How Can I Avoid Losing Contact with My Daughter?

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How Can I Avoid Losing Contact with My Daughter?
JM asks

Please could you point me in the right direction. My ex-partner has stopped any form of contact with my 9-year-old daughter because I have gone through the CSA for maintenance. I was currently paying £200 per month but found the money was not being spent on my daughter.

The CSA have informed me that I should be paying £7.00 per week. I have offered £25 but been told by my ex that unless its £50 then don't bother. That was 2 weeks ago. We had agreed contact through a solicitor. She will not even allow contact on the phone. And sent me a text saying see you in court.

There are two separate issues involved here, both custody and maintenance, and together they mean you've been denied access to your daughter, which is a distressing situation. You don't state how the original maintenance figure of £200 a month was reached, but since contact had been arranged through a solicitor, maintenance might have been arranged the same way.

If your ex is preventing you from seeing your daughter despite agreed arrangements, you need immediate guidance from our free Access Denied Action Plan.

However, if the CMS told you that you only have to pay £7 a week, it would indicate you're making less than £100 per week, the CMS says that on incomes of that level, you pay £7 per week if your gross weekly income is less than £100 or if you receive certain benefits.

What you need to do is send your ex a registered letter asking her to reinstate contact and state that you'll have to take legal action if she doesn't comply. By the sound of it, this won't do the trick, but it's a necessary legal step. After that, you need to go to court and apply for an Interim Contact Order at a Directions Hearing, which allows you contact until a full hearing on the matter.

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You'll obviously need to produce evidence from the CMS regarding maintenance at the hearing, and your solicitor will have to remind the court that the full hearing would probably be more than six months away, and a lack of contact would be detrimental to your daughter.

The bad news is that your ex might demand supervised contact – but it's better than none at all. However, if you had prior contact with your daughter, especially "staying contact" (meaning she stayed overnight with you), make sure the court is aware of that, and the circumstances in which everything changed. If previous contact arrangements had been made through the solicitor, you could ask for the enforcing of contact arrangements. Prior to the hearing, inform the court and opposing solicitor that you'll ask for interim contact and be introducing oral evidence.

That's in the short term. Before the final hearing Cafcass officials will interview you, your ex and your daughter regarding contact and custody, and you should produce evidence from the CMS about Recommended Maintenance, as well as a record of payments. If your ex continues to deny access laid down by the court, she could end up being sentenced to community service.

Your situation may be slightly different. ask a question below ↓ and our editorial team will reply with our advice.

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Ask Separated Dads a Question
KMKY 04/06/2021 at 2:10 pm
My ex-partner and her parents moved 170 miles away at the end of August 2020. I was devastated as they took my then 5 year old son away from me (He is 6 now). My son and I are very close and after researching there was very little I could do to stop the move. My ex partners solicitor provided a letter for me to sign which stated I would have access to my son every other weekend as well as half of the school holidays which was the best I could have hoped for at the time.

My ex asked if she could not bring him down for the first term of school to give him time to settle in to his new environment. I agreed but went up to visit him during this time.

I then fell ill and was admitted into hospital and diagnosed with a life long condition which subsequently meant I was clinically extremely vulnerable and had to shield until I had both of my vaccines which I now have had. This meant I could not see him for nearly 6 months.

Now I have asked for him every other weekend I have been told he does not want to come down and that I could have him for half the holidays which will be 6 times per year. This was not what was agreed.

Is there anything I can do to ensure regular contact is restored?

This was not what was agreed and I signed the solicitors paper in good faith expecting to have regular contact with my son.

Is there anything I can do to enforce the agreement made? Any help would be appreciated as I am finding it very hard to deal with and want to resolve ASAP.
SeparatedDads Editor 27/07/2018 at 11:27 am
with regards to the process of seeing his children where his ex refuses. Your partner's ex would need to gain permission from your partner to take his child out of the country, If he thinks his ex may try to take them from the country without his consent, he can apply for a Prohibited Steps Order through the courts. A PSO is an order granted by the court in family cases which prevents either parent from carrying out certain events or making specific trips with their children without the express permission of the other parent. This is more common in cases where there is suspicion that one parent may leave the area with their children. I hope this helps.
Caring step 26/07/2018 at 9:42 am
Hi there, I'm looking for some advice for my partner.

He seperated from he's children's mother a year ago but She was harassing us both until yesterday when the police had given her a harassment order.

In this time she has denied him access to he's children, he has parental rights as he is on the birth certificate for both children, but She still refuses access and has blocked all contact with them.

She isn't in the right state of mind as she's often threatened us both and to harm her Self with the children at home.

Her only concern is that my partner is not willing to go back to her. She hasnt been complying with social services if it isnt what she wants. She has been using the children as weapons to get to him.

She's booked a holiday for the children abroad aswell without he's permission. He has told her in writing she is not allowed to take them out of the country as he is worried for the welfare of he's children.

