Court

[Sunshine2023]

My 2 boys live with me at the moment but my ex who lives 309 miles away us threatening to take me to court for custody, will this be in a court local to me or will I have to travel to the court closest to them seen as they are making the application

How exactly is he going to plead to be the better parent given he naffed off and left them?
Smile and file away the threat.

It was me that moved but tbh I'm not worried about losing custody as I know that won't happen, just don't want to be forced into traveling all that way to go to court

Why did you move?
did you have permission to ?
it’s not unheard of fir children to be returned if you did not
it’s also not unheard of for the parent moving away to be held liable for travelling and costs - and why not ?

How long ago did you move?

He could go to court and get a successful order stating that they're returned to the previous area.

I'd expect that he'd easily get that you'd be doing half the travel to maintain the contact.

As for the court location, given that his is the family area before you left, there's every chance that it would be heard there.

They used to live with her and I moved down here for work while they were living with her, social services got involved and took them off her so they came to live with me, they are happy and well looked after with me so can't see the court overturning the original ruling but I struggle with child care as it is and not sure how I will be able to manage driving a total of 8 hours there and back plus however long it takes in court on a weekday when they have school, weekend contact is not so bad as I'm off work and obviously no school but to get up there midweek without causing any disruption to the boys schooling is virtually Impossible

Nice work on the earlier assumptions people...

Is there a change in circumstances that has prompted her to reapply for something more? How long has the existing arrangement been in place and was it ever court ordered or through recommendation from Social Services?

Why would you possibly make that assumption? The OP may have taken them away from home and the other parent may be wanting to take them back.

They have been with me since march 2020, there is a court order in place but that was made in January 2021, nothing much has changed other than we have since moved and I don't want her knowing our new address after she turned up drunk to our old house, I've also blocked her number as I don't want the late night phone calls anymore but her contact with the boys is the same as it always was. At the minute I drop them off at her aunties house and she sees them there as court said contact had to be supervised I don't mind doing the traveling for weekend contact as I still have friends/family up that way but obviously courts don't sit on weekends and to do it midweek would be a nightmare

This is quite a specific question. Try posting in "Legal Matters" as there are some lawyers who look at that board and might be able to help.

There's a long delay in cases being seen at the moment (covid backlog is the reason given) so this whole issue might not raise it's head for you for a while...

I think that you need to take legal advice here, from someone who really understands the ins and outs of this sort of case.

It may even be the case that a well-written solicitor’s letter could avoid the need for things to progress as far as court.

If it happens request a remote hearing. My last 2 attendances at the family court have been via telephone conference and a video call using Teams. No travelling and done in 20 minutes.

I assume you haven't moved between jurisdictions, ie from England to Scotland?

The usual rule is that proceedings should be in the court local to the children. If she starts proceedings near to home, you can ask the court to transfer to your home court. That said, we're so used to remote hearings now, the court may well just have hybrid hearings so one or uther of you attends by video.

Yeah the original hearing was all fine remotely but I thought it was all back to no to normal now. I'll post in legal matters and see if anyone knows there, thanks for your help everyone.