Court process for unveiling address

Hi

My ex has just sold her house and will be moving, possibly to a different part of the country. I, of course, will ask where the new address is but knowing my ex she might not tell me. Can i obtain this information from her through the court, and if so how do i do that?

FYI, i do currently have a contact order to see my daughter.

Thanks in advance for any help you can give me.

Am no expert but wanted to have a go at answering your post.

Presently you have a contact order. So in theory if the ex is moving the onus is on her to make a court application to seek to vary (change) the order. As you have parental responsibility of your children you should also be consulted about any changes to their schooling. I appreciate this may not be how things work in the real world.

It's important that you are seen to be acting reasonably. So, the first step would be a polite letter to the ex asking her to clarify her future plans.

If she does not reply or stonewalls you; there are two options.

1. Wait until the contact order is broken and then seek enforcement. The problem with this is that you would need to first trace the ex and although there is a court process to facilitate this there would be an inevitable delay and break in contact.

2. Apply now for a prohibative steps order, this would be to prevent your ex from moving from the locality of her home address.

I have to be frank and say I have never sought such an order so what I’m writing is basically my best guess.

You would use the C2 form if the final order is less than 12 months, the C100 form if the order was over 12 months. You would attend court, speak to the clerk and state your wish to see a judge on an ex parte basis.

The Judge is not going to want to make such an order, you would need to be convincing.

I think your arguments would include: your ex was about to move and why you think that, had ignored your requests for a contact address (hence the need to have written to her), had made arrangements to change your children’s school without informing you, had failed to seek a variation to the order, had failed to provide an address for future service of orders/documents and was intent on stopping/disrupting contact.

In short, you would be saying that unless the PSO was made the ex would move address and your child would lose contact with you. However, by making the PSO the court would be prompting the mother to make the application to vary the contact order, which she should have done anyway.

A lot will depend on the mood of the judge, the history of your case, your oratory skills. May I suggest contacting families need fathers who could provide more substantive advice and support.

Good luck

Thanks for the advice, it's been helpful.

Cheers

would also like to add, depends how water tight your order is and what it actually says, I made sure mine said, a specific place, not her home, if your order says you pick your daughter up from her mothers home, that could be a plantation in the sahara desert from now on......

Basically she is not telling you the address to piss you off. React in the least possible way that shows you may be pissed off, because like anyone, you will be, but keep it factual documented and legal.