How do I obtain an Interim residency order?

Hi I wonder if you can help.

I''m posting on behalf of a friend.

He split from his wife in January, and has had residence of the children ever since.

Due to her erratic behaviour he has submitted a C100 and C1 to the courts and has a cout date in 3 weeks time.

Friday she removed the children from school early, without his knowledge, and then sent him a message stating that she wouldn''t be returning the children nor would he be able to have contact until the hearing date, there is concern for the safety of the children in her new partners home.

We understand that he can apply for an interim residence order but how does he go about doing this?

Many thanks in advance

Tell him to go to school early and collect them prior to her collecting them. Tell him to write a note to the judge stating what has happened , saying the children are back in his care as they have been since january, and give note to court office asking for an emergency ex parte hearing with the judge handling the hearing, asking him to make an interim residence order in his favour , until such a time that the final hearing is concluded

Going to school and collecting the child won''t help if it causes a scene in front of the child. Apart from upsetting the children there is a risk that the court will impose a non molestation and/or a prohibited steps order against your friend and that won''t help his case in the long term.

If there is evidence that children are at risk of significant harm the thing to do is for your partner to do is either see a solicitor or go to the court immediately, make an application for interim residence without notice and ask to see a judge as an emergency.

Your friend then needs to be prepared to wait until a judge is available and he will have about 5 minutes to persuade the judge to make the order. If the judge agrees an order can be made and/or an appointment made for another hearing with both parties present in a few days.

The normal routine for the past 3 months has been with the father Fiona. The mum is clearly playing the PR card and refusing to return the children. She is clearly trying to establish a new routine without the father''s involvement. He must go to school and collect them!

RMATank - So Mum takes them from school and then Dad does ....... where does it end?

What happens as Fiona points out is the children end up the centre of a battle between the parents - confused and upset.

Starlett - The best thing to do is think long term, your friend shouldn''t behave in a way that can negatively impact anything in the future. You may have to trust the system - its not perfect, but you''d prefer it working for you than against you - for this you have to be squeaky clean.

WR

Thank you all for your advice, squeaky clean is the way forward, he won''t stoop to her level.

Thats exactly the right attitude to have. Even though its tempting, because you know what the rights and wrongs are, there is only a short amount of time until the hearing, and the fact that she simply took them from the school wont do her any favours. Have they even got everything that they need such as uniform, clothes, teddies, toys etc?

An ex parte application could be heard as an emergency, and this is usualyl done to restore the status quo, but I dont know if living with their dad since January is sufficient time for this to be classed as the status quo.

Has he tried having a stern letter sent to her to ask her to return them?