Please help us, how do we stop her from taking the children out of the country without he's permission, how can he get access to he's children?
SeparatedDads Editor 04/01/2018 at 3:23 pm
If you have offered mediation as a solution and your ex refuses then the option would be open for you to apply to court. As in all cases, the court’s main concern is the welfare of the child in question. The court will always put the child’s best interests first and this main issue will determine the outcome of any application for an order.
Andrew 04/01/2018 at 12:49 pm
Hi I'm a dad who split from my daughters mom nearly a year ago , contact has been on and off due to argument and common separating issues , at one point i put together an agreement using advice online which we agreed and signed , bit since then contact as been stopped completely after constant argument between me and her mother , she now says she feels unsafe to leave her with me , this is not true and i cant seem to do much , I've offered to try mediation to sort this , i have 2 other children who's contact as stopped because of this and also all my family ,
SeparatedDads Editor 08/02/2017 at 2:03 pm
If the court order specifies you have to give the father unsupervised visits, then you would have to stick to the court order otherwise you will be in breach. This means your ex would be able to take the matter back to court to have the order enforced. Likewise, every contact order comes with a warning outlined by the court in terms of any breach. Your only recourse is apply back to court for a variation of the order to try to prevent unsupervised access. However, you would have to give good reason for doing this and be able to show that circumstances have changed from the last time you were in court and prove new reasons why your ex should not have unsupervised visits.
Confused 01/02/2017 at 6:43 pm
Hi my ex has suprevised contact with my children due to them making allegations of abuse they are due to stop having it supervised soon but I am worried about this as I am not happy to let them be unsupervised with him at any time ever again will I have to fight to demand this in court? I am also concerned he will want to take them to his parents whouse I allow to see the kids at my house because their response to the abuse allegations was to threaten to not see the kids again basically dismissed what they alleged and not supported them at all just told anyone and everyone who would listen my kids were liars even though my ex admitted some of the allegations I'm not one to deliberately damage a child/father relationship but I'm also the first to protect my kids and not place them in danger I don't want repercussions for them from the dad and I fear they will get them if left alone with him help!
SeparatedDads Editor 24/01/2017 at 2:04 pm
No, your daughter does not have to put the father's name on the birth certificate. Currently the father has no rights and cannot make demands upon your daughter. If the father wants further rights such as Parental Responsibility, he would have to apply to take the matter to court.
Nell 23/01/2017 at 10:36 pm
My daughter desperately needs advice .her ex boyfriend left her for another woman literally dropping her off on a pavement penniless and homeless whilst she was 6 months pregnant .she had the baby but never put the father on the birth certificate .she has allowed him to see the child twice a week and he is now making all sorts of demands on her saying he wants her over night etc he is saying or rather demanding sh put his name on the birth certificate .does she have to ??
upset granny 14/01/2017 at 4:23 pm
hello I am looking for advice for my son, my son and his ex split up when she was 7mths pregnant they continued to share a bank account and he gave her money for the baby before his son was born, my son is currently a serving soldier in the army and lives away from home and wasn't informed when his ex went into labour although he had been contacting her on a weekly basis to see how she had been doing. Any way my son went to the hospital after he was told about the birth and saw his son as often as his ex allowed. He repeated asked her when his son was going to get registered so he could be there but she just said it would be after the Christmas period but he has just found out she has registered him already and left the father blank my son is devastated he has contacted her everyday for access but she has just given excuses why he cant see him and now she has blocked all contact from him, what he needs to know is can he apply to the court to prove he is the babies father and once that's established can he then apply for access to his son ? All he wants is to see and maintain his son he has done nothing wrong it wasn't even a bad split from his ex.... any advice would be greatly appreciated.
Mastergamer 18/09/2016 at 1:51 pm
I have court in 3 days and received my ex's parental questionnaire in the post today , the first 4 box's on the first page of the questionnaire was filled out by my ex but the rest of the form was filled out from recognizing the writing of my 15 yr old daughter.My ex has signed and dated it themselves and nowhere does it state on the form that its not being completed by my ex..... its a legal form i didn't think it would be allowed to be filled out by my 15 yr old daughter . Do i inform the court about this , as my ex has been emotionally brainwashing my daughter against me and even brought her to court and made her wait outside and bring coffee to them whilst we waited to go into court. Any help would be appreciated.
SeparatedDads Editor 16/09/2016 at 11:02 am
As always it really it is best to make sure the resident parent is aware of what is happening with your/their child, and that any meetings are above board, as this could give her ammunition should the matter at any point be legally disputed. However, there is nothing to say you cannot legally meet up with your child, unless there is a court order in place that prevents you from doing so. I suggest you seek legal advice here in order to explore your options.
Dad 15/09/2016 at 1:13 pm
Hi
I have a daughter age 13 who wants to see me we have contact via phone and text .
She doesn't want to ask mum to see me because of fear of upset and anger that she wants contact. But we have had secret meetings.
My question is
Is this ok in the eyes of the law.
I'm sure it will come out at some point.hopefully only when a financial settlement has been reached. .
Kissel 30/07/2016 at 1:40 pm
Simple question please:

