Shared residency??

I know there has been quite a bit of ''hype'' in the media recently and i''ve read quite a few posts on here using the terms ''shared residency'' and ''50/50''.

But what exactly do they mean?

My ex hasnt pursued contact through the court or sought any legal advice so i dont really have any experience of legal terms and outcomes etc. When we separated he asked for 10.30-5 on alternate weekend days so he has contact every weekend. We also agreed to midweek contact once a week and a regular phone schedule. He quickly dropped midweek as it was ''too far to come and costing too much in petrol'' and the phone contact never really worked s he never followed through on his promises about it. There have been issues over contact and my daughters welfare and my solicitor has sent several letters guiding my stbxh on how to progress contact which has been ignored.

My stbxh lives roughly 30 miles away from me and works 8-5 so realistically he cant do school pick ups and drop offs and the before and after school club i usually use dont fit in with his working hours either. Am i right in thinking this will affect him having shared residency?

Should he ever decide to fight for it that is!!

Parental Responsibility gives both parents equal responsibility for their children and rights to carry out those responsibilities. If parents can''t agree arrangements between themselves either parent may apply to court to regulate PR.

The orders that regulate PR are Contact, Residence to determine where a child lives, Specific Issue to decide issues such as schooling or medical treatment or Prohibited Steps to prevent from the UK.

Residence can be in favour of one parent or shared between two parents. Shared residence can in different proportions from 50:50 and in practice there isn''t much difference between SR and the more traditional contact/residence order.

Fathers groups have been campaigning for a presumption of 50:50 shared parenting time. The Government has said it intends to change the the Children''s Act 1989 so there is a presumption that children have the right to a relationship with both parents. In fact this alone doesn''t change very much, case law from the higher courts going back at least 16 years binds lower courts to presume that apart from exceptional circumstances children should have a relationship with both parents already.

The Government have made it quite clear though that the proposed change in the law won''t equate to 50:50 shared parenting time because as in your case there isn''t one particular arrangement that suits all children and it''s the interests that are paramount in each individual case. Instead the Government has committed £14m to develop services to help parents collaborate. See hot off the press;

www.dwp.gov.uk/newsroom/press-releases/2...012/dwp-067-12.shtml