friend not allowed to see kids on own

[benieb]

While my friend was out last week his ex (they were still living together) moved herself and their 3 kids out of the house without warning or discussion.

He has PR and they were using mediation to agree custody - they are not married. He works from home so has always cared for the kids, often more than her.

By doing this, is she acting illegally or would this action be beneficial to his case - she wants him to see the kids at weekends, he wants joint custody.

she has also told him he can't see the kids without her mum or herself being there. Is this actually legal?

unfortunately for your friend, she has not acted illegally. Bearing in mind however they were attending mediation in order to agree residence (formerly called custody) it won't look good that she has suddenly taken this step and is saying he can't see the children unsupervised. Unless she changes her mind he will have no choice but to consider an application to the Courts for a Contact (formerly called access) Order, or alternatively shared Residence (formerly Custody) Order. If such an application becomes necessary and she contests what he proposes, then the Court will appoint a CAFCASS officer (formerly court welfare officer) who will interview both parties, usually together initially at the first court hearing and then will usually interview both parties in their homes and depending the ages of the children, may or may not interview them. If the District Judge orders a report be filed then this usually takes a minimum of 12 weeks although in some areas it can take considerably longer and there would then be a further hearing to review. If still not agreed, ultimately there could be several more hearings and it could be up to a year later when a final Order was made. The Judge could however order interim contact between your friend and his children in the meantime.

All this clearly takes time (and money) therefore it would be best for your friend to try to reach an amicable agreement with his ex with regards to the Residence/Contact issues.

The kids are all under 8.

thanks for the advice. I am so worried for him because he's not a bad person or a bad father and I am worried that she may try to make out that he is.

Don't worry, if she does try to make out he is a bad father it won't be the first time the Courts have heard it and the Judges are not stupid and most of the time can see through it.

His best course of action is to try to resolve it out of the courts, via mediation if possible as Court proceedings should really be a last resort. Good luck x