Can I ask my ex husband to see his children more?

[JungleSnap]

My ex husband sees his children every other weekend from Friday afternoon until 5pm on a Sunday, he has them for 2 weeks in the summer holidays, a week at Easter and not quite a week at Christmas, he’ll occasionally have them during half term too, but never a bank holiday etc. During the remaining 7 weeks of school holidays he doesn’t see them and doesn’t arrange childcare. He’s stated he can’t have them due to work and isn’t prepared to take responsibility for them for half of the holidays and arrange his own childcare for them e.g with his parents (that barely see their grandchildren) his wife or holidays clubs etc. As we both have work commitments, my thought is that he should take responsibility for them during the holidays.

The question is, if I’m the primary carer, he pays maintenance for between 52-104 nights per year (more than happy to reduce this if he can have his children more), is it fair of me to ask that he take responsibility for the children for half of all school holidays, so although he probably can’t have them for 3 weeks in the summer, he have the time he can take off and then arrange childcare for the remaining week/s and I do the same?

If it went to court, would a judge likely agree?

[R0b]

If you took this to court then you will lose. There is nothing I am aware of in law that allows one parent to ask a court to compel the other parent to spend more time with their children. It is the freewill of the parent to decide how much time they wish to spend with their children, not the court nor you as the other parent.

What you could do, is ask the court to increase the maintenance payments on the basis that the parent is spending less time with the father and thus increasing a cost to you because of your current working arrangements may mean you have to find arrangements for the children such as afterschool care or babysitting etc.

The increase in maintenance may be used to cover his cost of making arrangements where you are unable to look after them. That might spring him into life and agree to look after them more in the summer holidays.