Child arrangement order, is it still valid?

[ashmidd]

I'm asking this question on behalf of my sister. So I will give a little bit of back ground...

Her son's dad in short is a pain in the backside.

He has taken her to court regarding their son numerous times for various different reasons that could have easily been resolved out of court. Honestly it's like a hobby to him.

He has called S.S multiple times too where his claims have always been dismissed and they have told my sister if he continues they may look to take legal action towards him for wasting their time.

Anyway. There is now a child arrangement order in place but my nephews dad has now left the country to work. He does not have to pay child maintenance and does not contribute anything willingly.

My sister would not stop her son from seeing his dad and is still going by the court order. But his dad is breaking it on numerous occasions (for example. It states that they are to be civil to one another and he regularly makes derogatory comments about her in emails)

they have a pick up/drop off point because his dad told the courts that he feels intimidated when he has to collect his son from his home address but has recently back tracked and told his 6 year old son that the reason he doesn't drop him at home is because he would shout at my sister's partner... this doesn't sound like a man who feel intimidated.

He has also made derogatory comments to my nephew telling him he doesn't like his hair cut and the trainers he got for Christmas were spice girl shoes (they were a pair of **** air max) and that the estate he lives on is scruffy. But when my sister has tried to broach this he says the child is lying.

Lately he has been a complete nuisance and threatening to take her back to court for anything he can think of.

My question is whether or not he can do this as he is not living in the U.K. And whether the current child arrangement order still stands?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

[HannahM]

Re: Child arrangement order, is it still valid?

Hi Ashmidd,

It sounds as if your sister and nephew are having a rotten time of it. The short answer is that yes, the Child Arrangements Order does still stand unless it is varies by a further court order. If your nephew's dad is not keeping to his side of the CAO then your sister can apply to the court to change it. However the first step would be to go to mediation, as it sounds as if this could be useful to help with some of the communication issues. I'm not sure from your message how often the dad returns to the country, so the fact that he is out of the country could rule mediation out. Has your sister raised her concerns with him already? If not she should do so , perhaps by email. Dad can return the matter back to court if he decides to, irrespective of whether he is living in the country. If he is not able to comply with the current level of contact going back to court might work against him as contact would be changed to a lesser amount than he currently has. It might be good for your sister to point this out to him.

Hope that is helpful. Best of luck to your sister and nephew.