solicitor tomorrow afternoon, hopefully I'll be posting back on here some good news on what I can do. Fingers crossed but I'm not going to hold my breathe for it though.
I'll keep you dated
Hi,
Just to clarify:
A C78 Warning Notice costs £45.00 to raise [a hearing].
The £200.00 that dad-i-dad is referring to is for the cost of an Order to be enforced (C79) and the person at Court may be misunderstanding. For example, your ex broke the Contact Order it could cost you £45.00 to raise a C78 Warning Notice. If this Contact Order was broken again, it could cost you £200.00 to raise a C79 Enforcement Notice.
If your finances are that tight, i would hazard that you would qualify for a type 3 remission of fee's, that is to say your raising any Court paperwork could cost you £0.00 up to the maximum allowed fee dependant on your disposable income.
Hi,
Once again, thanks for all the advice. I'm speaking with my solicitor tomorrow and I'll enquire about these forms I would need to raise.
Thanks again. I'll keep you posted and hopefully it will be good news
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