All courts, no matter which country, prefer that parents are able to reach an agreement between themselves. It would also be beneficial to you, should anything go to court, to show that you have tried to be reasonable at every level in trying to facilitate / encourage contact between the absent parent and your child. (no matter how much of a pain in the ar$e they are).
depends also if she can get legal aid or not. if not, then you might win the battle of who is happy to burn the most cash.
She has always entered court unrepresented, happy in the knowledge that no amount of money I have spent on Barristers has ever made a single iota of difference or influence on the inevitable failure of applications by Fathers.
She is only too happy to drag things out at my expense. I need to avoid that route, another £70K of costs is going to hurt me at this stage in life
I want to vary my UK court order and back in January I phone a couple of International Law Firms in the UK to get a bit of info. Both said that I would have to go via the French courts.
So, I thought why should I vary the order at the end of the day, if the father isn't happy with it then he can pursue it at his cost. The other thing is that he was on Legal Aid, and he can't get it now because it would be too costly and it is unlikely that he would be able to "win".
http://europa.eu/legislation_summari.../l33054_en.htm
and Switzerland is signed up to the Lugano convention:
http://curia.europa.eu/common/recdoc...es/lug-idx.htm
And with that: all bets are off. Though I wouldn't bet against you having a UK domicile unless your dad happened to have a non-UK domicile. You could try to argue you have acquired a domicile of choice in Switzerland but it will not be easy.
2. I wonder what the mother's version is of this.
3. 70,000? Hhhm, I can think of more positive ways to spend that much, in enhancing your child's sense of wellbeing, than fighting over her in court.
http://www.family-lawfirm.co.uk/uplo...nd-divorce.pdf
If you want to have any chance of getting a domicile of choice, you need to cut off all ties to the UK. Sell the UK house etc. I've even had some clients buy burial plots in their domicile of choice to show that when they die, they will be buried in their domicile of choice.
So there is the Mum's version, and there are several other child related organisations with their versions as well. Which incidentally played a part in a residency order being made for the child to remain with the father.
So what price would you put on making sure that your child grows up in a safe, happy environment surrounded by people that love them? You know not all fathers are complete half wits that leave their kids, start new families and never give a damn. Similarly not all mothers are able to look after and safeguard their children as they should. Unfortunately in this case it took a long time and a lot of perseverance for that to be seen, as well as the children growing older and having their own voice and finally having their own true wishes taken into account.
This possibly would be that this is a battle of patience. You're going to win the ex knows it and she's playing you for cash/sanity.
So my position would be don't play, well not right now anyway until the odds increase in your favour.
Perhaps it's too early for you to win this with the daughter being here a couple of months.
Now if she'd been here a couple of year was settled + integrated etc? (+ you had your burial plot?!?) Would that not be a stronger position to fight from?
I take it you don't have kids?
1. Correct she is not a possession as no possession can be as valuable to you as your child. I would fight tooth and nail for my daughter against anybody or anything, even if it was clear I would come off worse off.
2. From reading UTH other posts (and CJ's) about this situation and not just merely trolling the first thread I see on the matter, I would say her version is something along the lines of "me, me, me" and very little about her daughter. I have no proof of this though but it must be true as I read it on the internet.
3. I believe UTH is trying to enhance his daughter's well being, hence spending a small fortune (UTH: how the hell did you afford the ring??) trying to resolve this situation.
It could also potentially affect your case if she still has those being paid. Call up the child tax credits help line to make sure, I did that as I suspected my ex was going to try and claim in my absence.
I am quite happy for her to commit fraud. The longer she does, the better. She is very good at digging holes and tangling webs.
I am in the process of claiming child benefit from the Canton, and they will make the required calls to the UK authorities. (The Canton pays the difference between UK CB and Swiss CB to the highester earner in the household, I followed up on my claim last week, and the UK are dragging their heels in responding)
She has no claim for maintenance, my daughter stays with me. Maintenance is paid to the parent with care.
The CSA used to insist on having CB before they would allow a claim, this was overruled on appeal. I have also won appeals when the CSA said they could not allow me to make a claim because I did not have a UK mainland bank account. All in all the CSA are hopeless, and run around in the dark. Now that I am out of the UK I can make a claim through the UK courts as the CSA are now out of the picture.
Yes, CSA are crap and you are right, as soon as you are abroad all maintenance stops. I really miss my 5 pounds per week that was awarded to me when I was in the UK.
The courts will look at who's decision it was to relocate and the additional cost the absent parent has to pay to visit the child, that will all be taken into account. Can you do the maintenance by REMO?
Is your ex now threatening court action, hence this thread, or is it something you are anticipating down the line?
Oh yeah, you can also back date you Swiss child benefit claim from the time you started employment. I just did this and got a years worth last month.....very nice too....
Something I am anticipating, based on the flip flop nature of her moods and mindset.
I am happy with the courts maintenance decision against me for my Son who remains in the UK. It is a fair and equitable amount. If I did not pay it , she can use REMO against me and collect via teh Swiss courts. For my daughter, living with me here in CH, I have to apply to the UK courts, if she then fails to pay, they can enforce the order. Happily, the CSA are out of the picture in every aspect, as there are either court orders in place, or they have no jurisdiction.
Strangely, whilst I was overseas, I paid for all flight/travel costs, including the Mothers petrol and toll fees to take the kids to the airport. I did so because I felt it was fair. Now, the Mother in the UK expects me to pay for the flights etc to send my daughter back on visits. Seems some Mums want it both ways.
As mentioned earlier, I must remain reasonable and open to contact, so I have offerred to pay for the Mothers flights OR hotel costs for her to come and visit (I am trying to get the message accross that she should want to take an active role in our daughters life, come and see where she lives, where she goes to school, what she has around he etc... (although there is a certain element of rubbing her nose in it, as Sedbury doesn't quite match up to Zurich), but that's still a good point. Zurich is a fantastic place for a child to grow up in.
I have also , in court, offerred zero resistance to any contact the Mother may wish to make. I have left it up to the Mother to decide when she sees her daughter, and I will do my best to ensure this happens. Somewhat of a moral highground, but even the worst in me cannot do back to her what she has done to me in trying to see our daughter. I will lead by example.