I wondered if anyone could help clarify?
Person A and B have been separated several months after being married for 15 years. A left B and moved out. DC are aged 8 and 9. A wants a divorce, but legal proceedings haven’t yet begun. When they separated, they agreed a 50/50 split regarding childcare which works quite well. They both work full time. However, A’s job takes them away fairly frequently (sometimes out of the country) and if this happens during times when A is scheduled to have the DC, they have been getting different relatives (some who don’t really know the DC that well and have no childcare experience) to come over and look after DC. These are not local relatives if that’s relevant.
B has stated that if A goes away, then they wish to look after their own children during these times. However, A says that it’s their week, so they will arrange childcare as they see fit. Before the split, B did the majority of childcare. B feels that the children will be better of being cared for by one of their parents than different relatives.
Going forward, is there anything B can do? Technically, I know B could go and get their children at any time while A is away as they have parental responsibility, but B is worried that A will then stop all communication with them and fight a bitter legal custody battle.