Child Arrangements Order Advice

[Wiseman1984]

Hi MN

I'm looking for some opinions/advice from anyone who has been through the court process for a child arrangements order. Or just opinion in general really.

My ex and I have done 50/50 shared care of our child (8 years old) for 5 out of 7 years of separation. 2 years it was amended temporarily due to where she wanted to send our son to school and I lived too far to continue with 50/50.

I then relocated my home and job to near my sons school to restore 50/50 and this has been back in place a year.

My ex has a habit of changing informal agreements so in March 2025, I applied for a consent order via a c100 to be made legally binding. Ex and I both negotiated the terms, signed, and dated the agreement which I then submitted.

Ex has now opposed to c100 application and wants to revert to the agreement we had in place over a year ago when I lived far away. No reason has been given and our child is thriving with the 50/50 set up. She wants me to have our son Friday night week 1 and Friday night to Monday morning week 2 which is a significant reduction.

Is the court likely to consider this? I can’t see how they would or why they would reduce my child’s time with me.

For context, CAFCASS raised no safeguarding concerns and there’s no history of any abuse.

@TizerorFizz you are absolutely right, it is about the child. My argument is this agreement with term time and holidays has been in place a year and works fine so why do we need to upset our child’s routine when he is happy and settled?

Why should my child lose time with me just because that’s what his mother wants? I don’t see how that is in his best interest if he’s happy.

I do not have less time. Over the course of the year I have 182 days which is a 50/50 arrangement. His mother has him more in term time and I have him more in the holidays.

@Wiseman1984 So you get the fun time and mum does the hard work for school runs and homework? I agree settled is best but you are cherry picking. It’s reasonable that if she wants more holiday with DS it is considered. It’s holidays - fun and no strict timetable. It’s the easy bit!