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Sickness and child visitation rights.

8 replies

Themadcatparade · 24/06/2020 13:01

A bit of advice here. My partner seems to be in a constant battle for access to his DS and we seem so lost and frustrated by it all at the moment.

They have a court over in place but it seems to be ‘any excuse’ for his ex to stop him and his Ds from seeing each other. When they first split he didn’t see DS for months until he won the battle for shared custody in court.

For example. Ex has tried to get his midweek contact stopped after claiming DS said he does not want to be with us and us messing up routine. On the flip side, Ds will cry when he goes back to mothers as he misses his dad dearly. Apart from one night midweek, he is at our house every other weekend, so stopping that midweek contact would mean not seeing his dad for 10 days a time. We struggle with settling his behaviour and getting back in to a normal routine anyway during weds to weds contact and would like to eventually fight for an equal split due to these reasons.

Another example - ex has often asked my partner to pick DS up at other locations other than her home, when they are out shopping or having food At a restaurant etc. When he has refused and said pick up from home only, rather than driving out to suit her needs All the time this has been refused and he has not seen DS for some time after usual pick up time because she has taken Ds shopping with her during the scheduled pick up time and refuses to take the responsibility to get back in time for the transfer of care.

The covid quarantine period at the time was two weeks. She sent a message saying she was changing this to three weeks, then extended it further we had no contact with Ds for almost a month. She sent a solicitors letter which said she had right to do this for ‘the child’s health’ when In the mean time she was taking Ds up to his grandparents house Regularly and to his aunts but refused my partner to go up to the house to see him through the window. Phone calls were on her terms, and if she heard myself or our other son on speaker phone she put the phone down until it was ‘dad only’.

He has been stopped from going on parents evenings, tried to be blocked from going to school plays (Booking all the multiple slots herself, standing at the registry with the woman at the front desk to make sure he doesn’t slip through ect!)

Ds was currently down with gastroenteritis at the weekend, meaning we missed out Father’s Day. However, ex tried to pull of some spiel about doctors advice that she can’t come to stay for 14 days after symptoms have stopped?! And she is not to have any contact with him.

I know this is not correct as I’m in the medical profession myself, and I have seemed further advise that the usual for going back to school etc is 24-48 hours dependant. He had a phone all off DS on Sunday And he had not been sick or anything since the day before, so we know he is on the mend. But we know knowing her, she will 100% try and push this 14 day thing. DD’s phone calls are often scripted by her also, he is not allowed to say certain things and if the conversation isn’t going the Ex’s way the phone is often put down.

Given the situation, what can we do here? My partner feels at a loss like she still had that control over him from a distance. He has Messaged for updates on DS’s condition and have been blank ignored, and we know full well if Ds hasn’t been sick he will have been instructed to lie and say he has as many times before.

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Themadcatparade · 24/06/2020 13:03

Ignore the spelling mistakes I’m on my phone Hmm

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YorkshireIndie · 24/06/2020 13:19

I think you know what needs to happen and unfortunately it means going back to court. You also need to start keeping a diary of everything that happens so you have evidence. It is always really sad when children as used as weapons

Themadcatparade · 24/06/2020 13:27

Yes court has been something we have had in mind before, but due to the nature of the recent ones (the covid and the gastro) we are concerned that the court will dismiss it as reasonable action being for his sons health? We know it’s more than this, she has been caught out lying over it multiple times

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RandomMess · 24/06/2020 14:00

He needs to go back to court. I would be asking for her to be sanctioned if he is not available form contact at the time and place he is meant to be as per the court order. I would also be asking for increased holiday time to make up for all the missed contact...

It is the only way with people that are deliberately obstructive. There is no reason why your DH shouldn't look after and care for his son when he is ill...

Themadcatparade · 24/06/2020 14:13

We have decided to leave the weds contact in her favour for tonight as he may very well be still sick And recovering, but pick him up for our weekend. We can’t even ring the hospital for an update as she refused to tell us which one DS was admitted to.

I very much worry that he will be refused at the door though.

There’s a lot more going on, and it seems like its everything And everything to gain and keep that control. she’s recently kept on to our money And refused to give it back for two weeks after a direct debit for child maintenance accidentally went out twice. Made up lies about her internet banking not Working for a week and then when we said she will be held liable for any direct debit non payments for our household bills During the time she’s kept on to it (it was a LOT of money) she refused to pay it back at all, told us we didn’t need it and she was entitled to it and only sent it back two week later when we pushed for small claims court over the money. So I think with all the build up over everything (Particularly when it comes to affecting his son) it’s getting extremely frustrating Where we are tempted to just put our foot down with everything now.

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BingeOnChocolate · 24/06/2020 21:16

Gosh she sounds like a carbon copy of DSD mum!!! DP has had an informal 50/50 in place for 3 years but with her consent threats of withdrawing access, started the proceed earlier this year to have is formalised. 2 days after the c100 was lodged with the court she withdrawn access and made false claims to police/social services. As the first hearing draws near, she's given limited contact back but texts DP on the day then blocks him so he can't respond. This weekend and today, she's given DSD 5 a choice of coming or not because mummy's off work this week and they could spend lots of fun time with each other. DSD apparently doesn't want to come and is staying with mum as per her wishes... at 5! DP hasn't seen DSD for nearly 3 weeks now after having 50/50. We've gone to court and have it in two weeks time with CAFCASS call Friday but it's not fun for the child to be used like this but for the parent or their family to be denied seeing a child.

Themadcatparade · 03/07/2020 11:10

Update on this and I'm after more advice...

We didn’t get to see DS and mum took him in for a covid test midweek (On his night to have him), whilst the results were ‘pending’ she denied time with him. We have reason to believe she lied about when she got the negative result back, it apparently took 5 days Which stretched right through his weekend to have him, And after asking for evidence she cropped out the time and date the result was received.

So We had another full weekend without him. Partner has tried to make time back and she has flat out refused him the time back. We have this written in messages.

We are considering going back to court. My partner thinks that we need to go through mediation before the court process? Is this correct? He’s already been once before to get the original court order in place?

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Themadcatparade · 03/07/2020 13:56

@BingeOnChocolate it’s absolutely the terrible isn’t it! poor children.

You will have to update us on how the court proceedings go, it was a huge win for my DP who finally got regular time back with his DS to bond. Their relationship took time again but it was so worth it.

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