Child Arrangements Order Final Hearing Advice

[ConfusingandChaotic]

Hello,
my partner (dad) due to go to court soon for CAO hearing, mum didn’t follow the previous one and admitted such in the initial hearing.

dad is resident parent and mum wants little to do with the kids despite wanting to have the right to have contact.

mum couldn’t manage twice a month weekends and one day on non contact week as she doesn’t like getting up early to bring them to school on the odd occasion dad facilitated this by dropping the Thursday contact and collecting them on Sunday nights. Mum still always cancelled or simply didn’t show up to collect them from school. Have evidence of all this.

mum so requesting for the new CAO she see children fortnightly being dropped at a meeting point on Friday evenings and collected from the same point on Sunday evenings. The meeting point is a ten minute bus for her and 2 buses taking up to an hour for him. Please note dad works full time and mum has never worked so she has far more disposable time. She claimed that bus fares were a deterrent in her seeing the children so dad in court offered a prepaid Oyster card to assist with the £1.75 each way fare four days a month. She declined

dad has disagreed and suggested alternatives and compromises to her solicitor none of which have been responded to.

that’s the crux of it, mums represented dad is not. Can anyone offer any tips or advice for what may come up/what her argument might be/what judge and solicitor may ask and how he should respond?

please can someone who’s had similar experiences or a legal rep please offer advice, trying to be as prepared as possible.
thank you x

What do the children think? Your post is all about dads time and bus fares. If neither parent drives or has a car, it’s time consuming for both isn’t it?

I’ve no idea what the judge will think. The Dc need to see their mother but whether the judge will think she should make a longer bus journey??? Who knows? It actually all sounds a bit petty. Try looking at the best solution for Dc snd pit they forward. Let Dc see their mum readily if they wish to but I would probably think, in court, that them seeing mum will trump annoying bus journeys. If you suggest a nearer pick up point to you, would she see Dc or not come to get them?

Or, I would suggest, dad takes a taxi one way. If you don’t have a car, use child benefit for the taxi.

Hello all court case finished mum ordered to collect them from after school club on Fridays and return them to shopping centre near their home on Sundays fortnightly. Mum is already contesting this
mum & solicitor contacted him 3 times in the last 24 hours asking can she just have them for half all school holidays with the handover to be her desired location.
Ofc he said no. Is she able to change the CAO?

No she needs to comply. It’s up to her to go back to court. Be prepared to collect them from school if she doesn’t. Then do not facilitate dropping off. Tell her to come to a place and at a time acceptable and convenient to you. If it is safe for that to the be your home then so be it.