School changing and relocating

[Margo45]

Hi all.
in January I told my ex that we (me, my partner and our so ) will be selling house and moving 1.5 h from current place. Ex accepted the fact and didn’t oppose.
only this week he started making problems and said he doesn’t agree to change the school for our son
he called his current school as well as Admission office to say he doesn’t agree,
he is blackmailing me on different demands, for example he wants to reduce the CMS by half saying that I am reducing his contact with son ( he had him 8 times in 2022 and 2021). So I guess I need to agree to £ reduction so he can let us go.
he is always very manipulative and I can’t really negotiate with him.
schools in new area are even better
what can seriously happen if we move and change the school without his consent? Will the Admission office let me do it? I am stuck and don’t know what to do

I'm going to tag @prh47bridge who may be able to advise you but may not see this post due to the board.

Maintenance and contact are separate matters. Even if his contact does go down, he can't reduce the amount of maintenance he pays. Do not agree to any reduction.

Re changing schools, since he has agreed to the house move, he won't get anywhere with refusing a change of schools and trying to make your son travel for 3 hours every day. Tell him to withdraw his objection or you will take him to court for a Specific Issue Order allowing you to move the children to a different school and, if you are forced to do this, you will ask the court to order that he pays your legal costs.

On a practical level, if you are moving to a new council, they will process your application for a place and award one unless he contacts them. Even then, they may offer you a place. If that happens and you are offered a place, your son's current school and council cannot prevent you from moving him.

Thank you for your message.
I called today legal aid via my workplace and they also assured me that we should be fine with changing school. He is free to apply to court (I know mediation would need to be first).
I will try disregard his request of reducing the monthly allowance as basically I can’t see any reason why I should do this. It’s just one of his demands to give a consent (blackmailing?)
I won’t send him any message, only tell him when we plan to move once contracts are exchanged.

Hi all, as ex is still repeating that he doesn't consent the move our child to a different city and changing schools, what power does he have to stop us from doing this? If he applies to the court (I guess that would be for Prohibited Steps order), we need to go through mediation and it will cost him some money + legal fees. Even if he decides to do so can the Court practically stops us?
I don't want to lose custody on the base that I can't move back to the area. If the child has to get back he would need to live with dad and change school anyway. Ex doesn't have a good character and I can't see how our kid would benefit from living with him (his character and lack of family commitments were some reasons I separated). n Friday we visited few schools and son loves one of them, I have an application form and as they have space it would take the school just 2 weeks to take him, and we plan to move in 4-5 weeks' time.
I really don't want to put myself into trouble.
Just wonder if anyone was in a similar situation?

The court cannot stop you from moving but they can stop you from taking your son with you.

Even if we move there already and son changes the school, if the court hearing happens eventually after the move, then court can still make a decision to get him returned?

Margo45 what was the outcome? Did you move schools without permission? I am in a similar position and would like to know what happened. Did the court get involved? Thanks