Contact order for my son?

[TinaB]

My sons father has a contact order in place but I have been told that eventually he will get 3 weeks at a time during holidays which I'm not happy about. If I stopped this contact would I actually lose custody of my son? He ha threatened to go for custody before in court and all I want is an answer as to would this actually really happen as my son has brothers and sisters here at home also? Thanks in advance.

[BrandonsMum08]

Im not a lawyer or anything so can only give my experience, though from the other side of the table (my partner has a court order for access to his daughter).
As far ad i know, the order that was put in place is the order that sticks unless it goes back to court or unless it states in the order that at a specific time/age the access will increase.

As for losing custody, if the order does say 3 weeks and you refuse this, then yes if you do this numerous times and your ex takes it back to court then they wont be in your favour and the chances of your ex being awarded custody if he applies for it increases greatly. however they are highly unlikely to remove him from your custody if he is given a "standard" level of care with you and is happy (providing you dont break the order).

This is what we were told when we questioned what would/could happen if the ex didnt stick to it (unless there is mutual agreement from both parties ie. swapping weekends etc).

[Lawyer Mark]

My sons father has a contact order in place but I have been told that eventually he will get 3 weeks at a time during holidays which I'm not happy about. If I stopped this contact would I actually lose custody of my son? He ha threatened to go for custody before in court and all I want is an answer as to would this actually really happen as my son has brothers and sisters here at home also? Thanks in advance.

Hi Tina,

My colleague Marie Groves has kindly responded as this is an area she specialises in.

If you wanted to send me a copy of the Order I can advise more specifically, however, generally....

At present, you need only make your son available for the contact specified in the Order. Is there a provision in the Order for increased Contact in Due course? Otherwise he will have to seek to change it and you can argue accordingly. If you breach that Order the likely result is your son’s father returning matters to court to reinstate contact and enforce the existing Order.

Custody, now referred to as Residence is a separate matter. The father of your son would need to make a formal application to the Court to determine Residence, that is where your son should live and with whom. Again you would have ample opportunity to dispute and argue against such an application, nothing will be forced upon you without your knowledge, and merely because of the contact issue (particularly if you had good grounds to not wanting him to have contact.

If you wanted to discuss your issues confidentially then feel free to call me on 01245504904 or email mgroves@leonardgray.co.uk.

Kind regards
Marie.