advice required

I''ll try to be as clear but brief as possible.

Seperated four and a half years ago.

Regular contact with six year old son stopped by estranged wife three months ago.

Attended mediation assessment meeting.

Signed Petition for divorce.

Ex informs me she intends to move to USA with her new partner before Christmas for three or five years.

Wants me to agree for her to take our son.

I refuse so she informs me I will have no contact with my son and that she will be able to go via the courts.

I have been informed by mediation our situation is ''unsuitable'' for mediation.

Welcome to Wikivorce, although I''m sorry you have a need to be here.

I suggest you complete a C100 form to reinstate the contact with your son and apply for a Prohibited Steps Order to prevent your ex from taking your child out of the country.(this wouldn''t prevent your ex from going, but her taking him away). Do both of these immediately.

As you have (rightly) refused permission for her to take your son out of the country to live elsewhere, she would need to apply to the Courts for a Leave To Remove. The welfare of the child is always paramount, so all aspects of the welfare checklist must be considered, and the child be given the opportunity to express his feelings.

Removal from the jurisdiction is not in your child’s best interests as they are settled at school and moving them away would disrupt their relationships with teachers, friends, other relatives, and, of course, yourself.

The other parent is acting unilaterally, disrupting the child’s well-established routine, and shared parenting with you has been terminated without regard to the child’s best interests.

In any LTR application, the proposals for relocation must be practical and include measures for ensuring continued adequate contact with the other parent. The Court must also consider the following:

-the effect upon the child of the denial of contact with the other parent and in some cases his wider family

-the arrangements for ensuring continuing contact between the child and the remaining parent

Have you seen your son at all in the past three months? I would suggest that you send letters/postcards etc to him as a way of maintaining some form of indirect contact so he knows that you haven''t forgotten about him.

Ruth

Ruth,
Firstly thankyou for taking time to reply.
I have obtained a C100 form from the court but have yet to complete it, would it be possible to apply for both measures on the same form ? if so would that be doubling the £200 cost ?
In relation to current contact my ex basically pressured/ emotionally blackmailed me into signing the Petition for divorce within a day of receiving it by stating she would allow interim contact during the mediation process.(At this stage i was unaware of her intentions to move away) so I had contact for 3 hours on 2 consecutive Saturdays, she stated this would continue if I gave my consent to the move.

In short, yes you can use the same C100 for both applications - you would use section 7 on the form for this. (and only one Court fee would be payable).

Do you have a FM1 form from mediation stating that mediation isn''t suitable for you? this form would need to be submitted with the C100.

Have you kept a diary/notes of the chain of events, esp regarding contact with your son? It would be an idea to write it all down, setting it out chronologically.

If you believe your child is at risk of abduction (which is what it would be if your ex moves him to the USA without your permission), then you should consider completing a C1A form (section 3 covers abduction), which should speed up the process for you, esp relating to the C100 application.

Yes I have the FM1 form from mediation.
You state that raising the concern of abduction would "speed things up" regarding the C100, the court administration have advised a intial hearing would be in 4 to 6 weeks, do you feel this would be brought forward ?
I also expect her to be contacting the courts regarding a leave to remove order, what would be your opinion on a time scale for this ?