I'm separated, pay 3k/mo child support, have joint custody. Have three kids: 12, 14, 17. They now live with mom in ireland. Kids were born and raised in Germany where I live. For two years I saw my kids regularly-with no issue-now I have a new g/f and my kids "refuse" to see me. With joint custody and maintenance established, do the children have a "right" NOT to see me. Or if there is an age at which they can choose not to see me. Many thanks.
Pete 11/07/2016 at 12:06 pm
Hi, any advice here would be very much appreciated and thank you in advance.
I currently have two children with one partner who are just under 4 and 5 weeks.
I have always paid child maintenance since the split using the government calculator to work out the payment.
My partner has moved 17 miles away but see my children 2-3 times every week depending on my shifts. Due to the distance everything has become expensive as going for days out and meals there is adding up to £200 a month. Don't get me wrong I don't mind paying this to treat my children at all.
I was paying £400 a month child maintenance but due to the current climate in industry my wages have dropped to gross £2299.97 a month.
My partner won't allow sleep overs with no reason other than she doesn't want to be without the kids.
With school commitments starting in September I'm going to be doing all the childcare duties on my rest days (up to 3 per week but 2 on average). This will be from 7am until 17:30 and will be school runs.
Due to all these expenses will I still have to pay the full childcare maintenance or may I get it slightly reduced as I'll be enduring all the costs but will have zero reductions due to sleepover restrictions especially now with school commitments and distance?
It does seem a little unfair as I'm currently paying 1/3 of my entire wages when taking the money I spend on them for food and days out etc into account too.
My partner and I are currently amicable but wanted to get advice prior to amending payment amounts as it will cause friction so wanted to ensure everything was fair and right prior to commencing.
Thank you so much for any advice and is very much appreciated.

Regards

Pete.
SeparatedDads Editor 05/05/2016 at 2:38 pm
I am very sorry to hear this. Your best option is to stay on amicable terms with your ex and decide between you what the level of care each of you will have with your child. However, relationships don't always end amicably, in which case you may have to resort to Mediation in order to sort the matter out and as a last resort, court.I suggest you read as much around the subject as you can such as: Relationships With Your Ex-Partner, here and How to Improve Relations With Your Child's Mother, here. I hope these help.
G 05/05/2016 at 1:17 am
I am currently in a Rocky patch in my relationship with my fiancé. We have a 5 month old daughter who I can't live without. My fiancé wants to move to the town we grew up in and I was up for it but needed time.
My fiancé has now decided that she isn't happy and is leaving me and taking our daughter.
I don't want any of this to happen but I feel helpless and don't want to annoy my fiancé/ex at all incase she makes life difficult.
I will jump through hoops to be an active part of my daughters life but I don't know any of the formalities or rights that I have.
Please help.
SeparatedDads Editor 14/04/2016 at 1:58 pm
I am sorry to hear this. I can only advise that you take some legal advice from an international family law solicitor who will be able to advise you of your rights and help you apply for a contact order legally through the courts. Once this is set up then she will be legally bound to this.
Joe 13/04/2016 at 7:29 pm
Hi. I have a daughter thats 3,5 yesrs old and living with her mun i England, Im from sweden and I have never lived in England my self. I have always keept contact with my daughter and she knows im her dad. Althu, her mun is not Making it easy for me to se her, im trying my best to fly over as often as possible,.. Everytime is a strugle and its so hard not knowing my rights. Last week when i ask "mum" when it would be best for her that i visit she started saying that me coming over was not a good idea and the my daughter just gets cumfused, thats she's happy with her and her boyfriend.. Can she do this? What rights do i have to see my daughter? She's constently thretening me and saying "feel free to see this futher, we bout know who will winn" :/ and im not asking for much, all i want to talk to my daughter and to see her when im abel to visit. Can she cut me out of my daughters life like that? Is that her decition to make?

Please help.
Winnyman 18/03/2016 at 7:21 am
I have an eight year old daughter in Bolton, England but I'm staying in Africa. I left Bolton when my ex-girlfriend was pregnant due to expiry of my Visa. When I got to Africa I got a good job of my career while in The UK I worked in just any job to make ends meet (14 Hours a day). Now, unfortunately due to the fact that I aint going back to Bolton my ex-girlfriend and her mother are denying me access to my daughter. I've tried many ways to keep in touch but in vain. I tried to offer financial support but in vain. At the mean time I've been blocked out of all social media with the mother and her mother and also they've changed their phone numbers. I'm desperate, I need help, I dont wanna lose my daughter.
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