Legal rights of absent parent/older children seeing their dad.

[HoldenCaulfieldismyhomeboy]

My ex is an alcoholic and is not allowed contact with our children, as per court order. If he can prove sobriety for 2 years then he is allowed to reapply to court to seek contact. It has been over 2 years and he is still drinking and I don't think he will ever stop. At what age are my children legally allowed to make their own decision to go and see their father. At the moment and need protecting from his abusive/toxic ways but I know my eldest may get to an age where he wants to go and see his.

Another question I was hoping someone could help me with is if I want to go on holiday, do I need his permission? He still has parental responsibility as far as I know, but like I say he's not actually allowed near his children. My children have double barrelled surnames too which I think makes holidays trickier too I think. 🤦‍♀️

Child arrangement orders last until the child is 18 unless the order states otherwise. However, if he applies again for contact, your children's views will carry more weight as they get older.

If the court order states that the children are to live with you, you can take them out of the country for up to a month without needing his consent. If it does not say that, you need his consent to take them out of the country regardless of the length of the holiday.

@prh47bridge I thought a CAO was until 16? we have a residence and contact order issued in 2011 and I was told by my solicitor that both would 'lapse' when the child turned 16 but maybe these had different parameters to the CAO done today.

Sorry - typo.

The contact arrangements in a CAO expire when the child is 16 unless the order states otherwise. The "lives with" element technically expires when the child is 18 unless the order states otherwise, but will only be enforced beyond the age of 16 in exceptional circumstances. Other than in exceptional circumstances, it is not possible to apply for a CAO once the child has reached 16.

At 12 and 14 my dc stopped seeing their df. The court order was rather in his favour and he didn't argue.

@prh47bridge thanks :-) I'd forgotten that the residence order was till 18, but as you say it's hard to enforce > 16.