Where do we go from here

[concerned grandmother]

Looking for some advice please...my daughter has a 6 year old child who has resided with her from birth...the father and herself split 2 years ago, my daughter has always been more than flexible and generous regarding access and has always kept him informed in their sons welfare and schooling etc...she now is in a relationship and has been for 5 months and the time had came for her new relationship to move onto the next level of meeting her son..which went really well..the summer term came and her son went to stay with the dad for a week as agreed, the son of course updated the dad on mummy has a new boyfriend and we had fun etc etc... the dad has gone off his head with a load of abuse and has now said that their son will no longer be returning back to her as he now was going for full custody and she will be hearing from his solicitor in due course...to which she is still waiting.. in the meantime he has denied any contact until this is sorted by the courts and has proceeded with changing sons school of which she knew nothing about until the day the schools started back, as she waited at school gates to see her son on his first day back and was called into the office and told the father had called on the Fri and said the son will not be returning on the Mon. my daughter is not in a financial position to afford solicitors fees ...residence orders etc... but is willing to borrow money if she knows what road to take to get her son back. Any advice on this heart breaking situation would be gratefully appreciated...

[leclerc]

Re: Where do we go from here

She might be eligible for legal aid but she needs to seek advice from a family law solicitor. I think the denial of access is very very serious issue as is keeping the child considering that you are the resident mother. Does she still receive child benefit for the son?

Legal advice asap.

[concerned grandmother]

Re: Where do we go from here

She might be eligible for legal aid but she needs to seek advice from a family law solicitor. I think the denial of access is very very serious issue as is keeping the child considering that you are the resident mother. Does she still receive child benefit for the son?

Legal advice asap.

yes my daughter was and is still receiving child benefit....although she received a letter from them a couple of days ago saying that the father had put a claim in to claim for this. my daughter was the resident mother but nothing stating this ie court papers but schooling health records etc are all in her address and son is registered in this address too, thankyou for getting back to me Leclerc

[R0b]

Re: Where do we go from here

As leclerc says, you are best off applying to see whether or not your daughter is eligible for legal aid, family law issues are complex and can get messy and this area of law is definitely where you would need a solicitor. The court will look at the best interests of the child and if one of the parents is denied access when there has been contact from both parents then there generally has to be a good reason for this - the fact that your daughter has a new boyfriend and is in a new relationship probably doesn't qualify. Ultimately, your daughter is likely going to have to go to court in order to resolve this issue - an interim contact order allows you access to the child until the full hearing has been resolved which in family courts is quite common to be 6-12 months maybe longer and will cost money.

If your ex-partners solicitors are now involved, then you could write to them and asking whether or not your ex-partner can reinstate contact as obviously denying access on the basis of a new relationship isn't sufficient cause to deny access especially where the child has been living with the daughter. If refuses to do so, then an interim contact order could be the next step. Either way you look at it, costs are involved, so find out whether legal aid is available asap.