Shared lives with order - when wouldn' it be considered

[Survivingastorm]

Posting on behalf of a friend.

Her ex has applied for a shared lives with order, from the outset she applied for a lives with order in her favour as her ex had a history of being controlling, threatening to permanently remove dc from her care and unreasonable refused to give her permission to take their dc on holiday even though he had been aware of the holiday from 2 years prior. In the last hearing the judge said that she rarely goes with a shared lives with order and would most likely go in favour of my df.

Since this point her ex has found some case law where it says shared lives with orders should now be the rule and that ex and his solicitor believe the judge has made an error.

My friend wants to know if a) the judge is duty bound to follow the case law? b) is there are any circumstances where lives with order would be made in favour of mother.. such as controlling behaviour or dc being recognised as at any risk from the father?

The Judge will do what is in the best interest of the child/ren and not your DF or her ex. They have a 'welfare checklist' where they make their decision based on each element being considered - worth a google to see what it is. If the father has had regular contact the judge will not reduce this as it is in the best interest of the child but equally, if there has been minimal contact so say 2 nights a month and some holiday time, the judge wouldn't automatically increase contact time as the child/ren May feel unsettled or confused. All depends on the children's ages too. No judge is going to force a teenager to a new arrangement to them as at their age, they vote with their feet and are of the mindset friends are more important than spending time between houses.

A shared "lives with" order does NOT mean that your friend's child must spend an equal amount of time with each parent. It doesn't even mean he will get more contact than he has at the moment. The order would specify the amount of contact he will get.