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Sudden relocation

Razbert

Razbert

Well-known member
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I'm looking forward to the next interim supervised contact session in the series the court has ordered before the next directions hearing. The sessions have been going really well so far. Encouraging and complimentary supervision reports have been received.

My drug and alcohol test came back negative, but the stbx's showed continuing cannabis use.

Today I received an email from the stbx's solicitor informing me that they will be relocating from this area to a city a good 75 minutes drive away. This is planned to happen a week before the next hearing. Clearly it will mean that the child will have to change schools mid way through the year. The school where she is now is 300 metres from the former matrimonial home where I still live. It's her first ever school and she's very happy there and has all the friends she's ever known. At the next hearing, I had planned to ask the court for weekday stays so I could pick her up from school and mum would collect her after school two days later.

From what I understand, both parents need to agree with a change of school, so to just inform me about the intention to relocate doesn't suffice. Clearly this move has been planned to thwart the plans for me to regain my co-parenting role, which was removed when the mother left back in October making false allegations of DA. The judge luckily disregarded the Cafcass no contact recommendation and ordered supervised contact pending the next directions hearing.

I will contact the child's current school to find out if they already knew of the plan to remove the child mid year. I would have expected they should have informed me straight away in that event.

This seems to be a replay of the ex's plans to abduct the child out of the UK last year, which was the original reason I had to seek an exparte hearing for a prohibited steps order to prevent the child from leaving the UK. It doesn't say anything about relocation within the UK though.

As the relocation is planned to occur before the next hearing, I'm guessing I will have to apply for another PSO to stop the child from being removed from her current school which would not be in her best interest. Do you think under the circumstances, the court may grant a change of residency? Perhaps I should consider a barrister as I've been self rep up to now.
 
apply for a prohibited steps order and dont delay and yes the ex will have to demonstrate very good reason for relocating so far and you can then argue your case - also mention that you have only been informed at short notice.
 
NewcastleBrownAle said:
apply for a prohibited steps order and dont delay and yes the ex will have to demonstrate very good reason for relocating so far and you can then argue your case - also mention that you have only been informed at short notice.
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I've just emailed my solicitor. I've checked on Google maps and it's nearly 2 hours at the rush hour. Outrageous behaviour like this shouldn't be rewarded, but sadly courts often give in to a sad story.
 
Razbert said:
I'm looking forward to the next interim supervised contact session in the series the court has ordered before the next directions hearing. The sessions have been going really well so far. Encouraging and complimentary supervision reports have been received.

My drug and alcohol test came back negative, but the stbx's showed continuing cannabis use.

Today I received an email from the stbx's solicitor informing me that they will be relocating from this area to a city a good 75 minutes drive away. This is planned to happen a week before the next hearing. Clearly it will mean that the child will have to change schools mid way through the year. The school where she is now is 300 metres from the former matrimonial home where I still live. It's her first ever school and she's very happy there and has all the friends she's ever known. At the next hearing, I had planned to ask the court for weekday stays so I could pick her up from school and mum would collect her after school two days later.

From what I understand, both parents need to agree with a change of school, so to just inform me about the intention to relocate doesn't suffice. Clearly this move has been planned to thwart the plans for me to regain my co-parenting role, which was removed when the mother left back in October making false allegations of DA. The judge luckily disregarded the Cafcass no contact recommendation and ordered supervised contact pending the next directions hearing.

I will contact the child's current school to find out if they already knew of the plan to remove the child mid year. I would have expected they should have informed me straight away in that event.

This seems to be a replay of the ex's plans to abduct the child out of the UK last year, which was the original reason I had to seek an exparte hearing for a prohibited steps order to prevent the child from leaving the UK. It doesn't say anything about relocation within the UK though.

As the relocation is planned to occur before the next hearing, I'm guessing I will have to apply for another PSO to stop the child from being removed from her current school which would not be in her best interest. Do you think under the circumstances, the court may grant a change of residency? Perhaps I should consider a barrister as I've been self rep up to now.
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Sorry to hear this - From the way you write and clearly child first you appear to be the perfect person to represent yourself in court. It looks like as often is the case the solicitor is writing a very assumptive email, hoping you agree. Naturally due to your love of your child, your knowledge and the broader knowledge of this group that certain things need to happen.
It appears you have done your checks on travel time and that alone would not be fair on the child for distance between parents.

Do keep us updated and keep up your amazing effort.
 
I spoke to the school. They were vague and wouldn't divulge much except to say they were not aware of the date the child would finish at the school. What was most surprising is they weren't aware of the legal requirement that requires both parents to agree to remove a child from a school. Although they did point out that they have no statutory obligation to notify one parent if the other decides to remove their child – that responsibility rests solely with the separated parents. They want to avoid becoming involved in parental conflicts and recommended I seek legal advice.

My solicitor has indicated that as the matter is getting complicated, they want to act for me on a full representation basis instead of PAYG, so letters can be written etc. Of course they want ££££ up front.

I haven't decided what to do yet, but I will try to find out the if the same judge would be available for an earlier hearing than the scheduled one. I have to get through to the court office which is a battle in itself. I'll try email first as calls go to a central call centre which is useless.
 
Have you spoken to school about the 2010 equality act and you both have PR at this time? I found when I started to talk about the 2010 act and asked for governors details the school jumped into a more positive gear.
 
