Can I Force my Ex to Stick to our Parenting Plan?

Is there anything a father can do in the case where an ex spouse is preventing him from seeing his children?

Is it possible to force a mother to agree to a parenting plan?

A father who is not getting the contact with his children that he wishes to have, should start a formal action in Court.  The result will be a formal and enforceable order securing his time and presence in his children’s life.

While a parent can not force the other to agree to a parenting time plan, if the parties don’t agree, the matter will be put to the Judge to decide. So, there will be a resulting order securing presence in their children’s lives.

There are of course risks as in every form of litigation that the order arrived at by a Judge may not be as much as a Father thought he expect to receive.

However, times are a changing and with the formal amendment to the Children Act of a presumption that the role of a non-resident is as equally important to the life of a child or children than a resident parent; the presumption being rebuttable on the basis of evidence to the contrary, it is a move to recognise the importance of both parents; in the life of a child(ren).

Can a father prevent an ex partner from moving out of the country with the children?

A father is always able to apply, in circumstances where he has a genuine concern that his child(ren) will be removed to another country to prevent that course from occurring by applying to the court for an order to prohibit such removal.

That matter will of course be returnable to the court and ultimately the court may have to decide the issue as to whether the removal either temporary or longer term of any child is in that child’s best interests.

What is important to note also here; is that if there are already child arrangements orders in place for a child already, there can not be removal of a child without a Father’s consent for a period of longer than 28 days.

Karim Assaad is a London divorce solicitor at Cordell & Cordell. He has a wealth of knowledge and experience practicing family law, owning a proven record of providing indispensable advice to clients and delivering positive outcomes for them.