Ex wanting to stop set days court order because of new job.

[johnsparrow]

Just wanting some advice really. My wife's ex husband wants to change their current child order of set days because of his new job not having set days and being long hours. We have said no as their kids need routine but he's saying as he's down as lives with that if we take it to court the judge will agree that we have to work around his work and not having set days. Has anyone got any experience of this? He has also agreed to lives with both which he wouldn't previously but only if my wife agrees to work around his constantly changing shifts, do we have a case to take him to court for lives with both anyway since his work pattern is unstable? Kids are 7 and 11 for reference.

 

[Ash]

You're expected to be flexible with changing circumstances. So are you saying the current order says the children live with him? And he is offering "lives with both" for the adjustment? It's difficult if the job involves rotas and shifts. Can you give an idea of what the current arrangement is and what his rota is and I can answer more fully. ie how many days/pattern with each parent currently, and what his new rota looks like.

 

[johnsparrow]

Currently wed and Fri Sat Sun one week and the next week Tues and wed. My wife as said that we could agree to the same week one and week two Tues weds and Thurs which makes it equal but he's not happy as he's saying his shifts are never the same so he'll have to get family to help him with school runs (as he does now anyway) and that he wants to have their kids when he's off not on any of the days he's working which isn't fair to my wife, especially as during summer hols he'll get more quality time with them as she works Mon to Fri 9-5.

 

[johnsparrow]

His new rota is different every week with 3 12 hour shifts which he says he can't have the kids the night before or pick up from school the day off as he starts before morning club and finishes after evening school club. As he's lives with parent, surely he can't be expected to just take whatever job he likes and expect everything to change. Me and my wife also have one child together who is 3 and they'll be impacted by any changes too.