Changing orignal court order

[Chrisuk35]

I have a female friend that 5 years ago went through a really messy and volatile divorce.


They have a 13 year old son and when the divorced was settled in court there was a court order in place for both parties to have 50 / 50 custody.

However the ex husband has for the last 4 months changed this rotor and now only has the child 10% of the tome (one weekend every 2 weeks) he has done this as the child is not happy with him, but more so to work around his work schedule (he works shifts)

My friend obviously having the child 90% of the time is paying out a lot more in food, petrol etc

The child is happier with her mams.

The issue is that currently she is not entitled to any money as the current court order is still in place,

She has written to him repeatedly saying she is NOT in agreement with this rota change permanently and only wanted to trial it for 3 months to make sure it was in the child's best interest.

She written to him and has said that she is no longer in a agreement with the change and wants to go back to the courts for a change of variation so the rota becomes permanent and she can claim the money she is owed.

She wants the rota permanent, but she wants it permanent in the eyes of the law. At the moment she has the child 90% of the time but can not claim anything.

He is saying she can not take him back to court and is refusing to make the change permanent.

Does anyone have any experience with such matters and can advise on what to do next?

[jaguarsuk]

She needs to take him back to court, of course he says she can't, but she can and should. Sounds like dad likes the freedom of the additional time without the cost that involves.

She'll need to ask them to vary the order and evidence that he has changed the arrangement unilaterally.

The good news is that five years ago the opinions of the daughter would not have held as much weight in the Cafcass report as they do now she is older. I was once told by a solicitor (advice I'd paid for at £120 per hour, so not a cheap one either) that once they are over the age of criminal responsibility (10) that basically what the child wants is what happens unless it's completely absurd.

If the child expresses that she doesn't want to split 50/50 and prefers to see dad at the reduced amount of time she has been, it's all over bar the shouting.

Your friend will then simply go to CSA with the order and have maintenance adjusted accordingly.