Changing schools if parents not in agreement

[MsPepperpot]

A friend of mine is currently separated from her husband (his decision not hers). Her DC are currently at a private school and her H is paying the fees. There is a good chance that long term he won't be able to afford them but is adamant that he will be able to and that the children should stay where they are.

There is currently no formal agreement between them regarding access/custody only one agreed between them that he will have them every other weekend.

Does anyone have an idea of the legal situation is if she wants to remove them from their current school and enroll them in a state one when he doesn't want this ?

She will be speaking to a solicitor but atm is very upset after an argument this morning where he has threatened to stop paying the (huge) mortgage and bills and needs to be a little calmer before ringing one. Any advice anyone is able to give would be very gratefully received.

If he has parental responsibility he should have some say in the way his children are schooled etc.

Is she wanting to take them out for a valid reason or purely because he wants them to stay there?

What do the children think, I presume they are happy there and have friends etc.

Regardless of the reason for the split, both parents should have input on the childrens lives.

If he has PR she should consult him regarding any significant steps involving their upbringing. If he is against a school move he could issue a prohibited steps order application. Also your friend could apply for a specific issue order allowing her to change the school against her ex partner's wishes.

She's going to have to go back to her solicitor I think. It's a very complicated situation, he is under investigation for tax fraud and has been given several options about clearing the huge amount outstanding. I don't think long term he will be able to pay the fees but them being educated privately is really important to him.

Until he has decided how he is going to proceed with the tax she can't start the divorce proceedings and isn't clear about what his businesses currently are. She woke up one morning and he said because of debts they would have to sell the house and that he was leaving her.

She didn't tell anyone for 6 some time what was going on so by the time her friends all got to the bottom of what was going on he had got her to buy a house in her name with a massive mortgage (she does work but is self employed and currently making a loss, though this should turn round shortly), got her to lease a car that is now crippling her with petrol costs and if he doesn't pay the money he had been next month I have no idea how she is going to be able to pay the mortgage.

Long term I think he is in cloud cuckoo land if he thinks he is going to be able to keep the children where they are.

Although he is entitled to have equal input in his DC's lives, if his expectations are unreasonable/undoable, then surely he will have to back down. If he hasn't got the money to pay the fees (and it sounds like this will happen one day) how does he expect the DC's to stay at their private school? Surely commonsense has to prevail over 'it's my right"?