Moving with a child

[Confusedm4]

How does the court decide if you’re allowed to move country with your child or not? I would like to move to the mainland, my dd has only just turned one. She has seen her dad five maybe six times in the past 8 months and he wasn’t involved from she was born. He’s currently taking me to court for contact. She is breastfed if this effects anything. How would contact work if we moved? Dad wouldn’t give permission

Mainland where? Are we talking about the UK?

Moving to the mainland suggests you're not moving country.

If you are going to move far enough away that it would affect the contact arrangements the court ought to be made aware.

If you're going to move out of the UK you will need the permission of the court or the consent of the father.

Oh sorry by mainland I mean U.K. from Northern Ireland which would obviously majorly affect contact arrangements

Tell the court, so either he can apply for a prohibited steps order (he'll in all likelihood lose - these orders are not given out lightly) or the court can factor that in to the arrangements.

Would I be expected to pay for my dd and I to fly back to Northern Ireland every month to facilitate contact though?

Why are you planning to move? You would have to show that it is in the best interest of your child over losing regular contact with her father and that you have means to ensure that she still had contact with him.

If the court is thorough, they should look at your motivation for the move, things you've got in place and whether your proposals are realistic; the other parent's reasons to opposing the move; how the child will be affected by the move.
Did you try and ask him to go into mediation? If he applied to court to have a contact order, I wouldn't mention the relocation at all at this stage.

Six visits over eight months for a new baby doesn't seem like a uninvolved father, especially since he is already taking you to court for contact, presumably because you are being obstructive and he needs contact to be court ordered in order to gain access. Is your plan to move part of your plan to keep him out of her life?

One of the problems you have is that he hasn’t yet established any kind of proper relationship with the baby as he’s seen him/her too infrequently. The court nay be less likely to sanction a move because you’d be preventing him from ever establishing that relationship. He’d always be remote and peripheral to your child.