Apply for a pso, I was successful last December, however the distance was a 4.5 hour drive (one way). While my daughter is not yet of school age moving school can have a detrimental effect on their education. I stated in my application that my daughter would be moving away from not just he her father but her wider family (on both sides) where she is loved and will benefit from. My ex also was not moving for career purposes. Also the fact you are in the middle of court proceedings must be mentioned.
If any of the above reflects with your circumstances add it to your statement.
Could it be argued that a move can be deterred until court proceedings have ended.
Base your position around what’s best for your child and if there is no real reason for you ex to move you will have a good case to be successful.
 
Kev19 said:
Apply for a pso, I was successful last December, however the distance was a 4.5 hour drive (one way). While my daughter is not yet of school age moving school can have a detrimental effect on their education. I stated in my application that my daughter would be moving away from not just he her father but her wider family (on both sides) where she is loved and will benefit from. My ex also was not moving for career purposes. Also the fact you are in the middle of court proceedings must be mentioned.
If any of the above reflects with your circumstances add it to your statement.
Could it be argued that a move can be deterred until court proceedings have ended.
Base your position around what’s best for your child and if there is no real reason for you ex to move you will have a good case to be successfu
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Thanks for the advice @Kev19 . As you say, I'm in the middle of proceedings, but the next scheduled hearing is not until after the proposed relocation date. I checked with the court who told me that the scheduled date was the next available for the judge assigned to the previous and future hearings. I have now written to the court to ask that the email is forwarded to the judge, to ask if I should make an urgent application for a PSO as the relocation date is before the next hearing. I have attached the screenshot of the email from the stbx's solicitor stating the relocation. Hopefully the same judge will be able to hear the PSO hearing, as he seemed to understand what was going on. A new judge would not be up to speed on the case.

What was the outcome from your PSO - did the court say the mother couldn't move, but could retain residence? Or did the court say go ahead and move, but the child's residence will be changed to the father?

In my case, as it would appear that the mother's hostility towards not only me, but to the whole court process based on the Welfare Checklist, may give me the opportunity to ask for residence, based on the principles of the best outcome for the child. I realise change of residence is rare, but I'm hopeful to be able to build a case based upon the mother's total disregard for the concept of shared parenthood. She knew the date of the next hearing and the Cafcass involvement, but purposely decided to relocate to frustrate the Child Arrangement Order procedure. Cafcass are to carry out a Section 7 report, which would have started immediately after the original directions hearing date, in preparation for the final hearing. In my PSO application, I will ask the court to consider that her actions are an abuse of process, and to vary the existing CAO for me to obtain residence which I believe is now called a Lives With Order.

@Ash, can you give your opinion as well?
 
Does anyone know what is considered tolerable in terms of a kids morning school run, i'm around 60-75mins from school so expect my kid to be on the road with me to school from 730-845 one morning a fortnight, do you think court would endorse that?
 
Jonathan said:
Does anyone know what is considered tolerable in terms of a kids morning school run, i'm around 60-75mins from school so expect my kid to be on the road with me to school from 730-845 one morning a fortnight, do you think court would endorse that?
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I think I’ve seen someone mention on here past the hour mark will not be granted. Also takes into consideration the child’s age and regular routine eg 10min usually vs 1hr every other week would be seen as disruption. Likelihood is they would suggest drop of Sunday evening for to minimise disruption
 
@Razbert it has been a stressful start to the year for me. Beginning of January my ex was server the pso saying our child was not to live outside the area we live in. The hearing was ex- parte as she does not tell me anything. A few days later she split from her new partner (he was the one who let the cat out the bag about relocating!). She has since moved elsewhere local. This all suggests she was planning to relocate and my money was well spent.
Mid January she breached the interim order not making our daughter available to spend time with me.
I have submitted a C79 enforcement application and got some good advice from Pj66 where I have stated “if Ms xxxx continues to show hostility to daughter father relationship and opposes access I will seriously consider seeking a change of residency to a lives with order”. Maybe imposing a condition similar to mine may be a hard warning shot telling her to put our daughters interests above hers or residency could change.
 
They usually say no more than a 45 minute journey - but an hour might be acceptable, depending on the child's age.
 
Kev19 said:
@Razbert it has been a stressful start to the year for me. Beginning of January my ex was server the pso saying our child was not to live outside the area we live in. The hearing was ex- parte as she does not tell me anything. A few days later she split from her new partner (he was the one who let the cat out the bag about relocating!). She has since moved elsewhere local. This all suggests she was planning to relocate and my money was well spent.
Mid January she breached the interim order not making our daughter available to spend time with me.
I have submitted a C79 enforcement application and got some good advice from Pj66 where I have stated “if Ms xxxx continues to show hostility to daughter father relationship and opposes access I will seriously consider seeking a change of residency to a lives with order”. Maybe imposing a condition similar to mine may be a hard warning shot telling her to put our daughters interests above hers or residency could change.
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Thanks for that @Kev19 . I've been informed that as the matter is already before the court, I don't need a fresh C100 but to apply for the PSO with a C2. I'm advised that I should say that I want the PSO to prevent the mother relocating with the child away from the local area, but also I should ask for a Specific Issues Order to:-
  • Declare that the child should continue to attend the same school.
  • As the mother has also unilaterally changed the GP for the child and arranged dental treatment without consulting me, I think I should ask that the SIO includes which GP and dentist the child should attend.
  • The child attends swimming lessons and has guitar tuition, so I think that also should be included.
  • And last, but not least - to return the child to my care.
I looked on my original C100 for the PSO and it said [to prevent] Relocating the child outside of England and Wales; Relocating the child to a different area in England and Wales. However the resulting PSO only stated Relocating the child outside of England and Wales - it missed the second part. This is annoying as I could have simply done an enforcement application as you did.
 
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