How does a non-resident parent go about becoming the resident parent?

[nogoodatthis]

That's it, really.

DP is the non-resident parent but would like to go for full custody. Does anyone have any advice as to how to go about it?

Thanks in advance.

Sorry, realise I should have given a bit more background.

He lives about 5 mins drive from his ex. They currently have 50/50 contact but his ex is always going out and leaving his DS with members of her family, so my DP figured that it would make sense if they rearranged the arrangement so that he was the resident parent and had DS more often and his ex could see DS when she was genuinely willing/able to spend proper time with him.

But he's got no idea about how to approach the issue. Currently there's no formal contact order or anything and he's worried that if he suggests he becomes RP, his ex will react by limiting his time with DS.

Can anyone advise as to what his rights are?

There isn't such a thing as custody of children as far as I am aware.

If it is a 50/50 split of time then they are both doing shared care and couldn't your dp offer in the first instance to have the child when the other parent want to go out?

Thanks for replying so quickly. Sorry am not sure of the terminology

What's mainly on his mind is that he wants DS to go to a good school and is willing to move to the right catchment area (still relatively close to his ex) so that he can get in. But then he'd have to be the RP for his address to count as his DS's primary address. That's right, no?

Also, because the current arrangement is only done on goodwill right now, he's terrified that his ex will move the goalposts if he doesn't agree to have his DS on all the extra days she asks him to.

How could he make the 50/50 arrangement more 'official' so that she can't change it on a whim? Would that be a court ordered contact order?

If you start going through court it can often make things more acrimonious. Perhaps some form of mediation may be helpful as mediators handle things more sensitively than the courts

You need to remember that it will financially impact his ex if she is no longer the resident parent - no more CB and CTC...

If the shared care is genuinelyy 50/50 then I presume you may well be able to use your address for school etc especialy if you have a written agreement etc.

If your partner truly shares care 50:50 (dealing with the school, homework, doctors, getting the children ready for bed, children's washing, shopping for children's food and preparing it etc) the de facto arrangement is shared residence 50:50 which is the best way to make the arrangement official. The longer the current arrangement prevails the more difficult it will be for the goal posts to be moved.

How old is the child and has he expressed a wish with regard to which parent he lives with? My stepdaughter moved in with us when she was 12, made the decision entirely herself. As my husband and his ex has share parental responsibility i.e. no formal arrangement agreed via court, there was nothing his ex could do about it.
PM me if you want to talk more

Address for the purposes of school applications is the address of the parent who receives Child Benefit.

I think a court would be unlikely to grant a Residency Order to enable the child to go to a 'good' school. On what is he basing his judgement of what is a good and bad school? Both parents have a say in the child's education, so perhaps the first port of call would be to discuss with the child's mother and find out what her views are.

Does your Dp work? What would his proposed childcare arrangements be? How many nights each week does his DS spend at each parents house?